Steve Sarkisian has built a team that can win a national championship. The Texas head coach built that team in just three seasons. Albeit, his squad had to be willing to go backward before embracing his all gas, no breaks mentality.
Before building a playoff contender, Sarkisian had to tear down what was in place and start from scratch. He had to dispose of the past coaching staff’s routines, culture, scheme and technical coaching to replace all of it.
Prior to Sarkisian’s time in Austin, three things stood out about the Texas football program: bad coaching, bad development and bad culture. Those facets of what Texas was before the current staff are long gone. Nevertheless, the team had to be patient enough to endure a 5-7 season to drill home the fundamentals of what it would take to make Texas a contender.
Sarkisian’s rebuild was made easier by building an elite staff. The headliners were former Alabama assistants: elite offensive line coach Kyle Flood, ace recruiter Jeff Banks and top defensive line coach Bo Davis. Texas added veteran defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski to shut down high scoring attacks, and he’s done just that in his third season in Austin.
Here we are two seasons after a five-win campaign. The culture is established. The team is set to send several players to the NFL draft after sending running back Bijan Robinson to the league as the No. 8 pick last year.
The Longhorns used to lose games by running vanilla offense, not developing a smart defense and relying on talent to overpower teams. Now they win games by schematic advantage. No longer do coaches tell players to simply execute while assuming no responsibility for losses. They equip their players to win.
Texas is a favorite to win the national championship. More than that, the team has staying power.
We have long been of the belief that Sarkisian was not an elite game manager. I tend to believe he will never be that, though he has improved dramatically in that regard. He’s an offensive guru that gives you several plays through which you can score.
I did, however, believe that when Sarkisian found the players who could make plays that he doesn’t scheme up, the team would overpower opponents. We have reached that point. Texas is converting on the plays he schemes up and making plays when the odds are stacked against them.
Texas has built a team that can take home a title. It will next push for its high goals on the field in the Sugar Bowl against Washington.