The Texas Longhorns were behind the Alabama Crimson Tide by three points in the Tuscaloosa fourth quarter back in the second week of the 2023 college football season,
when at least a dozen schools thought this would be their year of destiny. This was long before we could have known that Steve Sarkisian had built one of the best teams in the nation.
Now that a single football quarter has passed, we can look back and observe how everything for Texas football altered at that point. Or at any rate, that’s when the shift was noticeable.
Later, Sarkisian would explain that his two miserable seasons as Texas’ head coach had been a part of a team that had fallen out of contention for the championship that was being rebuilt.
Texas has gone through four head coaches since the Longhorns’ 2009 trip to the national title game, and they have gotten nearly nothing in return.
Only once has Texas finished a season rated higher than nineteenth in the Associated Press Top 25.
For a university that prides itself on being one of college football’s blue-blood programs—an organization that flaunts its largest bankroll, most luxurious facilities, and best recruits—this had been a startling decline.
After Mack Brown was fired in 2013, Sarkisian became the next coach in charge of reigniting the Longhorn flame, arriving in 2021.
Prior to being fired in 2015 for drinking at work, Sarkisian had an odd career path that led him to one of the most prestigious coaching positions in the nation.
He had led Southern California and Washington to victories in their first two seasons as head coaches.
When C o
When of Alabama brought him into the Crimson Tide coaching staff and offered Sarkisian an opportunity to rebuild his reputation, his career was in ruins.
Sarkisian was hired by UT athletic director Chris Del Conte in 2021, a hotly questioned choice that may prove to be the most significant of his career.
“I came into this job believing that we would come here and win titles,” Sarkisian recently stated to reporters. ”
During the first press conference, I stated that. I mentioned it to these [players] during our initial meeting. I’ve expressed it to them more politely. I’ve expressed it to them in different ways.
f Alabama brought him into the Crimson Tide coaching staff and offered Sarkisian an opportunity to rebuild his reputation, his career was in ruins.
Sarkisian was hired by UT athletic director Chris Del Conte in 2021, a hotly questioned choice that may prove to be the most significant of his career.
“I came into this job believing that we would come here and win titles,” Sarkisian recently stated to reporters. “During the first press conference, I stated that.
I mentioned it to these [players] during our initial meeting. I’ve expressed it to them more politely. I’ve expressed it to them in different ways.
