Steve Sarkisian’s comments on James Franklin’s Penn State firing may be hinting at internal issues at Texas

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Steve Sarkisian’s comments on James Franklin’s Penn State firing may be hinting at internal issues at Texas originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian made eyebrow-raising comments on James Franklin’s firing from the Penn State Nittany Lions last October during the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida, on Tuesday.

Per Sarkisian on Tuesday morning, "I watched a coach get fired five games into a season last year after being in the semifinals the year before. That's concerning to me about the health of our sport."

Why bring that up? Sarkisian must be feeling the heat from UT Austin’s boosters after a 9-3 season last year that included a loss to an underwhelming Billy Napier-coached Florida Gators and an uncompetitive blowout defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs. That’s not a comment that’s made unless there’s smoke to that fire.

Sarkisian was linked to his alma mater, the BYU Cougars, last October, amidst a disappointing start to the season that included the Florida loss and a narrow Week 1 defeat to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Nothing ever came of it, but when I asked Longhorns legend Jamaal Charles about the rumor, he mentioned the University of Texas’ politics.

“Yes, a lot of politics are involved with having this job. It's not easy, a lot of coaches have failed under pressure before. Coach Sark just came here. I don't understand why we’d push him away,” Charles told me last year at the Cotton Bowl during the Red River Rivalry matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners.

Something is seemingly afoot with Sarkisian in Austin. This isn’t even the first time this week he’s spoken about other situations in a way that softens the blow for his own shortcomings with the Longhorns last year.

Steve Sarkisian lashed out at Texas Tech last week and Ole Miss a few weeks ago

Within the last seven days, Sarkisian has also lashed out at the Texas Tech Red Raiders for playing a soft schedule and still making the CFP. Texas Tech is Texas’s main NIL rival at this point, spending just as much, if not more, to win.

Between their success and the Ole Miss Rebels’, which Sarkisian also recently took a shot at, by claiming they allow transfers to major in basket-weaving, the Longhorns’ headman is trying anything to make things not seem so bad.

It really makes you wonder if there’s an internal fire on Forty Acres that’s causing Sark to crash out so often these days.

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