Texas A&M to retain Michael Earley as head baseball coach

Texas A&M is set to retain Michael Earley as its head baseball coach, athletics director Trev Alberts announced Friday. The Aggies missed the NCAA Tournament one year after reaching the College World Series finals.

Earley took over this season after Jim Schlossnagle’s departure, and Texas A&M got a slew of key pieces back from the transfer portal to eventually come in ranked preseason No. 1. However, the Aggies struggled early in the year before going on a late surge to finish 30-26 overall and 11-19 in SEC play.

Once the season ended, questions swirled about Earley’s future in College Station. Alberts said he was thinking through a decision, but ultimately announced he is staying put as head coach.

“Earlier today I met with Coach Earley to discuss the state of our baseball program,” Alberts said in a statement. “I appreciate Mike’s work in taking a holistic view of what changes need to be made so that we have a baseball program that meets our high standards. Baseball success is critically important to Texas A&M. I am confident in Mike’s ability to execute the needed change and fully support his vision going forward.”

Earley served as the hitting coach on last year’s Texas A&M staff, which rattled off a run to Omaha. He appeared set to leave and follow Schlossnagle to Texas, but ultimately chose to stay put in College Station and take over at Texas A&M.

At the time, the Aggies lost multiple big names to the portal, including Jace LaViolette and Gavin Grahovac. However, they both chose to return, as did a crew of others.

After the down year, there were questions about whether Texas A&M would run it back with Earley. His buyout sat at around $3 million, and On3’s Pete Nakos reported details of the looming decision ahead of the baseball transfer portal window.

Alberts previously confirmed he had some conversations with Michael Earley following Texas A&M’s season-ending loss to LSU in the SEC tournament. Speaking with reporters this past week at the SEC spring meetings, Alberts said a “recap” meeting was in the works once he returned from Destin.

“I’ve had a little bit of communication with Michael, but I’d love to get back to College Station, sit down and sort of recap,” Alberts said, via the Houston Chronicle’s Kirk Bohls. “Obviously we had some highs in baseball. Clearly we fell short. It was a frustrating season and disappointing on a lot of different levels.”