Steve Sarkisian was introduced to Texas fans on Tuesday, a day after helping Alabama win the national championship.
Sark spoke with reporters and answered questions from the media. He said he hopes that Texas can restart its rivalry with Texas A&M, a rivalry that has not featured games recently. Texas’ AD does not seem to mind that.
But Sark also said that his players will sing “The Eyes of Texas” proudly.
The Eyes of Texas is a subject that became touchy last season. The elimination of the song was on a list of social justice demands sent by some athletes to the school. The university said it was sticking with the song and tradition it represents. Ensuring his players would support and respect the song was likely a condition for Sark being hired.
Sarkisian has had two previous stints as a head coach – first at Washington, and then at USC. He has spent the last two seasons as Alabama’s offensive coordinator.
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Johnny Manziel was among those who got in on the fun bashing Texas for taking some claim in the Heisman Trophy result on Tuesday.
Alabama was the big winner at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Crimson Tide wide receiver DeVonta Smith took home the honor, while quarterback Mac Jones was third and Bama running back Najee Harris was fifth.
Texas brought up the Heisman results as a way to promote their hiring of Steve Sarkisian as their new head coach. Sark was Bama’s offensive coordinator this season.
Manziel ripped on Texas for their tweeting touting Sark’s role in the Heisman. He sarcastically said that Texas pretty much won the SEC championship too.
Manziel went to Texas A&M and won a Heisman Trophy for the Aggies, so he is rivals with the Longhorns. Ripping on them is natural for him.
Texas really only should be boasting when Sarkisian develops Heisman Trophy winners for the Longhorns.
Texas’ Twitter account oddly touted DeVonta Smith’s Heisman Trophy win on Tuesday.
Smith became the first wide receiver since 1991 to win the trophy. He is also the third Alabama player to win the trophy.
So what business did Texas have posting about it? Well, they were touting new head coach Steve Sarkisian’s connection to the award. Sark coordinated Alabama’s offense this season. Alabama’s offense had three of the top five Heisman Trophy finalists, including the winner.
If Texas thinks that Sark is such a big part of the reason for the Tide’s offensive success rather than the talented players others in the program recruited and developed, best of luck to them.
But it’s somewhat sad a program with two great Heisman winners in its history (Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams) has to reach with a tweet like this to promote themselves. They’re better than this.
The Texas Longhorns stunned the college football world Saturday morning with a bombshell coaching change.
The school announced the firing of Tom Herman on Saturday with little warning. They later announced that Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian is their new head coach.
This is a shocker, as the Longhorns had said they’d be sticking with Herman for 2021 less than a month ago. At the time, that was thought to be largely because the school could not find a good enough replacement to justify firing Herman. Clearly, that either changed, or the athletic department reassessed and felt that someone like Sarkisian was worth the risk.
Firing Herman won’t come cheap, as Texas will pay roughly $24 million to buy out both him and his staff.
Sarkisian has a 46-35 record as a college head coach between Washington and USC. He’s been Alabama’s offensive coordinator for the last two seasons, where his stock has risen significantly.
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It sounds like Tom Herman is getting another year as Texas head coach.
Longhorns athletic director Chris Del Conte issued a statement on Saturday meant to address speculation about Herman’s job status. Del Conte says policy is to assess the program at the end of the season, but conclusively states that Herman will remain the team’s coach.
“My policy is to wait until the end of the season before evaluating and commenting on our program and coaches. With the close of the regular season, I want to reiterate that Tom Herman is our coach,” the statement says.
Two key realities likely worked in Herman’s favor. The first is that firing Herman and his assistants would cost the Longhorns roughly $25 million. The second is that their top target to replace Herman turned them down, leaving the Longhorns with no obvious replacement that would constitute a clear upgrade.
Herman has gone 31-18 at Texas, but has failed to propel them into the top tier of college football programs once again in terms of results. He hasn’t always gotten the strongest vote of confidence from his players, either. However, the circumstances mean he’s going to get at least one more year to try to make good on his efforts to turn the Longhorns into a playoff team.
The Texas Longhorns’ pursuit of Urban Meyer may have come to an end.
According to Horns 247’s Chip Brown, Meyer turned down interest from Texas. Meyer reportedly told the Longhorns he is leaning towards not coaching again due to health issues.
Texas reportedly reached out to Meyer to show interest following consecutive losses to TCU and Oklahoma earlier this season. No formal offer was made, but the school was prepared to pay the coach over $10 million a year to coach them.
Meyer has not coached since 2018 and has served as an analyst for FOX since then, often making headlines for what he says. He’s the best coach available, which is why a dissatisfied program like Texas pursued him.
Other coaches Texas reportedly has considered include: Steve Sarkisian, Mario Cristobal, James Franklin and Matt Campbell.
