Steve Sarkisian reflects on journey at Texas, reaching Big 12 Championship

In 2021, Steve Sarkisian took over a Texas program that was coming off four straight seven-plus win seasons under Tom Herman. It didn’t go as planned, though, with a 5-7 record to miss out on a bowl game for the second time in five years.

But some of the players he inherited from Herman’s regime stuck around in Austin. They’re now seniors, and Friday night’s matchup against Texas Tech — which could’ve clinched a Big 12 Championship appearance with a victory — was their final home game.

They went out in style as the Longhorns dominated in all three phases en route to the 57-7 victory. It capped Sarkisian’s three-year journey from a 5-7 program to an 11-1 program, with at least two more games to go.

And for that group of players who stuck around after Herman’s firing, Sarkisian made sure to give them credit for helping build the foundation.

“They’re the reason we’re here,” Sarkisian told ABC’s Tom Luginbill after Friday’s game. “I think about a guy like Jett Bush. For him to get that play, he showed up here as a walk-on for a different coach, stuck with me and what we were doing. There’s a bunch of those types of guys. In the end, I just couldn’t be more proud and happy for that group of guys because without them, we would not be here.”

Bush had one of the biggest plays of the night, catching a ball that ricocheted off Tahj Brooks’ foot and took it to the house for a pick-six to make it a 50-7 Texas lead. It was part of a complete performance, which also saw Xavier Worthy — a member of that 2021 recruiting class — record a touchdown after shaking off an injury.

Steve Sarkisian: ‘This team is … full of love’

Sarkisian’s roster has evolved as he got more of “his” players on board. Notable names such as Quinn Ewers and Adonai Mitchell have come in via the transfer portal. Others such as Kelvin Banks and Anthony Hill came in from the high school level as highly touted recruits.

But Sarkisian maintained his gratitude for that initial group, which stuck around beyond that rough first season. It’s all paying off.

“We’ve got a great group of kids, and it starts with these guys that are three-year players that have been in our program that had to endure 5-7 in Year 1 and 8-5 last year,” Sarkisian said. “They believed. And then they did a good job, as we brought in some new classes and some really talented kids, they believed what those guys were doing and everybody bought into what we were doing.

“This team is, quite frankly, full of love. They play for each other, and that’s the coolest thing.”

Now, that crew will play for a Big 12 Championship — Texas’ first time playing in the game since 2018. And while the Longhorns don’t know who they’ll play yet, they officially punched their ticket to cap off a special Year 3 under Sarkisian.