Chris Del Conte says Steve Sarkisian had 'no idea' about SEC move when hired

When you get hired, you would likely want to know all the ins and outs of the job offer before accepting it. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, though? He apparently had no idea what he was getting into on The 40 Acres in a very key aspect.

At a Texas Exes Event in Dallas, Longhorn AD Chris Del Conte spoke about Sarkisian’s knowledge of the fact that the program would be heading from the Big 12 to the SEC upon his hiring. Del Conte went on to say that Sark ‘had no idea’ as he chose to keep that information to himself.

Texas AD Chris Del Conte at @Texasexes event in Dallas: “When I hired Coach Sarkisian, I knew where we were going. He had no idea.”

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) May 11, 2023

Talk about a blindside, right? Texas has been playing in the Big 12 since the mid-1990s. If that weren’t difficult enough year in and year out, just about the only thing that could be harder would be a move to play in the SEC.

Still, it’s not as though Sarkisian has ever backed away from the idea of that challenge. He has the experience from his time at Alabama as well as the NFL to be able to handle that kind of a leap in competition. He will also have the kind of program that can go compete each Saturday by the time it officially makes the jump in 2024.

Sarkisian comments on teams poaching Texas players, confidence in program

Steve Sarkisian was honest about schools trying to poach players, even ones at Texas. Amid reports of schools trying to get quarterback Maalik Murphy to transfer, Sarkisian had an honest self-evaluation.

There’s no doubt about poaching, or perhaps bending of the rules at least, in the transfer portal. That much is obvious. So, Sarkisian was asked if he was concerned about schools trying to break through and poach players.

“I think, one, we have to say to ourselves, it’s a reality right,” Sarkisian said, via Danny Davis of the Statesman. “That’s going to happen. I don’t think we can walk around with our heads in the sand saying that, ‘Hey we’re gonna recruit good players, and it’s just gonna be great. No one’s gonna try to come poach our guys.’”

“But, two, I just think that’s where your culture kicks in. We’ve got such a good culture right now that I don’t think players really want to leave. Now there’s times when we may have to try find creative ways to get ‘em to want to stay, but I don’t think we have guys on our team that are thinking, ‘I want to get the heck out of here. I don’t like the locker room. I don’t like my coach. I don’t like our system or our schemes.’”

Sarkisian doubled down on his players enjoying the Texas Longhorns life and what his program represents.

“I think that we’ve got a lot of players that like what we do,” Sarkisian said. “They like the environment, they like the culture that we have, they feel like they’re improving and getting better. I definitely am aware that people are probably going to try to come after our guys and that’s okay. We’ve just got to make sure we handle it accordingly.”