Steve Sarkisian responds to rumors about Gary Patterson joining Texas staff

Steve Sarkisian has a ton of work to do on the defensive side of the ball heading into his second year. The unit struggled for the Texas Longhorns throughout the season and reinforcement could be on the way via a former rival.

There has reportedly been mutual interest between the Longhorns and former TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian had the opportunity to talk about the possibility, saying nothing is in the works quite yet.

“I know that he’s trying to figure out in what capacity does he want to continue this profession,” Sarkisian said during his press conference on Wednesday. “We have not made any determination on if we want him here or if he’d even want to be here, but the reality we have a level of respect for what he’s done at TCU”

Gary Patterson always performed well against Texas in Fort Worth, winning eight of the 11 matchups since TCU joined the Big 12. He is famous for his good defense, especially in the secondary. The former head coach will bring an instant boost to Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense if he joins the staff.

Patterson not only Big 12 coach on the move

Texas Longhorns are in the midst of completing a top recruiting class in this year’s national signing day. But that has not stopped moves going on within their front office. On Wednesday, Bruce Feldman reported that sources close to the program have pinned the Longhorns running backs coach/ run game coordinator Stan Drayton, as the new head coach for Temple.

Earlier Wednesday, Feldman broke the news that the owls were targeting Drayton as their new headman.

“SOURCE: Temple has zeroed in on Texas RB coach/run game coordinator Stan Drayton to become the Owls next head coach. He has spent a lot of time in Philly from coaching at Penn and Villanova, and also has strong ties to new TU AD Arthur Johnson, who came from Texas,” Feldman wrote via Twitter.

And now appears that those talks have escalated, in a positive way for Drayton, as he is likely on his way to Philadelphia PA.