The Texas Longhorns are riding a wave of momentum after the hiring of Steve Sarkisian as head coach.
Although the initial reaction from many viewed the hire as a lateral move from Tom Herman, the consensus belief now is Texas landed one of the hottest names on the market.
Within his first two months on the Forty Acres, Sarkisian has landed five-star quarterback Maalik Murphy, four-star wide receiver Armani Winfield, and one of the nation’s top running backs, Jaydon Blue.
The first-year head coach took advantage of his resources and has compiled a strong coaching staff led by offensive line coach Kyle Flood and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks.
CBS Sports recently graded each college football hire and Sarkisian was near the top of the list with an overall grade of A.
In one sense, Sark seems a lot like Tom Herman four years ago — the hottest name left on the board. Championship pedigree. Offensive guy. Texas boosters long ago took their shot at Nick Saban (and missed). Just last month, they took a run at Urban Meyer (and missed). Sarkisian is the next best thing — college football’s best play caller fresh off a national championship. Sark has yet to win 10 games in a season or conference title as a head coach. He is being given every possible resource to do so at Texas. If not, he will come full circle and be the next Tom Herman — in a different sense.
The only head coach hire listed above Sarkisian at Texas was Gus Malzahn to UCF with an A+. Bryan Harsin to Auburn and Bret Bielema to Illinois were listed just behind Texas’ hire.