New coach, era begin for Texas football
Sark tank: Steve Sarkisian gets his second chance as an FBS head coach under the pressure cooker of Texas.
Come Saturday, Steve Sarkisian’s backwoods journey through personal and professional hell will finally be complete. Once again, he will be standing on the sideline as the head coach of a true college football blue blood.
All the eyes in Texas are upon him.
“Sark has been through hard times, and he’s seen that. He’s better for it,” Pete Carroll, one of Sarkisian’s mentors, said last week after the Seattle Seahawks finished a practice. “Sometimes it’s easy to criticize that, but it’s made him a better man and a better coach.”
Sarkisian’s first game out of the box is a doozy, too. No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette, a team loaded with returning veterans, comes to Austin after going 10-1 last year. Coach Billy Napier’s Ragin’ Cajuns have gone 21-4 the past two years.
“I guess more than anything, it’s exciting,” Sarkisian said. “I’m a really lucky guy that gets to do what he loves to do. And there’s not a lot of people that can say that in the world, and I’m one of them.”
Sarkisian told the AmericanStatesman in January that there was a time he wondered about ever getting a second chance. But he soon stopped worrying. “How do I be the best version of Steve Sarkisian today?” he said.
Once considered a coaching wunderkind, Sarkisian was fired by Southern Cal in October 2015 when alcohol issues surfaced. He looked untouchable for a moment, but Sarkisian’s offensive mind was never a question. So Alabama’s Nick Saban first gave him a shot as an analyst, so did the Atlanta Falcons as their play-caller, and then Sarkisian went back to Tuscaloosa to help the Crimson Tide win a national championship as their offensive coordinator.
“Sark is a gifted football coach, and he proved that question to me way back when,” Carroll said. “His ability to handle
all of the demands that a head coach has to deal with is totally gifted.”
Sarkisian served as Carroll’s quarterbacks coach on the USC squad that lost to Texas in the 2005 national championship game. Carroll has always been in his corner. For Sarkisian to get two chances at Alabama was a telltale sign.
“Nick is an all-time ball coach, and he knows what he’s doing,” Carroll said. “I couldn’t agree with that endorsement more. Now that he’s reestablished himself in his career in college and gets his next opportunity, it totally makes sense to me.
“He’s going to do a terrific job” at Texas, Carroll added. “Every experience you have is beneficial; the hard ones are unfortunately just as important as any of them.”
Now Sarkisian is back as a head coach, leading the most financially lucrative, equally admired and villainized program in college sports. It’s the equivalent of coaching the Yankees, Lakers or Cowboys. And Sarkisian
seems comfortable in the spotlight.
He was the play-caller for Alabama’s title run last season, and he’ll be the play-caller at Texas. He doesn’t shy away from that responsibility, either. “No, I’ll call the plays,” he said in the spring.
Texas administrators are banking on this 47-year-old California native lifting the ’Horns into regular playoff contention and staying there. Former coach Tom Herman orchestrated four consecutive winning seasons with four straight bowl wins. But his teams played for only one conference title (2018).
Texas doesn’t pay its coaches to be good. They’re paid to be great.
The Longhorns have already accepted an invitation to join the Southeastern Conference in 2025, if not sooner.
“This is a monumental decision,” UT President Jay Hartzell said when the school executed a well-designed Big 12 exit plan this summer. “I believe the greatest and most exciting days for Texas Longhorns athletics
are ahead of us.”
UT System Board of Regents chairman Kevin Eltife, Hartzell and athletic director Chris Del Conte all want Sarkisian to lead the charge.
Just like Charlie Strong and Herman before him, Sarkisian is facing a major challenge at UT. Texas is the biggest job they’ve ever had while making the most money they’ve ever made in their life. Sarkisian was awarded a six-year contract worth $34.2 million.
Every coach in this position has one daily thought: Don’t screw this up.
“You always just want to make sure your team is prepared,” Sarkisian said. “You want to make sure that everything we’re doing, ultimately when that ball gets kicked off next Saturday, that our players are in position to have success.”
