Six reasons why it would be dumb for Texas Football to move on from Steve Sarkisian
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It is the topic of the week. The job status of Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian has dominated the discussions around Texas Football since UT’s loss in Athens. From Desmond Howard to athletic Director Chris Del Conte to Sarkisian himself, there has been a lot said. But if parting ways with Sarkisian is even a reality, it would be a terrible move (right now) for the program.
The chatter started after Texas’ loss to Georgia Saturday night, the worst loss in Sark’s tenure at Texas. It was a game Sarkisian got thoroughly outcoached by Kirby Smart.
There were (and still are) a lot of questions about the current state of Texas Football under the fifth year coach. There is a lot Sarkisian needs to course correct, from play-calling to smarter recruiting to his coaching staff. But parting ways would be drastic.
The “Sark Out” talk exploded when ESPN’s Desmond Howard posted a rant saying he thinks Sarkisian will be out this offseason. Howard wasn’t specific as to whether Sarkisian would leave on his own for an NFL job or if the University would look elsewhere.
The first pushback came from Del Conte. The UT AD responded to Howard’s now viral video, commenting on Howard’s original Instagram post and quoteing the post on X (formerly Twitter). The AD made the same comment in both places.
“This is news to me… Thanks for the insight.” – Texas AD Chris Del Conte
This is news to me… Thanks for the insight 🫵🏽🤦🏽♂️ https://t.co/9oD7wr24Ha
— Chris Del Conte (@_delconte) November 18, 2025
On Wednesday, Sarkisian himself has added an emphatic response to the speculation after giving an opening statement in this week’s SEC teleconference.
“That is people reporting that are insinuating that there’s a possibility I could leave the University of Texas, and that is absolutely false and untrue. I’m not going anywhere. Never do I do this because I never want to be a distraction, so I never address these things. At this point, I feel like this is important that I do this because it’s important for our team. It’s important for our university. I’ve had no discussions, not with my agent, not with the university, not with any other school, not with any NFL team about ever going anywhere else. I came here to win championships.” – Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian
Now that we have all of the denials out of the way, let’s examine if it would even be a good idea for Texas Football to part ways with Steve Sarkisian.
The short answer is – no. There are several factors that go into why sticking with Sark, at least for now, is the right move.
Sarkisian’s job performance
Steve Sarkisian’s tenure at Texas has been an unquestioned success. Yes, this season is disappointing. But remember year after year of “Is Texas back?” That’s not a question anymore. Sark has brought Texas “Back” from the wreckage of the Charlie Strong and Tom Herman years.
Texas has been to two college football playoff semifinals in a row, in both the four team and 12 team formats. Sark’s teams have improved each year he’s been in Austin, culminating last season with a 13-3 record. He has pulled off a couple historic wins at Alabama and at Michigan.
Sarkisian’s upgrade in recruiting has been monumental. Sure, NIL has probably helped the program. But a big reason Tom Herman was fired was because his recruiting had cratered. Last year, Sark signed the No. 1 class in the nation. We still haven’t seen the full impact that will give the Texas program.
Sarkisian isn’t alone in not winning a title quickly
There are only three active coaches that have won a college football national title. Those are Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. None of them won a national title in their first five years. Smart and Day both took six years to complete the feat. Dabo took seven years.
All three had ups and downs in the window before winning a title. Ryan Day was “dead man walking” according to many national media commentators after losing to Michigan in the Big Game last year. Six week’s later he was a national champ.
Could Texas hire anyone better than Sarkisian?
If Texas moved on from Sark, who would it even hire? Smart, Day and Swinney aren’t going anywhere. Currently, Swinney wouldn’t be an upgrade from Sarkisian.
There’s a reason LSU and Florida, the two big programs in the SEC with open head coaching jobs, are chasing the same candidate. Lane Kiffin is the hot name in coaching this year, just like Sark was in 2021. Kiffin has had more success at Ole Miss than anyone has in decades in Oxford. Given control of a bigger program, he could win multiple titles. But that’s far from certain. Kiffin has warts too.