If I’m Texas, I’m forgetting Sarkisian, as he won’t do more than Tom Herman, and Cristobal doesn’t get me too excited. Franklin would be fine, but Campbell would be the most desirable coach of the group.
But would Texas pay a massive buyout to Herman if they’re not replacing him with Meyer? That’s the big question for their donors.
All the rumors surrounding Urban Meyer last fall connected him to USC. This fall, all the rumors are connecting the former Ohio State coach to Texas.
Meyer has not coached college football since the 2018 season and has been working for FOX as an analyst since then. But he remains a high-profile target for interested programs, and that includes the Longhorns.
On Saturday, the Austin American-Statesman’s Kirk Bohls said that Meyer was the top target for Texas. He mentioned James Franklin as a possible backup candidate.
The Austin American-Statesman’s Brian Davis said he did not expect any news on the Meyer front for Texas unless Meyer himself moves forward.
Meyer is one of the few coaches who can compete with Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney, which makes him an attractive candidate for a school like Texas. The Longhorns are not sold on Tom Herman, who is 6-3 in his fourth season as head coach. A week ago we saw some rumors about Meyer’s wife looking at real estate in Austin. This is all a reminder that we are at that time of year again: the coaching carousel is in full swing.
Urban Meyer has not coached in college football since the 2018 season and is the best coach available. Texas Longhorns fans have been talking all fall about how he’s the kind of coach who could step in and replace Tom Herman to get the Longhorns back where they want to be. And guess what? Right on cue after the team lost to Iowa State, our first Urban Meyer-to-Texas rumor hit the net.
A new website called Austonia, which we previously have never heard of, started a rumor about Meyer’s wife Shelley going to Austin to check out the real estate market. Austin is where the University of Texas is located.
Is there anything to this rumor? Probably not, but this is a good reminder of a few things. One, expect there to be lots of talk about Texas possibly moving on from Herman. And two, expect more rumors linking Meyer to the Longhorns.
Herman has a hefty $15 million buyout, but we wouldn’t expect that kind of number to stand in the way of the boosters reeling in Meyer if he is interested. Herman has gone 30-18 over four years and has Texas 5-3 this season.
Prior to all the Texas rumors, all the talk last year was about Meyer headed to a different school. In the past, Meyer has offered some criticism of Herman while serving as an analyst for FOX.
The Texas Longhorns continue to be a program with decent results but championship aspirations, and that’s led to major frustrations in Austin.
Texas’ loss to Iowa State on Friday dropped them to 5-3 on the season. With two winnable games to go, a 7-3 finish remains possible, but this is a program that expects to contend for the College Football Playoff. That once again won’t be happening in 2020, and it has led to speculation about coach Tom Herman’s job status.
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger is among the most frustrated. When asked if Herman was getting the most out of the players or if coaching is the issue, Ehlinger offered up a very honest response.
“That’s the million dollar question everybody’s trying to figure out the last 10 years,” Ehlinger said, via Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman.
Therein lies the problem. Herman was brought in as the guy who would answer that kind of question. The fact that it’s still being asked doesn’t bode well for him.
Herman himself had a different response to questions about his future with the Longhorns.
Texas head coach Tom Herman made a questionable decision to not take an easy field goal late in his team’s game against Iowa State on Friday, and it proved to be costly.
The Longhorns were leading 20-16 midway through the fourth quarter when their drive stalled at the Iowa State 13-yard line. Rather than kicking a field goal to give his team a 23-16 lead, Herman opted to go for it on 4th-and-2. Texas was stuffed and turned the ball over on downs.
Herman’s call initially didn’t appear to hurt Texas, as their defense forced a punt on the ensuing drive. However, Texas then went three-and-out and punted it back to Iowa State. The Cyclones scored a touchdown on that drive to take a 23-20 lead with just 1:44 remaining in the game.
That 1:44 wasn’t enough time for Texas to secure a game-winning field goal. They moved the ball down the field, but quarterback Sam Ehlinger took a bad sack near midfield and turned a reasonable field goal attempt into a 57-yarder, which sailed wide left.
Had Herman taken the three points earlier in the fourth quarter, the worst-case scenario for Texas likely would have been overtime. Going for it on 4th-and-2 doesn’t sound crazy, but the Longhorns would have been in better shape if they took a 23-16 lead at that stage in the game.
Texas had a chance to stay alive for the Big 12 Championship Game with a win, so the loss to No. 13 Iowa State was particularly painful.
All eyes will be on Herman now down the stretch. Texas is 5-3 on the season and 30-18 under Herman overall. The coach has drawn criticism from Texas alumni and fans this year. It would not be a shock if he is fired before the end of the season.
