Leave it to Steve Sarkisian to surprise us all with an addition to his staff that none of us saw coming. With spring ball around the corner for Texas, there's going to be a new face on the sidelines rocking some Longhorns gear: that'd be Mark Stoops.
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Excuse us? Indeed, according to reporter Chip Brown, Sark has hired Stoops as a special assistant, with the two ready to work closely with one another. Stoops was recently fired as head coach at Kentucky, with Will Stein replacing him. Things could not have ended worse for him in Lexington, but now he's apparently ready for a fresh start in Austin:
BREAKING: Texas has hired former #Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops as a special assistant to Steve Sarkisian, a source close to the situation told https://t.co/RFQ2dWVupn.https://t.co/RNM81CdaH0 pic.twitter.com/Zl6AwUVdFT
— Chip Brown (@ChipBrown247) March 2, 2026
Texas has surprised us all by hiring Mark Stoops as a special assistant to Steve Sarkisian
Did anyone see this coming? A Stoops coaching at Texas? Yup, that's enough to make your head turn, but thankfully it's not the Oklahoma legend who's making his way to town. Instead, Stoops is hoping to make people forget about his rough end as Kentucky's head coach.
While no one can question that Stoops has a great football mind, with more than 30 years of coaching experience, the end to his time with UK didn't go to plan at all. He is the program's all-time winningest coach, but going 4-8 in 2024 and 5-7 in 2025 led to him getting fired.
Kentucky poached Stein from Oregon and now the Wildcats are hoping to get back on the right track. Stoops going from head coach to special assistant of course wasn't what he had planned, but UT is in a great position to make serious CFP noise next year and this move further proves Sark is going all-in to try and win it all. Stoops alone won't get Texas over the hump, but adding a respected coach like this speaks volumes to the work the Longhorns are doing.
Stoops is known for his amazing work on defense throughout his career, so the expectation is that he'll also be able to make a difference in helping out Will Muschamp. There have been plenty of surprises this offseason from Sark, and now we can add Stoops to the list. It seems like a low-risk move, which could have people talking in a positive manner from start to finish next season. We'll see.