Steve Sarkisian, Texas agree to multi-year contract extension

Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has agreed to a multi-year contract extension to lead the University of Texas football program, UT announced Saturday. Sarkisian’s new deal is through the 2030 season.

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It's a great day on the Forty!

UT and @CoachSark have agreed to a 4-year contract extension 🤘

📝 https://t.co/D5C9wLtKwx pic.twitter.com/6buelEP3xU

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) January 13, 2024

“What a great day it is to have Coach Sarkisian’s contract extended to 2030,” said Jay Hartzell, UT President. “He’s done a remarkable job rebuilding and taking our football program back to great heights in three short years. But the things that make me most proud are the leadership he’s brought and its impact on our student-athletes. This shows up in the culture he’s built in our program and the wonderful ways our student-athletes represent the University. We are competing at the highest level with class, dignity, and a Texas Fight that has been so fun to see Longhorn Nation embrace. Coach Sark is authentic, a man of great integrity, and a gifted developer of exceptional talent. I couldn’t be more grateful to have him as our coach.”

Sarkisian is 25-14 across three seasons at Texas, showing improvement in each successive year. After a 5-7 debut season in 2021, the Longhorns went 8-5 in 2022 before a 12-2 season in 2023 that saw Texas win the Big 12 Conference during the program’s final year as members of the league and reach the College Football Playoff. For his career, Sarkisian is 71-49 across stops at Texas, USC, and Washington.

“I said it when I came here three years ago, this is a dream job for me. It’s a destination job, and I’m fired up every day to be the head coach at The University of Texas,” Sarkisian said. “We’re thrilled with what we’ve been able to accomplish and proud of the culture we’ve built and the way our players have grown — on and off the field. But we’re just getting started. I’ve said it all along, we’ve been building this program for long term success. We’re here to chase greatness, win championships, and be one of the best in the nation year in and year out. And we’re so lucky to have an awesome group of players, a great staff, an unbelievably supportive administration, and the power of Longhorn Nation behind us to help us do that. I can’t thank CDC, President Hartzell and Chairman Eltife enough for their commitment to our mission from day one, and I’m grateful for their continued support.”

The extension comes not only after the Longhorns’ best campaign since 2009, but also the best season of Sarkisian’s career as a head coach. 2023 was the first year in which Sarkisian won 10 or more games and took home a conference championship. It also is on the heels of the news of the retirement of Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who Sarkisian worked for as offensive coordinator briefly in 2016 then again in 2019 and 2020. Sarkisian guided a record-setting 2020 offense on the Crimson Tide’s way to its most recent national championship.

Sarkisian’s extension is further evidence of the current alignment from Texas leadership, specifically UT board of regents chairman Kevin Eltife, UT-Austin president Jay Hartzell, and Longhorns vice president and athletic director Chris Del Conte. Sarkisian has often cited the support offered to his program by those three men, and the quick work done by all involved to ink Sarkisian to a multi-year extension is further indication of the dedication to success UT leadership currently possesses.

The new contract comes as Texas is set to enter its first season as members of the Southeastern Conference. The extension solidifies Sarkisian as the unquestioned leader of a Texas football program on an upward trajectory after the bottoming out of the 2021 season. Thanks to back-to-back-to-back top five recruiting classes, transfer portal successes, and strong roster stability, the Longhorns arrive in the SEC conference in a position of strength with an incredibly stable head coach situation.

“As we head into the SEC next year, we’re doing that with a great deal of momentum, a program we’re extremely proud of and with a great head coach and leader. We knew that Coach Sarkisian was the man for the job when we hired him, and he’s proven that each step of the way,” Del Conte said. “We couldn’t be more excited about where we are and where we’re headed, and we’re thrilled that Coach Sark will be our coach for a long time.”

Sarkisian agreeing to the deal is another chapter in his successful redemption since he was fired by USC in 2015 after issues with substance abuse.

“I was out of work,” Sarkisian said December 31. “Couldn’t get an interview, never mind a job, never mind thinking about the College Football Playoffs. Sure, it did. I think that’s what makes part of this journey with this team this year probably so gratifying.”

Sarkisian became an off-field analyst for Saban at Alabama during the 2016 season. When Lane Kiffin left Alabama the week of the national championship game to take the Florida Atlantic job, Sarkisian was promoted to interim offensive coordinator to call plays in the Crimson Tide’s loss to Clemson.

He then became offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, where he would remain for two seasons before returning to Tuscaloosa to become Saban’s offensive coordinator. Sarkisian worked with star quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones across those two seasons. In 2020, Sarkisian coordinated a record-setting Alabama offense that featured Jones, Heisman winner DeVonta Smith, and star back Najee Harris.

After Tom Herman was dismissed from Texas in early January 2021, Sarkisian was named head coach in short order.

During his tenure as head coach, Sarkisian guided Bijan Robinson and T’Vondre Sweat to national accolades and is likely to see almost a double-digit amount of Longhorns drafted in the NFL draft in the upcoming months.

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A BYU graduate from Torrance, Calif., Sarkisian is 49 years old.

This is a developing story.

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