Bob Stoops reveals how Steve Sarkisian could turn around Texas football

Bob Stoops had compliments for new Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, but not without taking a couple of jabs at the Longhorns. The former Oklahoma coach talked about Sarkisian on Fox Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff livestream on Thursday.

“I think Steve Sarkisian is a heck of a football coach,” Bob Stoops said. “For Texas, I feel like the biggest difference is you look at Oklahoma and we’ve won 90% of Big 12 championships. I equate it back to quarterback play. You look at coach Sarkisian’s history and background with quarterbacks, he’s been highly successful. You look at his offensive acumen when he was an offensive coordinator, highly successful.

“I think that’s been the biggest difference between OU and Texas over a good number of years: we’ve had the quarterbacks. At any level of football, that matters. That guy makes such a big difference.”

Since 1996, Oklahoma has won 14 Big 12 championships compared to three for the Longhorns. The Sooners have had four Heisman-winning quarterbacks in that span while Texas has none (running back Ricky Williams in 1998 is the last Longhorns player to win the trophy). Oklahoma nearly had three quarterbacks in a row win the award, but Jalen Hurts finished second in 2019.

The Longhorns lost four-year starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger to the NFL this offseason. They will either start junior Casey Thompson or redshirt freshman Hudson Card in his place. They open the season Sept. 4 against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Despite being one of the most storied programs in college football, Texas has struggled for the greater part of the decade. The Longhorns have just one 10-win season in the past 11 years. Stoops said Sarkisian’s offensive history seems to be a good sign of things to come for Texas.

Most recently the offensive coordinator at Alabama, Sarkisian has previously been the head coach at USC and Washington. He went 9-4 in his first season with the Trojans and was fired five games into his second year.

Could Texas work out differently? Hopefully so.

“I really believe this is a really good hire for Texas,” Stoops said. “I can’t say that I like that being from OU. But if they get that quarterback position going in the right direction, it’s going to be really strong for Texas. It will be good for college football too.”