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Steve Sarkisian creates general manager position, installs 'rockstar' Brandon Harris in the role

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•02/08/24•

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Brandon Harris
Brandon Harris (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

The departure of Texas director of player personnel Billy Glasscock for Ole Miss provided Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian with a chance to make several promotions in his recruiting department, something he followed through on Tuesday night.

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John Michael Jones was promoted to director of player personnel. Taylor Searels got bumped up to the director of recruiting. Kyndal Perry received an elevation in title to director of recruiting operations. All were moves Sarkisian viewed as well-deserved, but the fourth move made resulted in the creation of a new position in his recruiting department.

Sarkisian promoted Brandon Harris to general manager, elevating him from his previous position of director of recruiting. In his new role, Harris will assist Sarkisian with managing the roster, assessing the transfer portal, relating to prospects and their families, and navigating all that with Name, Image, and Likeness becoming more and more prevalent throughout the sport.

“I wanted to make sure that I had somebody in that role that I was connected to on another level,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “My time with Brandon has allowed me to do that. I think he thinks a lot like me, which is important.”

Harris, who Texas once courted when Tom Herman was head coach to be a graduate transfer quarterback, eventually joined the Longhorn program as an analyst following his final collegiate season with North Carolina in 2017. He remained with UT through the change from Herman to Sarkisian, and as a result Harris was able to build a connection with the new head coach of the Horns.

“Brandon and I just hit it off,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t know if it was the quarterbacks in us. We were speaking the same language. His perception of players I thought was very impressive for a young guy. His perception of character I thought was very impressive for a young guy. His ability to communicate I thought was really incredible. It’s a guy that we’ve just grown, our relationship has grown over three years now.”

That connection led to Harris’ opportunity in the role, but so too did the number of vast changes in college athletics. Sarkisian, when asked in previous years about creating a general manager role, said “I am the GM.” But with the need to maintain connections to high school prospects, their coaches, and their families, a new talent pool emerging in the transfer portal, and NIL looming over the entire sport, Sarkisian saw the need to elevate Harris so he could manage the roster “at a little bit of a higher level.”

“You have to be adaptable in this day and age of college football, and I think now more than ever we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got a strong foundation in place in that department,” Sarkisian said.

Every one of Harris, Jones, Searels, and Perry were internal promotions.

“Couldn’t be more excited for those four, what they’ve given to the program in their time here,” Sarkisian said. “The opportunity to reward them is the way I would love to hire. I’d love to hire from within. I think that’s giving people opportunity for growth in your program, and all of them have definitely done that.”

The most important elevation, though, is Harris to general manager. And Sarkisian believes it’s a position tailor-made for the former LSU and North Carolina quarterback.

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“I just couldn’t be more excited,” Sarkisian said. “I think he’s a rockstar in our profession, and he’s going to be in high-level roles for a long time.”

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