Schlossnagle Finally Reaches Long-Time Dream
6/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 2, 2014
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Before Jim Schlossnagle was the head baseball coach at TCU he had the dream of building something special one day with the Horned Frogs.
"I always had my eyes on this job," he said. "I was the head coach at UNLV and we were here at my wife's home for Thanksgiving (in 2002) when they had the grand opening of this stadium and I came over and toured it. Nobody knew who I was."
On July 9, 2003, he landed the head job with the Frogs and began building for that dream.
"I knew if there was ever an opportunity here this was the place I wanted to live, coach and work and I wanted to build a program here that was sustainable over time at the highest level and that's what we're trying to do," he said.
With Sunday's 6-1 victory over Sam Houston State University in the NCAA Regionals, the Frogs (45-15), who are the No. 7 national seed in the tournament, will host Pepperdine, who beat Cal Poly 10-6 Sunday, in their first-ever home NCAA Super Regional. The date and time has yet to be determined.
"I remember the day that I took this job (and) that night I was here by myself and I walked out into dead centerfield and the thing I envisioned 11 years ago was the opportunity to play a Super Regional in this park," he said. "That thought never left my mind."
The Frogs made their first Super Regional in 2009 and then they went to their first-ever CWS in 2010.
"It was fun to play in the ones we played in on the road but to be in front of our crowd and to play for the right to go to the College World Series is something that I always dreamed of at TCU," he said. "Now it's our job to keep playing like we've been playing and take advantage of it."
Before taking the head job at UNLV, Schlossnagle was part of two quality programs at Tulane and Clemson.
With their three wins in the regional, the Frogs have won 30 of their last 33 games. The amazing streak began April 1 with a 12-6 win at UT-Arlington, and they followed it up with a Big 12 home series sweep over West Virginia.
Schlossnagle said that's when he began to notice he had something special with this year's team.
"I really felt like our position players bought into who we needed to be offensively," he said. "It's hard to get young players to believe in fundamental baseball because they play so much select baseball where for the most part it's not about team, it's about showcasing yourself for college coaches and pro scouts. That's something that has to be taught and then they have to buy into it."
In all, the Frogs won 20 of 21 games from April 1-May 9. The only loss in the run was at Kansas. But included in the winning streak was a three-game sweep at the University of Texas.
Most recently, after beating Sienna and Sam Houston twice to win the Fort Worth Regional, the Frogs have won nine straight games.
In his career with the Frogs, Schlossnagle is 462-218 all-time and he has taken his team to 10 NCAA Regional appearances and now three NCAA Super Regionals.
"There is a difference between a program and a team," he said. "Anybody can put together a team, meaning one year, but it takes a lot to build a program."
