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Pressure is a privilege, right Steve Sarkisian?

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•07/05/24•

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Steve Sarkisian
Steve Sarkisian (Jay Janner/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK)

You’ve probably heard the term pressure is a privilege in the context of college football. Pressure means high expectations and all that term encompasses moving into the era of the 12-team College Football Playoff.

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Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian dealt with his fair share of pressure this time last year. Entering the Longhorns’ final year in the Big 12 Conference, the college football world figured Texas would be at a minimum contending for the league championship if not winning it for the first time since 2009. Sarkisian performed under pressure, topping Oklahoma State for the conference title to cap a 12-1 year and sending Texas to the final scheduled iteration of the four-team CFP before falling to Washington in a hard-fought battle.

The pressure isn’t going away as the Longhorns join the Southeastern Conference. On3’s Jesse Simonton earlier this week said Sarkisian was under “high” pressure entering 2024, and ranked Sark No. 7 among SEC coaches with two months to go to the college football season.

Here’s what Simonton had to say about Sarkisian, who arguably ranks third on the list among coaches in the SEC who aren’t anywhere near a hot seat.

Sarkisian wasn’t even considered a Top 25 coach in the country before last year, and then he won the Big 12 Championship and took Texas to the CFP in easily his best year as a head coach. 

Now can he do it again — only in a tougher conference? The pressure is on Sarkisian to prove last season was not a one-year wonder. The Longhorns have a stacked roster and will be a unanimous Top 5 team entering the season. 

To be extremely clear, being under pressure does not necessarily mean being in jeopardy of losing a job. However, that is the case for Arkansas’ Sam Pittman, Florida’s Billy Napier, and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea after all three posted disappointing, under .500 seasons in 2023.

It’s not the case for Sarkisian, who has 55 million reasons why that is. Plus, unlike Pittman, Napier, and Lea (three coaches Sarkisian will face this season), Sarkisian put together a fantastic 2023.

Simonton’s opinion has plenty of merit. 2023 was Sarkisian’s best season as a head coach and stands as one of the better Texas campaigns this century. That said, Sark has never followed a wildly successful season with another wildly successful season. The explanations for this between his stops at Washington and USC are numerous, but they still exist all the same.

High pressure is what Sarkisian signed up for. High pressure is what he’s paid the big bucks for. And entering 2024, he’ll be expected perform in a similar way.

That high pressure Simonton talked about? It’s coming from inside the head coach’s office in Moncrief.

“I came here to win a championship,” Sarkisian said in February. “If I can get one, I want to get two. I’m borderline obsessed with it at this point. I know what it tasted like last year. I know how close we were, and I couldn’t wait to get back. Hopefully that’s what our team really starts to exude, is this obsession with being the best.”

Texas is considered not just a contender for the SEC Championship during its first year in the league, but also for the national championship. These expectations are lofty, of course, but they are that way for a reason. Texas has a third-year quarterback in Quinn Ewers, four-of-five starters returning on the offensive line, accumulated talent from multiple top recruiting classes, and experience on both sides of the football.

Plus, the Horns have a coach who sought that type of pressure. Sarkisian had offers from other schools thanks to his standout years calling the Alabama Crimson Tide offense, but declined them in hopes of a larger opportunity like, say, Texas.

Some of the names in the “high pressure” category also have high expectations entering 2024, illustrating this isn’t just about being on the hot seat. Kalen DeBoer was listed in the same category as Sarkisian because of the whole “succeeding the best coach in the history of the sport at a program with a very talented roster that has an extremely fervent fanbase.” So were Brian Kelly and Lane Kiffin. LSU and Ole Miss aren’t firing their head coaches any time soon, but they want to win and they want to win now. They’ve invested plenty in the program and in the roster to make that happen. The coaches are tasked with living up to those expectations.

More evidence of pressure being a part of blue blood jobs can be seen when looking at the Big 10 rankings. Ohio State’s Ryan Day, who is 56-8 with two Big 10 championships as head coach of the Buckeyes, is at the top of the list of Simonton’s look at the same metric in the other conference in the Power Two.

Sarkisian is by no means at any risk of losing his position without cause, nor is he looking for a way out of town. Again, tens of millions of reasons have him happy to live and work in Austin, Texas, and not all of those reasons are about money.

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But Sarkisian is in Austin with a task. He has the means at the University of Texas to complete it, and he’ll be expected to put the Longhorns in position to do so. Pressure is a privilege, and Sarkisian is extremely fortunate entering 2024.

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