Texas PR machine in overdrive to salvage Schloss's flagging image as media cycle leaves them behind
As the media cycle continues to roll on, the public consciousness of this brief saga involving Jim Schlossnagle, Texas A&M baseball, and the Longhorns is beginning to be left behind. That hasn't stopped the Longhorns from doing what they can to try to repair Schloss's public perception.
After an eight-question interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram yesterday was put out to give the good little burnt orange soldiers their marching orders, Texas has their next move. Their latest attempt apparently involves calling in favors from everyone possible on the same day to tweet something nice about Schlossnagle. The most notable of these names is former major leaguer Jake Arrieta.
You can read it at the link above, but Arrieta's tweet boils down to this: "Schloss one time challenged me and some teammates after a loss. He's a tough guy to play for, but that's what makes him great!"
This just feels so disingenuous. The coach did one inspiring thing one time, therefore he's a good coach? And you tweeted for the first time in eight months just to say that? The former pitcher doesn't even follow Schlossnagle on Twitter.
The Aggies are saying one thing. This Cy Young winner and World Series champion has a different view about Schloss. https://t.co/soQbhtDQ0K
— Brian Davis (@BDavisUT) June 29, 2024
As if to make the ploy here even more obvious, this was retweeted by a Texas employee whose literal job title involves Crisis Communication. The man professionally runs interference for the Longhorns (and that was just when he worked at the DMN! Sorry, couldn't resist that one).
The other "defenses" are just as insipid and obvious. As this tweeter points out, this has taken simply far too long for everyone to come to Schlossnagle's aid. It's clear that this is the Longhorns, unable to control the narrative as they want, with a last-ditch effort to try and un-sully the man's image. It's just not working!
If my character was being questioned, I’d hope it wouldn’t take my former coworkers, players, etc 4-5 DAYS to tell everyone how great I am in what is clearly a coordinated social media PR stunt. https://t.co/1hh7FpeF8n
— Clutter (@itsjustclutter) June 29, 2024
I'm cracking up at "Article below is a must read." There's literally nothing compelling in the article, it's just the talking points they want put out! Must-read indeed.
People will move on from this whole thing soon. I've had Texas fans in the comments on these articles begging for people to stop talking about him, feigned cavalier attitudes barely concealing their discomfort at all the negative attention.
It's just too little, too late for these types of tweets and comments to flip the narrative on its head. They just got outmaneuvered on this one—and the part that hurts the most is that it's entirely because of Schloss's answer in that post-CWS presser. If not for that, none of this attention comes his way.