Steve Sarkisian indicates he’s staying at Texas

Steve Sarkisian indicates he’s staying at Texas

Steve Sarkisian is apparently staying at Texas.

As 247 Sports’ Chip Brown reported Friday morning that Sarkisian and the Longhorns were close to agreeing on a raise and contract extension for the third-year coach, Texas football’s official Twitter/X account posted a short video of Sarkisian highlights with the caption “just getting started.” Sarkisian reposted the video from his own account, with the “Hook ‘em” emoji.

The 49-year-old Sarkisian is 25-14 in three seasons with the Longhorns, including a 12-2 record, Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff berth in 2023. Texas will join the SEC beginning with the 2024 season.

Sarkisian has also been head coach at USC and Washington, and was Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2019-2020, helping the Crimson Tide to the national championship in the latter season. He was also an offensive analyst at Alabama in 2016, and filled in as offensive coordinator for that season’s CFP national championship game following the departure of Lane Kiffin to Florida Atlantic.

It appears that Nick Saban’s retirement at Alabama at least helped get the ball rolling on Sarkisian’s new deal at Texas. His name came up as a possible replacement for Saban in Tuscaloosa, though that was always considered a longshot.

As Alabama’s search reportedly focuses on Washington’s Kalen DeBoer and Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Sarkisian was apparently out recruiting in the state of Texas on Friday morning, the first day after the end of an NCAA-mandated “dead period”: