TCU Athletics
TCU head baseball coach Kirk Saarloos (left) and athletic director Jeremiah Donati (right)
Almost immediately after TCU Baseball announced that longtime baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle was leaving the program, many fans and former players alike clamored for assistant coach Kirk Saarloos to take the position.
Let's just say they got their wish.
TCU announced Tuesday that Saarloos is the new head coach of the Horned Frogs baseball team — less than a week after Schlossnagle's departure and athletic director Jeremiah Donati said the university would embark on a "national search" for its next coach.
“It became very apparent from our meetings with numerous current and former baseball student-athletes that this program is about the family-like atmosphere and amazing culture that exists among the players, coaches, and staff," Donati said. "One of the biggest objectives in this search was finding a coach who would make preserving these values a priority. We have an elite baseball program at TCU. We set out to find a coach in the search process that had a vision and a plan to elevate this program even higher. In Coach Saarloos, not only did we find a great coach with a tremendous plan — we found someone who is a perfect fit for this baseball program and university.”
Saarloos becomes the 20th head coach of the TCU baseball team, promoted after having spent nine seasons with the program. He first joined TCU in 2012 as pitching coach and became recruiting coordinator the following year. Since then, the Frogs have celebrated six conference regular season and tournament championships, four College World Series appearances, and several pitchers entering the major leagues, including Tyler Alexander, Brandon Finnegan, and Alex Young. The Frogs rank fourth nationally in team earned run average (3.26) and seventh in shutouts (53) over the last nine seasons under Saarloos.
Saarloos is an alumnus of Cal State Fullerton and made two appearances himself at the College World Series (1999, 2001). He was drafted by the Houston Astros in 2001 and spent seven seasons pitching in the major leagues with Houston (2002 – 2003), the Oakland Athletics (2004 – 2006, 2008), and Cincinnati Reds (2007). Saarloos eventually returned to Cal State Fullerton between 2011 – 2012 to serve as pitching coach before coming to TCU.
"This has always been my dream job," Saarloos said. "The people here [are] what makes this place special. There's no other place I'd rather be, and there's no other job I'd rather have than this one right now."
