Steve Sarkisian on why he prefers to be the play caller

A common question, and even concern for some, through the first two-thirds of Steve Sarkisian‘s three-year tenure at Texas was, can he call plays and manage the team at the same time? Both are mentally demanding jobs when done alone. Very few can effectively pull off double duty. 

[Sign up for Inside Texas and get ONE MONTH for $1!]

Sark calling plays magnified some curious in-game decisions because people were left to wonder if those “mistakes” would have occurred if he was singularly focused on game management. To begin with, we can debate over some of those instances. Many might not have been mistakes in the first place, however, every single coach makes mistakes, even Nick Saban (who didn’t call Bama’s defense). 

I don’t think the calls for Sark to find a play calling OC were too numerous, but I privately wondered if it was too much for one man. That wasn’t a knock on Sark but more an understanding of just how difficult the role is. It’s too much for just about any one person. 

But then it dawned on me in 2022 that Sark’s main issues were lack of time to program build on offense. He was lacking personnel in some places like wide receiver and experience in others like quarterback and offensive line. I had the same moment of clarity regarding the defense the year prior. Pete Kwiatkwoski simply didn’t have the personnel in place or the time to develop his players. Hell, he didn’t even have his players yet. 

My belief was Sark would show us who he was as a head coach and play caller in 2023. It wasn’t always perfect. While the team was often great between the 20’s there were red zone issues. Despite those issues, nobody in their right mind felt Sark was overmatched by his dual role on his way to leading resurgent Texas to a 12-2 record.

That’s why the question he received on Wednesday caught my attention. 

Reporter: “You mentioned you try not to get stale (when it comes to day-to-day program operations) is that one of the reasons you continue to call plays? Does that help keep you sharp, the scheme part of it?”

There’s nothing wrong with this question and I was glad it was asked. It just seemed a year late as the data below shows.

Year	Team	Off. SP+ finish	Off. Yards per play	Team record
2019	Alabama	No. 2	7.89 – No. 2	11-2
2020	Alabama	No. 1	7.81 – No. 2	13-0
2021	Texas	No. 29	6.35 – No. 27	5-7
2022	Texas	No. 28	6.38 – No. 25	8-5
2023	Texas	No. 6	6.67 – No. 13	12-2

Below is Sark’s reply:

“I don’t know, I think that’s part of it. I enjoy our game. I love college football, I love football in general. I love the kind of art of our game and the art of building a team; the art of strategically trying to game plan somebody; the art of calling plays in the midst of the psychological warfare with the other play caller on the other side of the ball. So there’s a lot that I think goes into it. I always wonder when you get hired, I got hired as the offensive coordinator from Alabama and we were pretty good, and I would hate to think that I would take away the thing I probably did best, right, because that was part of the reason I got the job, right? But I’ve got a great group around me. Our offensive staff is really, really good. Coach Flood, Coach Milwee, Coach Choice, Coach Jackson, Coach Banks, these guys are some of the best in what they do in all of football. We do a lot of collaborative work and even on game day with the stuff that we’re calling so I’m fortunate to have that group around me but I’m in no rush to give it up, that’s for sure.”

His line about getting hired in large part because of his play calling success at Alabama always seemed obvious. You play to your strengths and Sark’s strength is setting up big plays via his play calling and scheming. 

It’s clear Sark gains a lot of satisfaction from the sport. He talks about molding young men and the importance of culture all the time. Recently he showed pride in the dramatic increase in team grade point average. 

[Subscribe to the brand new Inside Texas YouTube channel!]

But make no mistake, he also likes scattering the entrails of opposing defensive coordinators all over the field and there aren’t many better at it than him.

That’s why he calls plays.