Mississippi State could offer enough to lure away TCU's Jim Schlossnagle
TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle is a candidate for the job at Mississippi State, according to a source close to the situation.
Schlossnagle, who is in his 15th season with the Horned Frogs, declined to comment on the report by D1 Baseball's Kendall Rogers.
The job would be of interest to Schlossnagle, according to a source, but it's unlikely to be about salary. Schlossnagle is already one of the highest-paid college baseball coaches in the country at about $1.5 million, according to TCU's latest IRS 990 form in 2016 and sources at the school.
MSU would undoubtedly be able to match and/or surpass his TCU salary.
TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati was unavailable for comment.
"I love Fort Worth, I love TCU," Schlossnagle said Sunday evening. "If they call me, we'll see what they have to say. I've shown my loyalty to TCU over and over for 15 years and TCU and Fort Worth have been incredible to my family."
MSU is likely to discuss the job this week if TCU doesn't earn a postseason berth. The field of 64 teams is announced Monday morning. Most experts on the topic believe the Horned Frogs are unlikely to earn an at-large berth because of their relatively low No. 54 RPI ranking.
The Frogs lost to Baylor 6-5 in the Big 12 tournament championship game Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City.
The Bulldogs are 31-25 and 15-15 in the Southeastern Conference. They last reached the College World Series in 2013.
TCU has reached the CWS five times under Schlossnagle, and is the only school to reach the past four. Schlossnagle won the 700th game of his career in March, which includes two seasons at UNLV.
TCU has become a national power under Schlossnagle, who has won a school record 645 games with the Frogs. He has been offered other jobs in the past and was a leading candidate for the top job at the University of Texas in 2016.
The biggest draw to Starkville for Schlossnagle would be the Bulldogs' famed Dudy Noble Field. A $55 million renovation to the stadium is underway and will be completed next year. It is considered one of the best college baseball stadiums in the country.
Dudy Noble Field holds the NCAA record for on-campus attendance for a game in 2014 when 15,586 attended a Bulldogs' game. Coaching in the SEC would also pose a potentially tantalizing challenge for Schlossnagle. Also, the prospect of coaching at a major state school, one that is more than twice the size (22,000 enrollment) of TCU, a private school, could pose a certain intrigue for Schlossnagle, who turns 48 in August.
The SEC leads the nation in conference ratings percentage index rankings, but the Big 12 is second.
TCU's Lupton Stadium, which was built for $7 million and opened in 2003, six months before Schlossnagle was hired, has been expanded and renovated multiple times, including a $1 million expansion in 2010, a $2.5 million renovation in 2015 and another $8 million upgrade in 2016.
TCU started selling beer at the stadium for the first time earlier this month.
This story was originally published May 27, 2018 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Mississippi State could offer enough to lure away TCU's Jim Schlossnagle."