FORT WORTH, Texas — As the mob of young men celebrated their trip to the College World Series in front of 9,000 people on Saturday night, the whole party scene at TCU’s Lupton Stadium felt inevitable.
TCU returning to the College Baseball World Series for the first time since 2017 and sixth time since 2010 was always “never in doubt,” when such moments are hardly a guarantee when you opt for the PAC (Popular Assistant Coach).
One of the hardest decisions a college athletic department can make is handing the keys to their PAC, who has never been a head coach; the safest, soundest, decision is to always go with the coach who has “worn the whistle.”
When TCU had to replace the most successful coach in the history of its baseball program in the summer of 2021, there was no assurance their PAC could maintain what Jim Schlossnagle built.
It does look Kirk Saarloos makes a fine HC.
In his second season as the head coach, Saarloos has TCU in the College World Series following its 2-0 sweep of Indiana State in the super regional in Fort Worth over the weekend.
It is the continuation of a school-calendar year that ranks among the finest for a college athletic department.
“It doesn’t feel any different than when I was the assistant coach; it just feels awesome,” Saarloos said on Saturday night after TCU’s win. Saarloos was Schlossnagle’s assistant from 2012 to 2021, and a part of the staff that went to the World Series four times.
“But it does feel good as the head coach; at least I got there as the head coach, I can say that no matter what happens.”
That little detail matters, to the current and future players. To the current athletic director. To the entire TCU athletic staff. To any TCU fan who suffers from amnesia after a blah season.
Sports are loaded with examples of athletic departments who hired their Kirk Saarloos, their own PAC, and it turned out to be the wrong hire.
The PAC is beloved by the players, and often the entire athletic department staff. The PAC has never been the bad guy. The PAC has a perfect record of 0-0.
Infamous PACs include football coaches such as David McWilliams at Texas, Barry Odom at Missouri, Ron Zook at Florida, Gary Gibbs at Oklahoma, Bob Davie at Notre Dame.
In basketball, Indiana University hired PAC Mike Davis to replace coach Bob Knight, and UCLA once promoted Steve Lavin; in women’s basketball, Holly Warlick was legendary coach Pat Summitt’s long time assistant who was promoted to the big job when Summitt retired.
All of these PACs, to varying degrees, flopped.
Famous PACs include Jimbo Fisher; he was the PAC at Florida State when he replaced Bobby Bowden in 2010. Before becoming the Jeff Bezos of college football, Jimbo led FSU to the national title in 2013.
Another famous PAC? Gary Patterson. The same for current TCU men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon, who was the PAC at the University of Pittsburgh.
Most, not all, of these candidates had established credentials as assistants; with the exceptions of Davis and Lavin, both of whom fell into their prime head coaching jobs because of scandals with their respective head coaches, all of these other PACs took the more traditional, longer, route to be a head coach of a major program.
Saarloos had the resume both as a Major League Baseball player and as an assistant coach, that, unlike when TCU promoted Patterson to be its head football coach in 2001, no one objected when TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati named Saarloos as Schlossnagle’s successor.
(It also helps that the amount of scrutiny and interest in a baseball coach job search to a football coach is like comparing apples to a Silverback gorilla).
Hiring Saarloos to replace Schlossnagle had to be done. The credentials and relationship were there, and it was still a risk.
Saarloos had to prove, rather quickly, that he could maintain TCU’s baseball reputation. Done and done.
In his first season, Saarloos led TCU to the best regular-season record in the Big 12, and to the NCAA tournament. This season, TCU won the Big 12 tournament title and now is headed to Omaha.
“It’s hard to get to the World Series; it’s really, really hard,” Saarloos said. “We went four years in a row and made it look pretty easy, but there was a lot of luck involved in that. Some bounces our way. I think people forget how difficult it is.”
That’s assuming they knew in the first place.
TCU is in the World Series because their PAC knew what to do once he “wore the whistle.”