The quarterback
Right off the bat, Sarkisian faced a massive decision at quarterback. Should the Longhorns start junior Casey
Thompson or redshirt freshman Hudson Card?
Sarkisian knew what he was looking for. Once a struggling shortstop, he switched to football at El Camino (California) College and eventually became a star quarterback at BYU.
The Athletic did a detailed look back at BYU’s 41-37 win over No. 13 Texas A&M in the 1996 Pigskin Classic. Sarkisian threw for 536 yards and six TDs that day in Provo. His impression on teammates is still as strong today as it was 25 years ago.
“He’s one of the best, if not the best leader I’ve ever been around,” former BYU receiver Levi Kealaluhi told The Athletic. “He had this swag about him. … I actually strive to be like him as a coach and a leader. He had this way to make us feel comfortable when we knew it was on the line.”
Sarkisian finally announced Aug. 30 Card will start against the Ragin’ Cajuns. How long Card keeps the job is up to him. There are no promises for Week 2 at Arkansas.
Thompson will also play against the Ragin’ Cajuns, Sarkisian said. “And then we’ll continue to evaluate from there,” he said.
“I’ve tried to impress upon this to our team, to our staff, to anybody that wants to listen, the quarterback position is the most important position in sports. I always say that, and I believe that. But it’s one position of 22 starters on our team on offense and defense.
“Everybody has a role in our organization, and ultimately come game day, you have a responsibility to do your job. And the quarterback’s no different.”
Sarkisian said that from a defensive perspective, he didn’t think delaying an announcement created much of a competitive advantage.
“If the players were drastically different style of players, if one guy was just a straight pocket passer and the other guy was an elite runner and maybe not
as gifted of a passer, then you’d have to prepare for knowing which one is in the game,” Sarkisian said. “That might adjust your calling of the defense. But I think most people have their schemes; they run their schemes.”
Asked if he was worried about one of the quarterbacks jumping into the transfer portal, he said, “I can’t worry about that. I have to make decisions that are in the best interest of the entire football organization and our entire team.”
Sarkisian’s initial staff has better credentials than Strong’s or Herman’s did, on paper anyway. Kyle Flood (offensive line) and Jeff Choate (inside linebackers) have both been head coaches. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski was the architect of some of the nation’s best defenses at Washington. Bo Davis is widely regarded as an elite defensive line coach.
“This is the third stop that Sark and I have been together,” Flood said. “One of the things about working with Sark that you realize right away, he’s the best playcaller in football. I mean that. It makes me feel good that I’m working with someone who does it at an elite level.”
Sarkisian’s first team isn’t perfect from a roster makeup standpoint. Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson make a terrific tandem at running back. The offensive line should be solid with veterans such as Derek Kerstetter and Junior Angilau
paving the way. But there are questions about the receivers and whether there are enough dynamic playmakers out wide.
The defensive line should be impressive, possibly the best unit on the team. Texas has plenty of veterans in the secondary. But are there enough linebackers besides DeMarvion Overshown? Sarkisian went after six transfers, including edge rushers Ben Davis (Alabama) and Ovie Oghoufo (Notre Dame).
On the field, Sarkisian should be fine. Off the field, it’s literally a circus.
School officials are ramping up the pregame Bevo Boulevard festivities with a Ferris wheel, zip lining and more carnival games. The school is eager to unveil the new south end-zone project with a large Longhorns logo outlined in LED lights. There’s a new video board, new items at the concession stands and better antennas for cellphone use.
When Herman arrived, he wanted to know every detail down to what kind of messages were played on the stadium video board. Sarkisian’s different.
“I’m connected to it. I don’t make it a point to try to micromanage everybody and everything. We’ve got a great team,” Sarkisian said. “But I do take a lot of value in it, because I do think that we are the product on the field. We’ve got to make sure that we’re creating an environment that is exciting. I don’t get overly involved, but I am aware of the things that we’re doing.”
Most Texas fans would probably offer clear advice: Just focus on the winning. Let Del Conte handle the rest.
It’s Sarkisian’s first game week, but Texas officials hope it’s the first of many.
Building his support staff