Former Aggies Baseball Coach Jim Schlossnagle Ripped by Ex Texas A&M Player

Former Texas A&M Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle is under fire in Aggieland.

Matt Galatzan | Jun 30, 2024

Jun 23, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle before game 2 of the College Baseball World Series against the Tennessee Volunteers at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies have seen their rivalry on the baseball diamond come to a boiling point.

Amid his official arrival to the Forty Acres on Wednesday, new Longhorns head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle has been met with a seemingly endless amount of criticism for how he handled his departure from Texas A&M. He’s been ridiculed by analysts and fans alike, and now, some of Schlossnagle’s former players are either directly or indirectly calling him out as well.

Per Travis Brown of The Eagle, Texas A&M utility fielder Travis Chestnut didn’t hold back when talking about his experience with Schlossnagle, calling him out for a disrespectful approach.

"Not once in my career was he a respectable man to me,” Chestnut told Brown. "I stuck with him because I wanted to be an Aggie and in the SEC. But quite frankly, I didn’t stick to him. I stuck to Mike Earley and Nolan Cain.”

Earley and Cain — along with former A&M pitching coach Max Weiner — have since joined Schlossnagle’s new staff in Austin.

During a live ESPN interview in Game 3 of the College World Series final against Tennessee, Schlossnagle publicly called out Chestnut for striking out so much, which led to the decision to have him bunt in the top of the third inning. Chestnut’s bunt allowed him to reach second base on an error before stealing third and eventually scoring a run to tie the game 1-1.

Schlossnagle’s comments seemed innocent at the time, but according to Chestnut’s remarks, this was a theme.

This past season, Chestnut started 38 of 49 games while tallying 28 hits, 13 RBI, three home runs, a .262 batting average and 18 stolen bases.

Published Jun 27, 2024|Modified Jun 30, 2024

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.