Steve Sarkisian is focused on the Big 12 as he attends meetings this week alongside the league's other nine football coaches. Several major items impacting the future of college sports are addressed by the Big 12.
At the end of the day, we are in the Big 12. We are in the Big 12, so we need to know where the conference is going.
Texas is going to transition to the SEC and what it will take to succeed in a new league is something that Sarkisian is aware of. Unless the schools negotiate an earlier exit from the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma will remain in the Big 12.
During his time at Alabama, he won a national title as offensive coordinator in 2020 and was a member of the coaching staff.
He said Texas will remain its own program despite his time at Alabama.
There's a lot of great aspects of Alabama that I think we can take with us, but we have to do the things that are best for us. I think we have assembled a really good staff. I think that we can do it if we recruit on a high level. Get those players big enough, faster and stronger.
The SEC led all conferences with 65 selections in the NFL draft, 17 more than the Big Ten and 40 more than the Big 12. Texas did not have any players drafted after the first season of the coach, just the second time since 1938 that no Longhorns heard their names called.
Texas doesn't plan to change its recruiting strategy for the SEC, as Sarkisian said, "I feel like all the teams in the SEC want to recruit Texas."
I feel like there is a fine line between making sure that we take care of the players that are in our home state, and also making sure that we don't get in trouble. We signed a kid from Mississippi this year, and a kid from Alabama this year. There is some natural progression that way. Are we going to make a living in recruiting? Probably not. This does not mean that we are not going to recruit California.
Texas will continue to evolve with its name, image and likeness. The media reported that Worthy turned down a large NIL offer from another Power 5 program to stay in Texas.
I understand that people were going to try and lure him with NIL.
The Longhorns had a 5-7 record in 2021, but that was not the only positive thing about the time at Texas. The climate around the program has been supportive.
He said that they need to start winning more games, but that they are moving in a positive direction. I challenged our fan base, our donors, and our administration to trust the fact that they were hired to do a job, and that they would all move in the same direction to make this thing happen.
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