Now that Steve Sarkisian has had time to establish himself and the new culture at Texas, there is no longer the grace period of him being in the early stages of his tenure.
While year three may be viewed as too premature of a timeline to expect something from a coach, Texas is viewed in a different light whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
The two previous coaches got three years and four years before they were given the boot, and while Sarkisian’s Longhorns saw a major improvement this past season, they need to put everything together in 2023. On3‘s JD PicKell explained the pressure surrounding Sarkisian on Wednesday’s edition of “The Paul Finebaum Show.”
“I think Texas has to be a statement team this year. I mean there’s always been that ‘Yeah, but…’ built in with Steve Sarkisian, with Quinn Ewers. It’s ‘Yeah, the first year, it’s not really his team. He’s trying to get the culture right.’ And Quinn Ewers, making the excuse, ‘Well it’s his first year being the starting quarterback.’ So for Texas, going into Year 3, it’s like alright, you’ve had the Year 3 culture. Now you’ve got a quarterback that knows what he’s doing. You’ve kind of built to this. Year 3 is kind of like, ‘OK, make a statement.’ Show me that Texas is going to be a team that we have to deal with when we talk about the big boys in college football.” – JD PicKell
The Longhorns control their own fate in 2023 more than they have in years past. The Big 12 is one of the weaker conferences from top to bottom, and just about every team on their schedule has some sort of major flaw or is replacing a load of talented players. Texas on the other hand ranks No. 19 in the country in terms of returning production.
If Texas doesn’t at least reach the Big 12 title game, this season has to be considered a failure and Longhorn fans may be calling for Sarkisian’s job.