Jeff Banks shares what makes Steve Sarkisian a special coach

If anyone knows Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, it’s Jeff Banks, who spent two seasons with him at Alabama before coming with him to wear many hats for the Longhorns. Banks serves as Texas’ assistant head coach, special teams coordinator, and tight ends coach, and heading into Sarkisian’s third season at the helm he discussed what makes him so special.

“I think with Sark he walks the walk, right? So you come in and immediately his energy level is higher than everybody in the building, and so right off the bat the number one thing that Sark brings to the table is energy and positivity,” Banks said.

Sark’s trademark high-energy personality shown to the media clearly isn’t a front, as Banks broke down how his positivity is consistent and contagious among the rest of his staff and his players.

“And as a head coach a lot of times the ebb and flow of what goes on day to day he might be affected by and the assistants don’t see it. He does a great job of that and not letting outside stuff affect him and his energy level,” Banks exlained. “So we feel like we gotta raise our energy level when we come to work working for Coach Sark because of how much juice he has when he comes in the building, and I think that permeates to the team.”

Sarkisian has come a long way from the young, hot-shot quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator from his earlier coaching days as he enters his third season at the helm for the Longhorns, as Banks detailed which areas he has seen his colleague grow the most.

“As far as where has he grown?” Banks asked. “I think just probably managing the complete day-to-day, 365 days of being a head coach. I think he’s done a tremendous job of managing the recruiting piece as a head coach, the CEO as the spokesman of our organization, and then coaching the coaches and the players. A day-to-day operations guy that way.”

When it comes to X’s and O’s Sarkisian knows his stuff, which Banks made clear. But his ability to serve as the face of one of the most popular programs in the country is what has recently set him apart.

“From a play calling standpoint, he’s the best in the business and he’ll continue to thrive on offense. But I think managing the rest of the job as a head coach, I think he’s grown tremendously in the last three years,” Banks concluded.

Sarkisian has thrived in recruiting and growing the Texas brand during his short time in Austin, and it seems like he could be the perfect fit to usher the Longhorns into the latest evolving era of college football where conference changes, NIL, the transfer portal, and other nuances keep coaches on their toes at all times.