Steve Sarkisian has a busy December to navigate
There are jobs with much higher stakes, jobs that are more mentally or physically challenging, and jobs with more stress, but I’m not sure there are many more difficult jobs than being a college football head coach in an era increasingly defined by player compensation and ease of transfer.
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An airline pilot is certainly one of the occupations that has higher stakes, but they do have the benefit of autopilot for long stretches of flights. Similarly, there are months when a college head coach can put a well maintained program on autopilot, but December is definitely not one of them as coaches look to navigate the Bermuda Triangle of recruiting, their bowl game, and Portal Kombat.
Let’s take a quick look at each component of the job.
Recruiting
Texas currently has the On3 Consensus No. 5 class, buoyed by elite talents such as Arch Manning, Cedric Baxter, Johntay Cook, Sydir Mitchell, Malik Muhammad, Derek Williams, and many more. Not only must Sark and his coaching staff ensure the commits follow through and sign, they also must put the finishing touches on the class by filling any last minute needs. To that end, Texas will host a couple of important recruiting weekends in December.
[See which 2023 Texas recruits will enroll in January]
Recruiting never stops, but there are times it accelerates. With the finish tape fast approaching, this is one of those times.
Bowl game
The result of the bowl game will go on this season’s record but really bowl games, unless playoffs or NY6, are a springboard into the next season.
Sark currently finds himself at a good place in his Texas build. His team showed improvement, he’s raising the talent profile of the program leading to positive attrition and room for more talent, and his culture has taken root. The next big step for the program will be the continued development of his young quarterback, offensive line, Edge, and defensive backs. The allotted 15 bowl practices are the perfect time to get those players reps they might not have had with upperclassmen ahead of them on the depth chart.
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Of course Sark still wants to win the game — 9-4 has a nicer ring than 8-5 — so opponent-specfic game planning will occupy the staff’s time.
Portal Kombat
While the portal has similarities to high school recruiting, there are some key differences stemming from a year-long process being compressed into six weeks. Currently the Texas staff has all hands on deck evaluating known portal entrants with new names becoming public by the day. There is a lot of strategizing taking place over needs, numbers, and priority level. Much of this is gamed out before the portal opens but who actually enters the portal can quickly change the dynamics.
Of course the portal is often accompanied by NIL and everything associated with it. Coaches don’t always know what their own players or rivals might be up to. Sometimes the best portal addition is the player you didn’t lose.
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As December cumulates the calendar ahead of the new year, it does the same for the duties of college coaches. As such, Steve Sarkisian has a busy holiday season as all the duties of his job converge at the same point.
