One of the most difficult aspects of hiring a new coach is retaining and working with a transition recruiting class. More times than not, the entire class was recruited by and had relationships with the old staff. The new head coach had little to no prior contact.
For Texas, three transition classes have occurred since the firing of Mack Brown in Dec. 2013. Charlie Strong, Tom Herman, and now Steve Sarkisian have all had to manage with someone else’s recruits. For Strong and Herman, we witnessed how they turned out, while Sarkisian still has the chance to prove himself.
Each class has its positives to go along with its weaknesses. All three transition classes ranked outside the top 10 nationally on the 247Sports composite. When struggling on the field and dealing with continual staff turnover, Texas’ new head coaches were all given tough hands.
Here are Strong, Herman, and Sarkisian’s transition classes and how they turned out.