1st and 10: The redemption arc is over for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, Longhorns football
Narratives surrounding both the Texas Longhorns football program and head coach Steve Sarkisian himself took on a redemptive tone during the 2023 season. For Texas, taking home the Big 12 Championship and nearly reaching the mountaintop on the back of elite recruiting, consistent program development, and transcendent NFL talent ended a 14-year rut that often saw the Longhorns serve as burnt orange punching bag. For Sarkisian, his journey from failed and fired head coach to the brink of death as Alabama’s offensive coordinator to Power Five conference champion did plenty to provide the college football world a new way of viewing Sarkisian.
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Those storylines were fun while they lasted, but the Longhorns’ days of being on the road to redemption are over. Even Sarkisian himself isn’t one to talk about the arduous path he traveled from 2015 to 2023. At this stage, Sark and Texas are done being redeemed. The Longhorns are fighting to entrench themselves at the top of the sport, and Sarkisian is working to prove that his 2023 is the new normal and not a one-off, feelgood story about college football.
At SEC Media Days, Sarkisian was asked how his program maintains its current standing.
“Get right back to work,” Sarkisian said last week. “I don’t want to give you coach talk and coach cliche, but that’s the reality. I’ve been asked a lot about how’s it been since the last pass fell incomplete against Washington, and I’ve felt like we’ve had a football team that’s obsessed with wanting to get back. That obsession has led right into hard work, has led right into who we are culturally and pouring into that, has led right back into highly competitive workouts and practices.”
While Texas wants to return to real national championship contention, no one is going to confuse falling 12 yards short with failure. Texas didn’t put on a performance akin to the 2004 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team. They aren’t just now looking to redeem themselves with gold. A better example for the Longhorns might be 2022 Michigan, who defeated Ohio State, won the Big 10, but fell in the College Football Playoff only to return a year later and finish the job. Michigan reloaded and won it all. Texas is looking to do the same.
Let’s be realistic here, too. The Longhorns were a burnt orange punching bag for over a decade because they were a big, historic, national brand that kept losing to teams that were at a resource and, at times, a talent disadvantage. Gary Patterson put it this way in 2015 ahead of when his Horned Frogs stomped Texas 50-7: “We’ve beaten better with less.”
No longer is Texas the punching bag.
It’s now a big dog in a new conference it will discover is filled with them.
But that also means the “Texas is back” storyline that has often been repeated at the Longhorns’ expense is over. The climb back to prominence is through. Texas is prominent. When the Longhorns are talked about this season, “can they finally break through” won’t be the question associated with them.
For the Longhorns and for Sarkisian, it’s not about a return to glory.
It’s about doing what it takes to be able to bask in it. Again.
1: Texas is set to host a number of top targets in the 2025 and 2026 classes this weekend, with all eyes on 2025 Galveston (Texas) Ball safety Jonah Williams.
Williams set his commitment date for August 24.
Texas has been in Williams’ top group throughout his process but buzz around the Longhorns being a leader has never materialized.
With a month to go before Williams makes his call, this is a hugely important weekend for Texas in this pursuit. However, it should be noted Williams has yet to take his Texas official visit.
Stay tuned to Inside Texas tomorrow for complete coverage of the recruiting weekend.
2: Not only will 2025 QB commit K.J. Lacey be in Austin, but so too will 2026 commit Dia Bell. The number of 2026 prospects is far greater than the amount of 2025s making their way to Texas.
Bell has started making more and more calls to top 2026 prospects, working on getting them in the class. This trip should help his efforts.
Plus, for both Lacey and Bell, more and more visits can only strengthen their already solid commitments.
3: If you haven’t seen the Atlanta Falcons’ 33-minute video titled “Bijan Robinson: The Power of Example” its there in its entirety below. (Or available here)
It’s a tremendous look at how Robinson’s experience at Texas helped to form him into the fantastic football player and phenomenal human being he is today. The NFL is a business, and Robinson is great at the business of both on the field and off the field matters.
4: There’s a clip in the video from the 2022 Baylor game, one the Longhorns won 38-27 on the efforts of Robinson and Roschon Johnson. Late in the contest against the Bears when it’s clear Texas is going to win, the entire Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium crowd starts chanting “BIJAN! BIJAN! BIJAN!”
That’s something that has taken place on the 40 Acres a few times in the storied history of Texas football, but Robinson’s praise was the first to ring out like that from the bleachers in some time.
Robinson getting a curtain call from almost 100,000 is a memory I’ll hang onto from this job for a long, long time.
5: Paul Wadlington likes to say that any program can win an NIL recruitment if they are fanatical enough. Texas Tech just proved him right.
The Red Raider softball program landed a commitment from NiJaree Canady, and her services didn’t come cheap.
Any program can win an NIL recruitment if it is dedicated enough, and Texas Tech grabbed one of the nation’s top players thanks to a seven-figure deal.
6: Texas recently made the top group for Lubbock (Texas) Monterey guard Aaliyah Chavez, the top prospect in the 2025 class. On3’s Talia Goodman delivered the scoop on Chavez and explained how the Longhorns are in a good ol’ fashioned SEC battle for the Lady Plainsmen’s star player.
Texas has recruited extremely well under Vic Schaefer, and he’ll have to recruit extremely well to land Chavez.
7: Thirty-seven Longhorns are heading to Paris to compete in the 2024 Olympics. In the history of UT athletics and the Olympics, the Longhorns have won 153 medals. Eighty-eight are gold, 41 are silver, and 24 are bronze.
Which countries has the Texas athletic department outperformed as far as total medal count?
- Brazil
- Ukraine
- Greece
- Kenya
- South Africa
- Jamaica
- Iran
- Ethiopia
- Argentina
- Austria
- North Korea
- Kazakhstan
- Croatia
- Belarus
- Mexico
- Ireland
- Georgia
- Uzbekistan
- Estonia
- Thailand
- India
- Slovakia
- Egypt
- Indonesia
- Slovenia
- Bahamas
- Azerbaijan
- Taiwan
- Morocco
- Lituania
- Serbia
- Colombia
Just to name a few.
8: Michigan is set to go through Big 10 Media Days tomorrow. Don’t expect to hear much from the Maize and Blue about the Longhorns aside from typical “we respect them” platitudes.
9: One thing I noticed while studying Bill Norton in recent days was that Arizona had a spirited defensive line that showed a lot of effort from EDGE to EDGE. That’s not said to instill unfounded hope in what Norton and Tia Savea can accomplish this year. Rather, just an observation. Duane Akina probably wishes he had the same line this year, but he can probably make due with what’s still in Tucson.
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10: It’s preseason camp. Not fall camp. Fall doesn’t start until September 21. Preseason camp begins on July 31. Stay locked into Inside Texas for complete coverage.
