Steve Sarkisian blasts Brett Yormark, embraces Texas hate

Steve Sarkisian is well aware of the dislike of Texas that’s out there in college football. Even so, he hopes that this season’s Longhorns will be able to channel that the right way and use it as fuel that’s to their advantage.

Sarkisian spoke about the perception of his program during his press conference on Monday. He fully understands that they’re not anyone’s favorite. While that may be the case, he says his team needs to be proud of who they are and what they represent based on how they play in response to that hate.

“I get it, guys. We’re the University of Texas, right? We’re not the fan favorite outside of the state of Texas. I recognize that,” said Sarkisian. “We’re not the fan favorite when we get out of Austin. But there’s a lot of pride in wearing this across our chest and we need to recognize that.”

“We’ve got to embrace the hate. Like, you can’t just sit back, keep taking punches, and it’s just okay. At some point? You have to go hunt. You have to punch back and you have to fight back. That’s what we’re imploring our veterans to do, our leaders to do,” Sarkisian continued. “Every time we take the field, our opponent is going to get our best shot. We may get theirs, we may not. We can’t control that. But we need to be sure that they get our best shot.”

In the last week or so, that attitude has even extended toward Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark after some comments he made regarding their season finale against Texas Tech on November 24th. While even he may be against them, regardless of how that looks, Sarkisian wants Texas to keep the main thing the main thing on The 40 Acres this fall as far as making their fanbase proud.

“I got a letter from the commissioner about sportsmanship the day before that speech,” Sarkisian shared. “So I’m trying to figure out what we are promoting to our student-athletes? And then to go say those types of things? I’m not guessing that he’s going to have his Thanksgiving dinner with us the night before that game.”

“The reality of it is that a lot has been made about that, a lot has been made about a t-shirt being made. But let’s not make this more than it is. This is about us. We’re focused on what we get to do and why we get to do it,” said Sarkisian. “We’re proud to be part of the University of Texas. Proud to represent the burnt orange and white, we’re proud to represent 550,000 living alumni. We’re proud to represent four national championship teams. We’re proud to get to go do that. And we know who’s behind us. That’s okay. Now let’s go play.”

Texas knows that there will be a target on their back, much like there often is, when they take the field this season. Sarkisian just wants them to embrace that the right way, though, as they enter the upcoming campaign with plenty of expectations and more than a few people that they want to prove wrong.