The Longhorns had an excellent season in 2024, just barely missing out on the chance to play in the national championship. Though the general vibes around the program are high, some still doubt Texas' ability to make a deep playoff run this year. On3's Paul Wadlington believes that Texas has a good chance to win it all in 2025, along with five other schools.
One of Wadlington's main talking points in regard to why the Longhorns have such a good chance this season has to do with their coaching staff.
"Texas has the right balance between continuity and new ideas.
Sark is entering his 5th year as head coach and the primary offensive play caller along with collaborator AJ Milwee and offensive line coach Kyle Flood. Pete Kwiatkowski is entering his 5th year as defensive coordinator. Jeff Banks, the same on special teams. The core has been constant.
At the same time, Texas has shown a facility for hiring new blood, intaking new ideas with a variety of analysts, specialized hires, and consultants. Second year coach Johnny Nansen provided new ideas for the defense last year in the mold of Gary Patterson before him, Michael Bimonte was recently elevated to Co-Passing Game Coordinator, and Texas brought back old veteran Duane Akina for general DB development. Meanwhile, they’ve hired well positionally."
The Longhorns have one of the most seasoned coaching staffs in all of college football right now in terms of how long they've been together at the same school. They're all extremely comfortable with each other and have an advanced degree of communication compared to other power four staffs, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Aside from having one of the top overall defenses in the league, which we all know, he mentions that Texas is a very "complete" team.
"Veteran-laden Penn State has the fewest sharp edges to round off in college football, but Texas is right up there. The Longhorns may not have the best single unit of any in college football (though that’s debatable), but Pro Football Focus currently ranks six different Longhorn position units among the Top 10 in the country.
This offseason, Texas used the portal well to address needs at tight end, defensive tackle, wide receiver, special teams. They have exceeded reasonable replacement level at several of those spots."
When building a championship-level team, it's incredibly important to focus on potential weak spots both on your current team and in the future. The Longhorns have done a great job in this area over the past couple of seasons, and they don't appear to be stopping anytime soon with how well they've been recruiting.