Texas coach Sark would love to have a spring game, but can't afford it

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For years, the Texas Longhorns spring game was an annual tradition. It was the finale of spring practice and the last chance for UT fans to see the team before the season starts in the fall. But Texas coach Steve Sarkisian ended the spring game on the Forty Acres. Why? Is it back this year?

In February, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte announced the return of the “spring game” after a one year hiatus. But that didn’t mean an actual game like the team used to stage. Del Conte announced the scrimmage comeback at a Texas Athletics Town Hall, which was greeted with applause from the audience from the gathered crowd.

“Not too sure how the spring game is going to go,” Del Conte told the group. “We have a lot of young bucks. I talked to (Head Football) Coach (Steve) Sarkisian yesterday at lunch and he goes, ‘Yeah, we’re going to give it a go.’ It’s going to be awesome.”

Del Conte has always been fan friendly and has created several and enhanced many fan experiences like Bevo Boulevard. The Moody Center certainly has been crafted with fans in mind.

The event the football team will hold will be more like a glorified practice than an actual Orange-White game. But Sark says there will be a scrimmage. Just not a game.

“We’ll modify it. It will still be entertaining I think for the fans,” Sarkisian said this week. “Ideally, I would love to play a game. I think it’s great for our players too. Our players want to compete. They want to see (that) there’s gonna be a winner and a loser and they would like that.”

But it really comes down to risk and cost. Players that any sort of injury are held out of spring games. If a couple guys in one position group goes down, then you can’t really stage a full game.

“We just aren’t able to do it,” Sark said. “I would play a game if I could. You know, when you don’t have quite enough linemen or all of a sudden you get a couple guys hurt, then how do you play?”

It’s a shame. Fans love it and even Sark has fond memories of the Orange-White games he’s helmed. But in the modern age of college football when total player NIL spend (salaries) can reach into the tens of millions, you can’t take the risk if it doesn’t make sense.

“Two years ago we had an awesome game,” Sark said. “It was fun. It came down to right there near the end and I think (Ryan) Wingo actually made a few plays there late in the game. That was really fun that we were able to do that.”

Last year, appearing on Up & Adams, Sark went more in depth into his reasoning.

“Our approach is going to be a little bit more NFL driven,” Sark said on the podcast. “Kind of more of an OTA style early on and as we grow into more of the scrimmage formats in the second half of spring ball, that I just don’t know if rolling the ball out, playing the game, when we only get 15 practices is the best for us to maximize the opportunities that we get. So it’s going to be a little bit of a different approach, but I think college football is changing right now. And we need to do a great job as coach of adapting to college football and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

“A couple reasons why,” Sarkisian said. “Over the last two years we played 30 games. That’s a lot for college football. 14 two years ago. 16 this year. And I just mentioned we’ve had 25 guys get invited to the NFL combine the last two years, so we’ve got a lot of young players on our roster. We have 21 mid-year high school kids that just showed up. And so the development that’s needed for these guys to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be.”

The spring event will be a lot like a Midnight Madness event in college basketball. The “open practice” will be at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on April 18 at 11 a.m. CT.

Football Fan Day Schedule

Here is what Texas football has scheduled for Saturday, April 18:

  • 9:30 a.m. – Football Fan Day Street Fest opens
  • 9:30 a.m. – Team Shop Fire Sale
  • 9:30 a.m. – Bevo XV and Smokey the Cannon photo ops
  • 10 a.m. – Gates open to DKR  (Gates 8, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32)
  • 11 a.m. – Open Practice
  • 1:15 p.m. – Player Autograph Session (1 Hour)
  • 1:15 p.m. – On-Field Photo Ops (Fans can take photos with Coach Sark, Texas Cheer, Texas Pom, and Hook’Em)

This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: What’s the real reason Texas Football won’t have a spring game?

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