Schlossnagle takes a shot at Mike Elko during introductory Longhorn press conference

Former Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle takes a shot at Mike Elko during his opening press conference

Given the benefit of some time, apparently former Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle can work up some better answers than calling reporters selfish. Even so, they’re not that much better.

Now that Schloss is in the safe haven of Austin, he is answering questions during his opening press conference. Even though several Aggie outlets drove down to ask him questions about how the move went down, as rumors continue to fly about and questions continue to swirl, it was an Austin-based outlet that appeared to catch Schlossnagle most off guard.

Perhaps that had to do with the fact that he was expecting softballs for the duration of the presser from the non-Aggie outlets—which he received time and time again, outside of this one question—but it really looked like he didn’t see this one coming. 

Asked about whether he believes the intention to take the Texas job affected the team’s play during the College World Series—something even reporters completely unaffiliated with either side are speculating about—Schlossnagle seemed taken aback. He stumbled over his words for a few moments before interrupting himself to exclaim that Mike Elko didn’t get to meet with his Duke team before he left.

This is a completely asymmetrical example. Duke was preparing for the Birmingham Bowl when Elko jumped over to Texas A&M, and that famously transpired quite quickly after the Mark Stoops debacle.

What’s more, Duke and Texas A&M are not rivals, though Blue Devils fans likely are not too fond of the Aggies at this point. A more pertinent example would be if Elko had guided Duke to a national championship game, only to fall short by three points and then leave for Chapel Hill nearly as soon as he arrived back in Durham. Of course, that’s not what happened.

There was no reason to bring Elko into things. His name hadn’t been mentioned in the question or really at all before that point. This is an attempt at a cheap shot that just ends up making no sense.