This answer from Jim Schlossnagle is a lesson for coaches in how not to answer job-movement questions

Years ago, I was having a conversation with a friend, who was telling me about an episode his colleague had just been through. The colleague was on a work trip, and he and a co-worker who was not his wife found themselves in the same hotel room. You get the point. But, the colleague said, he and the co-worker did not go as far as they could have. 

And I'll never forget my friend's advice to his colleague: He might as well have gone all the way, because his wife was going to treat him as if he had.

That situation comes to mind as Jim Schlossnagle does the unthinkable in leaving the Texas A&M baseball program for Texas. As juicy as this move makes this already scorching-hot rivalry, his answer to a question about possible job movement on Monday night provides a lesson to all coaches in how not to handle the situation he found himself in.

For those unaware, Schlossnagle's A&M team lost the national championship game to Tennessee, 6-5 on Monday night. Hours earlier, Texas fired its head coach, David Pierce. As speculation began percolating that Texas was interested in Schlossnagle and Schlossnagle was interested in Texas, a question about the opening was inevitable.

Here's how Schlossnagle answered.

Now, Schlossnagle has essentially three options here:

1) Tell the unvarnished truth. "Unless somebody fumbles the ball at the 1-yard line, I'm taking the Texas job tomorrow." He doesn't want to do that, for obvious reasons.

2) Lie. "I know what you're referencing and no, I'm not taking the Texas job. I'll be the Texas A&M job next season." We'll give the benefit of the doubt and say Schlossnagle is not an out-and-out sociopath, so he also doesn't want to walk through Door No. 2 for equally obvious reasons. 

3) Obfuscate. "Tonight is about the players, this team, and us having the best season in school history. Our players are hurting. That's what I'm worried about right now. We'll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow." Or he could've gone for a full-on stiff-arm: "I don't speculate on job openings, and I don't answer questions about rumors." There are more than a few options here to not tell the truth, but also not to lie. 

Now, people aren't stupid, and Answer No. 3, in whatever form it takes, probably just stokes the flames of consternation in College Station. Aggie fans want to hear that their guy will be an Aggie again in 2025, and he knows that's not true. But at least Answer No. 3 provides enough plausible deniability that when he inevitably does leave, people don't feel like they're lied to.

Schlossnagle thought he was Obfuscating, but he got close enough to Door No. 2 that most everyone in Aggieland felt like they'd been lied to. 

"I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job," Schlossnagle said, "and that hasn't changed in my mind."

And here's the crazy thing: By all accounts, Schlossnagle verbally accepted the Texas job days ago, if not longer. He knew he was leaving, and he knew that question was coming. To admonish a reporter for asking an inevitable question -- "I think it's pretty selfish of you to ask me that question, to be honest with you" -- is wild. He's rubbing the reporter's nose in the dirt, when he darn well knows he's leaving A&M before the sun sets the following day. 

To leave Texas A&M for Texas takes... conviction, let's call it. He knew what the reaction in College Station would be, and he did it any way. Clearly, Schlossnagle has his reasons for doing so.

But presumably, he cares about his reputation nationally, at least a little bit.

Presumably, he has relationships within the Texas A&M community he would've liked to continue beyond the following 24 hours. 

Schlossnagle's finger-wagging answer Monday night wasn't an out-and-out lie, but it was close enough that it'll be remembered as a lie. 

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.