The news cycle on the coaching carousel started spinning very fast for the Texas football program on the morning of Jan. 2.
Heading into the 2021 offseason, it was figured that the Texas football program wouldn’t have a decision on the now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman until at least later in the month of January. It sounded like Texas athletic director Chris del Conte was going to wait at least until the College Football Playoff National Championship Game concluded later this month to have this type of news drop to the public.
Texas let go of Herman following a 2020 college football season in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic that was going to be crazy no matter what. But there were of course rumblings of Herman finding himself on the hot seat even prior to the start of last offseason.
Finishing up last season with just eight wins, following their Alamo Bowl win to round out last year over the Utah Utes, was not the ideal result for the Longhorns. And falling short of teams like the Iowa State Cyclones and TCU Horned Frogs in the fashion which they did was not what fans on the Forty Acres were looking for out of this Herman-coached Longhorns team this fall.
News also dropped on the morning of Jan. 2 that Texas will be replacing Herman with the current Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator, and former USC Trojans and Washington Huskies head coach, Steve Sarkisian. The hiring of Sark was something that was expected to be considered, but it is surprising that this sort of hire happened this fast.
There are going to be a lot of different polarized reactions from fellow fans, players, coaches, etc. around the Texas program in the wake of this Herman news. Here’s a look into three reasons why the hiring of Sark and firing of Herman is disappointing for the Longhorns.
3) Why Texas football hiring Sarkisian is disappointing
Timing of the news
While it is true that the Longhorns couldn’t make a sudden move like this while at least having a firm candidate to hire next in mind, this does still seem too fast. Given how consequential of a decision it is for the Longhorns administration to buyout Herman and his coaching staff at a price tag just shy of $25 million following a 7-3 season in a crazy year in general, this move will have to work out in the end.
Texas didn’t get the coaching tenures they expected over the last seven years combined between Herman and Strong. The last decade in general did not go well on the Forty Acres for any three of the head coaching regimes that had their try at things. Granted former Texas head coach Mack Brown was really just winding things down in the early 2010’s.
Moreover, we don’t really know of any legitimate coaching search that the Longhorns took on since the hiring of Sark was announced on the morning of Jan. 2. Beyond their pursuit of the former Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators three-time National Championship winning head coach Urban Meyer earlier in the season, there weren’t many other candidates that had traction with Texas mentioned in the public eye.
Hopefully this move for the Longhorns isn’t too consequential in the end in terms of valuable losses to the NCAA Transfer Portal and disaster on the recruiting trail ahead of National Signing Day next month. Granted Herman already saw a nightmare scenario take place on the recruiting trail for the 2022 class a few months back with what happened with Quinn Ewers, ultimately flipping his commitment to Ohio State.
2) Why Texas football hiring Sarkisian is disappointing
Other candidates still out there
The main reason why Texas fans might not be happy with this move is the quality of other candidates that could still be out there for the program to look into. And while the hire of Sark has not been officially announced by the school yet, all indications from multiple sources point to him being the next in line as head coach.
The home run potential candidate hire for the Longhorns was clearly going to be the current Fox College Football analyst Meyer. But once that pursuit ended, a few other names surfaced that would all be interesting.
If Texas would’ve turned to the Group of Five ranks once again for their next head coaching hire, the likes of Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell and Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell did stick out. Fickell just guided Cincinnati to a near dream season, falling three points shy of an undefeated campaign where they could’ve beat the Georgia Bulldogs in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl.
Even if Texas didn’t like the idea of hiring Fickell, other names were out there that definitely could pique a lot of interest. Those other names included the likes of Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, and Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, among others.
Any reports that could possibly emerge of what other candidates Texas looked at could be really intriguing to see. We don’t know of many as of yet, beyond various rumors and fan circle discussions beyond Meyer.
1) Why Texas football hiring Sarkisian is disappointing
Track record at other HC stops in the PAC-12
All that the Longhorns really have to work off of in terms of track record from Sark as a head coach at the FBS ranks is his resume he built from his time with USC and Washington out in the PAC-12. He was the USC head coach in 2014 and 2015, leading them in just 18 games. Sark wasn’t able to make it through the entirety of the 2015 season with the Trojans.
A pretty crazy sequence of events during those two years with the USC program resulted in Sark taking an indefinite leave of absence due to health reasons in the midst of the 2015 college football season. He finished up his time at USC, during bits and pieces of two years as head coach, with a record of 12-6.
Prior to taking the USC job in Dec. 2013, Sark was the head coach of the Huskies program from 2009-2013. He led the Huskies to a record of 34-29 during his five years as head coach in Seattle. His best individual season came during the 2013 campaign, when Washington finished up with a record of 8-4. At least Sark did consistently improve the success in the win column with the Huskies in his five years there.
Sark’s total record during his bits and pieces of seven years as a Power Five head coach of 46-35 (.568 winning percentage) isn’t bad. But it isn’t much to write home about either. He only finished in the AP Top 25 with those two programs on two different occasions. We’ll see how his tenure as Texas head coach falls in line starting next season.