If not Kiffin, who? Some of the hot names right now are Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and SMU’s Rhett Lashlee. Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline is another hot name right now.
Are any of these names a sure thing? You can have the opinion one of these names might be better at Texas than Sarkisian, but there are no actual facts to back it up. UT would be gambling they can find someone better than Sark. That’s a BIG gamble.
Don’t forget the Mack Brown era
Winning a national title isn’t exactly easy and you don’t win one by just being a blue blood program. Just ask Mack Brown. The former Longhorns coach took eight years before he finally won a national title and it took recruiting Vince Young to break through.
Under Brown, the Longhorns recruiting was off the charts and his teams were consistently in the Top 10, but one or two bad games would keep UT from a chance at the title. Brown had a very hard time beating Bob Stoops at Oklahoma. The season always seemed like it was in a shambles after the October date in the Cotton Bowl.
And make no mistake, Texas fans were antsy and upset then too. But then-AD DeLoss Dodds stuck with Brown and it paid off.
Brown continued to field good teams and finally broke through on a magical night at the Rose Bowl with confetti raining down on a triumphant VY. Brown came close to winning a second with Colt McCoy at the helm, but an injury in the BCS Title game against Alabama doomed the Horns that year.
Unrealistic Expectations for Manning in 2025
While Vince Young led Texas to a title, he was FAR from a finished product when he took over the starting job from Chance Mock in 2003. His first year, he threw more interceptions than touchdown passes and was prone to making huge mistakes.
UT finished the ’03 year with a lackluster loss to Washington State in the Holiday Bowl and there were a lot of questions around Young. Many suggested Texas should move him to tight end.
Questions around VY lasted through the 2004 Oklahoma game. Texas was shutout by the Sooners and Young didn’t play well. What’s worse, his body language was awful.
But before the Missouri game the next week, Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis reengineered the offense to better fit VY. The read option was installed. No one in history has run the read option offense better than Young, who never lost another game at Texas.
Coming into the season, even though he’d only played in a handful of games on the 40 Acres, the expectations for Arch Manning were sky high. Too high. Primarily because of the Manning hype, Texas was crowned the No. 1 team in America before the season started. Manning had the best odds to win the Heisman Trophy.
None of that was fair. There was an assumption that because he was the No. 1 recruit and he was from a famous quarterbacking family, he’d instantly be the best QB in years. He was even listed as the No. 1 pick in next spring’s draft in almost every mock draft online.
Quinn Ewers was also the No. 1 recruit in his class, but it took him a while to get to the point he could lead Texas to back to back CFP semifinals. Ewers was very inconsistent his first season as the Longhorns QB.
Manning has steadily improved all season. Beginning the season on the road at Ohio State wasn’t helpful for his development, but that’s just the hand he was dealt. If his trajectory continues to ascend, then he should be one of the best QBs in college football next year.
Sarkisian’s contract and buyout
Sarkisian’s most recent contract extention gave him a pay bump and a jump in his buyout from 70% of what is owed on his deal to 85%. Including his $10.8 million salary this season, Sarkisian’s contract pays him $75.8 million through the 2031 season.
If Sarkisian is let go before December, his buyout would be $64.4 million. USA TODAY Sports reports it would go down to $60.3 million after Dec. 1.
If Sarkisian leaves on his own for an NFL head coaching job, he would owe Texas $4 million if he left before the end of the 2025 season. That number drips to $3 million if he leaves before the end of the 2026 season.
Sarkisian will have more time
If you add it all up, Sark should logically be given more time. If the Longhorns are a three-loss team this time next year, then there should be serious discussions about his future in Austin.
Sarkisian recruited Arch Manning. Manning came to Texas specifically to play for Sark. The coach should at least be given Manning’s entire tenure at Texas to see if they can win a title together. If Sark leaves, Manning will probably leave too.
Texas’ offense is one of the youngest in the nation. It will improve next season. It might be a lot better.
Will there be a lot of questions in the offseason. Of course. But if you’re a Texas fan, embrace another year of Steve Sarkisian and hope he’s the coach everyone thought he was three months ago.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: It would be dumb for Texas Football to part ways with Steve Sarkisian
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