Do any of Texas' coordinators aspire to become head coaches?

More and more coaches are electing to use a stop as a coordinator at a high-profile power conference program as a launching point for head coach opportunities in those same conferences. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is a good example. After all, he was Nick Saban‘s offensive coordinator at Alabama.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY and get 7 days for just ONE DOLLAR!]

That’s in contrast to the way things were no more than a decade ago. Big-time schools wanted to see if a coach could cut it leading his own program at a lower level. Look at the two head coaches before Sarkisian, Tom Herman and Charlie Strong, as examples of this trend. While this phenomena is not extinct, Billy Napier did go from Louisiana to Florida after all, it’s not as prevalent and more coaches are taking the route Sarkisian took.

The most recent defensive coordinator hire at Alabama is a great example. Kane Womack, who had worked with Kalen DeBoer at Indiana, was the head coach of South Alabama. DeBoer plucked him from Mobile to coordinate the Crimson Tide defense in Tuscaloosa.

All that’s to say, it’s good to be a power conference coordinator, and it’s good to be a power conference coordinator at a school like Texas that’s 12-2 and approaching the quarterfinal round of the College Football Playoff.

So, do Texas’ offensive and defensive coordinators aspire to be head coaches? Or, in the case of offensive coordinator Kyle Flood, aspire to be a head coach again?

Flood led the Rutgers program from 2012 through 2015. Flood was successful early in his tenure, taking over for Greg Schiano and ushering the Scarlet Knights into the Big 10. A longtime Schiano assistant, Flood even won a bowl game and won at least eight games twice. However, a rocky 2015 season was his last in Piscataway and Rutgers leadership moved on to new coach for their new era.

Flood then coached with Sarkisian in the NFL, went with him to Alabama, then followed him to Texas.

Is another opportunity leading a program something the Longhorns’ offensive line coach wants?

“Right now, I’m interested in winning the Peach Bowl,” Flood said Saturday. “I appreciate that question. I think those kind of questions are always a function of success, and generally when you’re an assistant coach, if you get an opportunity to be a head coach, it’s because you were really good at the job you were doing and the team you were with was successful.

“We’ll entertain those things down the road if and when they come. It’s always flattered to be considered for those things. I don’t have put my mind there because right now we have got enough of a challenge trying to play really well against a good Arizona State team.”

A fair answer, but one much different than the one Pete Kwiatkowski provided on Friday.

“I have not actively aspired to be a head coach, no,” Kwiatkowski said. “Just I stay in my lane. I do the best job that I can at whatever role I have, whether it was a D-line coach or a linebacker coach or safety coach. But I’ve never actively chased head jobs.”

Kwiatkowski has never been a head coach at any level. He has been a defensive coordinator for most of the last 25 years at places like Montana State, Boise State, and Washington. At Texas, he has considerable autonomy on his side of the ball working under an offensive head coach like Sarkisian. Yet Kwiatkowski, who was thought to be a Pacific Northwest lifer, has not had his name linked to any head coaching opportunities.

Flood and Kwiatkowski were the only two assistant coaches made available prior to the Longhorns’ departure for Atlanta. Other coaches on Sarkisian’s staff, namely special teams coordinator Jeff Banks, have been linked to head coaching opportunities before. Banks, who has the title of assistant head coach, was mentioned in previous years when his alma mater Washington State came open. However, the Cougars have made three different hires since the late Mike Leach left Pullman to take over the Mississippi State program in 2020 and Banks has not been a significant part of Wazzu’s searches.

Banks does carry a tiny bit of head coaching experience as he led the Texas A&M program into its bowl game after Kevin Sumlin was let go in 2017.

The carousel dictates the opportunities available. As of December 29, there are no current head coaching vacancies. Maybe one school opens and the type of chance a Texas assistant has been waiting for finally becomes there for the taking.

[Subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel!]

But at this point for Flood, for Kwiatkowski, and for all in Sarkisian’s program, the focus is on Arizona State.