At the beginning of this week, Texas A&M was playing for a national championship. On Thursday, D1Baseball's Kendall Rogers joined TexAgs Radio to discuss how the Aggies are navigating baseball's vacancy as Jim Schlossnagle and his three assistants left for Texas.
Key notes from Kendall Rogers interview
- Has anything happened this week?
- Let’s just say I feel like a telephone operator at this point. It’s been interesting. I have multiple people telling me it's not going to happen, and the Tuesday morning, things hit the accelerator. I really think this is something that has been brewing for weeks.
- I think it is a total coincidence that A&M happened to lose two series after all things started brewing. I really do. I do not think it had anything to do with this. I don't think this was some snap-judgment decision where coach Jim Schlossnagle said, “Oh, um, I’m going to go to Texas.” Typically with coaching searches, when a coach lands after finishing their season 24 hours prior, there is literally zero way that that started that day.
- There’s a process to it, right? There’s an agent. There is a contract that has to be reviewed. There is no way that a coach is signing a contract with three hours' notice in a cemetery in Snook. People aren’t stupid.
- I understand A&M fans are mad. They should be. If you are A&M, you can sit, get back, get really mad and pout about it, or you can go, “You know what? OK. If that is the way you are going to treat this school, we are going to unleash literally every amount of funds that we can from an NIL standpoint. Without giving him a Jimbo Fisher contract, we are going to go out and get the best possible coach. Also, we will go out and work this guy on the field.”
- Now it’s full-speed ahead. I am very curious about what A&M will be able to do. I think they have some pretty big names they can get, but again, you have got to get them to the finish line.
- Based on what I’m hearing, I would be really surprised if they didn’t have a new head coach by Saturday. I really do. It’s moving very fast. My educated guess would be today is a very busy day on the coaching search front. By Saturday or Sunday morning, I think they have a new baseball coach.
- There are some really good options. There is at least one I am not going to mention. Some of the names I have said: Brian O’Connor at Virginia is certainly in the mix. He is a guy who has been to Omaha multiple times and won a national championship. I had someone reach out to me and say, “There is no way O’Connor leaves.” By the way, never say never because, like I said with Jim and Texas... The ACC is a different animal than the SEC right now. O’Connor just signed a new 10-year deal, but from what I understand, his buyout has gone down.
- If I am A&M, I am looking at a guy like O’Connor. He is not leaving, but you have to call Tony Vitello. There are Aggies in his family. You have to at least call him.
- The really interesting one I would take a gander at is Kevin O’Sullivan. He has made it very clear that Florida needs some help on the NIL front. He is a guy who, if he went to A&M, would have a lot of NIL money.
- There are coaches out there at an elite level that I think A&M has a pretty decent shot with.
- I give Richard Zane a ton of credit. That is not an easy question to ask. I was in the room, and I did not ask the question. I give him a ton of credit for that.
- I was talking to two SEC head coaches yesterday. I don't care about where Schlossnagle left A&M to go to Texas. I don't care about the rivalry thing here. In general principle, two SEC head coaches said, “If the school I am going to leaks it out the day I was playing for a national championship that they were firing their coach and that I’m the top candidate, there's no way I would go there.”
- One of the coaches from an SEC West school goes, “This may be your only shot to win one of these things. The fact that it would leak out the day that I’m playing for one? What kind of people am I going to work for?” The timing is odd.
- It begs the question: A. Did they leak it out on purpose? I assume this is not the case, but B. Was Schlossnagle OK with it leaking out the day of the championship game?
- I would be floored if a coach would leave after a national championship win. He made it abundantly clear that it came down to an athletic director. By the way, that is not a fair shake on Trev Alberts when the guy has been there... What? Two months?
- I have known Schlossnagle forever, and the last thing I want to do is constantly dog on him. At yesterday’s press conference, he didn't look like someone who was in a really happy place. Frankly, none of those guys did. Michael Earley looks like he is being held hostage. Nolan Cain packed his stuff in 48 hours, but he did not look very happy. Schlossnagle looked a little uncomfortable. I am sure today, he feels happy. He got to sleep.
- I would not be surprised if they had someone in place by Saturday.
- If they get the right guy, holding on to these players in the portal? I don't think they can, but rather, I think they will. If they make a hire that I heard they can possibly make, I feel pretty good about their chances of getting the NIL things being worked.
- I saw someone going after Mike Grahovac on Twitter/X. When there is a coaching change, a lot of times, it's the agent who says to go into the portal. “Let’s see your market value.” Gavin Grahovac is one of the top players in college baseball. Why wouldn’t you? Even if you go back to A&M, you have an idea of what your market value is. It’s a smart decision.
- Unless I am missing something, I have not heard about renovations of Disch-Falk.
- I talked to someone on Saturday in Omaha, and they told me that if this went down, the amount of money that would be unleashed for baseball at A&M... Whatever they needed for the ballpark and next coaching staff... They would do that.
