“The hardest conversation I had”- Texas AD Chris Del Conte reaffirms old friendship with Longhorns baseball HC Jim Schlossnagle
Jim Schlossnagle made the controversial in-state switch from Texas A&M to Texas last week. In doing so, the coach has reunited with his old friend and Texas' athletic director, Chris Del Conte. In an appearance on the SEC Network on Monday, Del Conte opened up on his friendship with Schlossnagle.
“It’s exciting,” Del Conte said. “We’ve known each other for years. When I left to go to Texas, the hardest conversation I had was with Jim. He’s a dear friend.
"We’ve shared families together, lives together. We walked every Sunday after church. It’s just one of those things where I never thought it was possible, and it came to fruition.”
Schlossnagle and Del Conte worked together at TCU from 2009 through 2017. Del Conte then took up the athletic director's role at Texas, while Schlossnagle continued with the team until the 2021 season before joining Texas A&M.
During their time at TCU, Del Conte and Schlossnagle took the Horned Frogs to five College World Series.
Del Conte also spoke about how he welcomed Schlossnagle at Texas, only days after the coach left Texas A&M as a College World Series runner-up.
“I’m an old-school guy," Del Conte said. "Like, when I went to see my wife on a date, I asked in person. Now they do it on the Twitter. I don’t even know how that works. I wanted to have him tell me yes or no.
"We sat and we hugged and we talked for about a half an hour about him losing the national championship game and what it meant to him. We’ve been there eight times, and I saw what we did at TCU. So, if he would have told me no, I would have got in the car and drove away."
Jim Schlossnagle will lead Texas Longhorns into historic SEC era
The Texas Longhorns moved to the Southeastern Conference on Monday, after 28 years in the Big 12. The move will mean Jim Schlossnagle will lead the Longhorns' baseball team into the new conference.
To mark the special occasion, UT held an event at its campus on Sunday night, which was headlined by Grammy Award winner Pitbull. It marked a historic landmark for the program and another moment to savor for Schlossnagle.