Coach's Corner: Why I'm bullish on Steve Sarkisian

A Texas-Ex and former graduate assistant for the Longhorns, Bryan Erwin led La Marque to two state championships as head coach in 2003 and 2006. Prior to hanging up his whistle, Erwin also served as head coach at Flower Mound Marcus, Hillsboro and Italy. Erwin is now in private business in Central Texas, and is writing a new column for Inside Texas. We hope you enjoy The Coach’s Corner.

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Let’s get this started.

In this first article, I’d like to say that I am a Steve Sarkisian fan. I believe that he will be ultra-successful at Texas.

Why?

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Below are a few observations from last year’s team, and specific reasons why I like the way Sarkisian runs his program.

Sark’s 2021 Longhorn team was prepared to play, usually started fast, and was successful in the first half. Texas led at halftime in eight of the twelve games played last season. Texas also led at the half in four of six games during the infamous six-game losing streak.

First half success requires effective game planning, preparation, and simply having your team ready to play.

I can think of only two games that the Horns were not ready to play: Arkansas and Kansas.

For a first year effort, that’s a promising indicator overall.

Coach Sark is also one of the best that I have seen at getting the ball to his best players (Bijan Robinson and Xavier Worthy) in myriad ways – through isolation, mismatches, motion, and formations. In key moments, Sark always found a way to get the ball in his best players’ hands, and he has shown an unbelievable knack for doing it when the opponent knows it is coming.

We all remember his offense in 2020 when he repeatedly schemed DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris, and John Metchie in creative fashion during Alabama’s championship run.

Situational offense is another area that Sark is prolific. Texas was generally excellent at situational football in 2021.

Texas was efficient in the following areas: red zone, 3rd and medium, 3rd and short, and on 4th Down. Success in these areas enables an offense to move the chains and ultimately leads to scoring points.

Great situational football comes down to game planning and preparation. Coaches must discern if schemes that look good on paper will translate to on-field execution.

Players must buy-in and trust a coach’s schemes to execute them at a high level.

Sark has built tremendous credibility with his players when establishing situational strategies. The credibility is a result of detailed preparation by the coaching staff and positive outcomes due to coach Sarkisian’s ability to put players in the best position to be successful.

I also support Sarkisian’s commitment towards not making the QB a central piece in the run game. While it’s true that involving the QB in the run game gives you a numbers advantage, the cost far outweighs the benefit.

The cost is getting your QB1 injured and relying on QB2 to win games for you.

We all would like to push “reset” on the first down speed-option play in the 2010 National Championship game when Colt McCoy was injured early.

To be a championship team, QB1 must stay healthy, period. You cannot keep your QB healthy in college football if you are giving him the ball on designed runs 15-20 times per game.

Absolutely, you allow him to scramble and make plays off-schedule. When a QB is making plays off-schedule, he does not have 11 defenders with eyes on him.

At this point, I would like to reference Vince Young’s 4th-down scramble in 2005 that worked out nicely for the Horns!  It was not a run-first play.

Designed QB runs have a role in critical down and distance situations, but they should be used conservatively and as an element of surprise.

As painful as 2021 was in many ways, I am a bigger Sark fan after the 2021 season than I was before.

I love how he stuck by his players publicly. He never threw them under the bus. Not to the media or the public. Sark’s loyalty towards his players will pay dividends for years to come.

I am sure that he had a few succinct words for his team inside the locker room, but he never once blamed them or sold them out, something it probably would have been easy to do considering how his team failed to finish games a year ago.

A Coach Sark critic will say he needs to be a better second-half coach or make better half-time adjustments. But I’d counter that winning games in the fourth quarter often comes down to players refusing to lose, to players finding a way to win the darn game.

It is the coach’s job to prepare his team and put them in positions to win. It is the player’s job to go win the game.

TEXAS FIGHT!