AUSTIN, Texas — Steve Sarkisian was still unfolding Texas' big 2023 season while looking optimistically toward the future when he heard the news on Jan. 10.
Nick Saban, his former boss at Alabama, was retiring after a legendary career that led him to win six national championships in Tuscaloosa, the last in 2020 with Sarkisian as offensive coordinator.
And, yes, Sarkisian acknowledged Wednesday, the possibility of replacing Saban entered his mind.
“Naturally, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it,” Sarkisian told ESPN. “But it took me about 60 seconds to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to do that.’ I had two amazing years at Alabama and enjoyed my time with Coach Saban, but in the end you want to reap what you sow.
“We've invested a lot in this program for three years, and I think we're on the cusp of going on a run that's going to be epic. I believe that. Our staff does, and our players do too. Just the support we have and the culture we've created here. Why leave something like that?”
Sarkisian joked that Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte was calling when those 60 seconds ended and added, “That's a story for another day.” But it didn't really matter, because Sarkisian was right where he wanted to be.
The same goes for his Texas program, which is exactly where Sarkisian expected him to enter his fourth season in Forty Acres and with the Longhorns making the important step to the SEC in 2024.
“We have to continue to build the team, and when I say team, I mean culture,” said Sarkisian, whose Longhorns made their first College Football Playoff appearance last season and won their first Big 12 championship since 2009.
“We're going to have a lot of talent, right? I'm not worried about us being talented. It's about making sure we're playing at our best when you need your best at critical moments in games, and you play your best.” . when you trust the guy next to you or when you can be accountable to the guy next to you and not feel like you have to go out alone and do something out of the ordinary. We have to live every day that way.
“I think it's something we've done a great job of doing for four-plus years, and I'm not trying to be arrogant in saying that. I just believe it. I think we have the best culture in college football, but we have to do it.” recreate it every year. Culture is not transmitted from one year to the next.”
Quinn Ewers, one of the best quarterbacks in the country, said it was obvious when he transferred to Texas from Ohio State in 2022 that Sarkisian had a definitive plan for how he wanted to overhaul the roster. The Longhorns needed to add depth and skill, but more importantly, add players committed to playing for each other. Ewers said the brotherhood on last year's team was the best he's been a part of at any level of football.
“We had a lot of veteran guys, guys that had been on this team for three years, had been through the coaching change, had been through all the ups and downs,” said Ewers, who will be in his third season as the Longhorns. ' start. “Coach Sark came in and kept the guys he wanted to keep and said goodbye to the others, but I could tell he was building something special.”
What has been notable for Sarkisian this spring is that he has had enough depth to run team periods on both sides of the practice field, two points as he calls it, with 1 and 2 on one end and 3 and 4 on the other. . Entering the 2022 season, 57 of Texas' 85 scholarship players were freshmen or sophomores.
“We've never had the depth to do that all spring before, where you don't feel like one side of the field is being let down,” Sarkisian said. “Just having the bodies to do that is different, especially when you don't feel like there's a dramatic drop.
“Now I feel like, 'Man, our young players may not know everything there is to do right now, but they sure are pretty talented,' and it shows not only on offense and defense, but really “It shows in the special teams.”
The Longhorns had a program-best 11 players invited to the NFL combine this year, another sign that Sarkisian is attracting and developing top talent. Even though he lost as many as five players projected to go in the first two rounds of the NFL draft, Sarkisian has been able to replenish the roster. Texas brought in several high-profile transfers, including receivers Isaiah Bond (Alabama), Silas Bolden (Oregon State) and Matthew Golden (Houston). The Longhorns' last two signing classes have been ranked in the top five nationally by ESPN.
And while Texas might not have Outland Trophy winner T'Vondre Sweat and projected first-round pick Byron Murphy II returning in the middle of that defensive line, Sarkisian believes the Longhorns will be able to play with more defensive linemen in 2024.
The Longhorns were one of six Power 5 teams to finish in the top 15 nationally last season in both offense and defense. Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and Penn State were the others.
In the Sugar Bowl CFP semifinal loss to Washington, Texas rallied in the fourth quarter and had four shots in the end zone after reaching the Huskies' 12-yard line with 15 seconds left, but Ewers couldn't capitalize after the pass. . for 318 yards in the game.
“We know what it takes to get where we want and what else we need to do,” Ewers said. “Obviously it wasn't enough, so we know we need to take that extra step whether on or off the field, but it definitely left a dry taste in our mouths.”
Ewers, who prides himself on never letting himself be rattled, said he never worried about whether his coach would be able to move on when he learned of Saban's retirement. It only helped the mood in Austin when Sarkisian sent out a social media post with an image of “Horns Up” the next night, followed by reports that Sarkisian was close to agreeing to a contract extension that will pay him more than $10 million per year.
“It never crossed my mind,” Ewers said. “He knew he wanted to be here and he knew he wanted to win here. He talks about it all the time. He tells us that he wants to retire here and win many national championships here, and he is convinced when he says it.”
That was pretty much Sarkisian's message to Saban when he told him he was leaving Alabama to take the Texas job in 2020.
“I remember talking to him in his office and I said, 'Coach, I want to build my own legacy. I don't want to stay here to continue yours,'” Sarkisian said. “So those same thoughts came to me when I heard he was retiring. We're building something here that I think will be sustainable for a long, long time.”
