Quinn Ewers claims Steve Sarkisian possibly leaving for Alabama 'never crossed my mind'

Not long after Nick Saban retired as the head coach at Alabama, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian started being mentioned as a potential replacement for arguably the greatest coach in college football history.

It made sense that Sarkisian’s name was thrown around, after all, he worked on the Alabama staff for two different stints under Saban.

Ultimately, Steve Sarkisian ended up signing an extension with Texas, and Alabama hired Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer. Despite Steve Sarkisian being mentioned as a candidate at Alabama, Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers was never concerned he might leave.

“It never crossed my mind,” Quinn Ewers told ESPN. “I knew that he wanted to be here and knew he wanted to win here. He talks about it all the time. He tells us he wants to retire here and win a bunch of national championships here, and he’s convicted when he says it.”

Steve Sarkisian just wrapped up his third season as the head coach of the Longhorns in 2023.

It was his best year to date as Texas won the Big 12 and reached the College Football Playoff last year, finishing with a 12-2 record. With Quinn Ewers and plenty of other talented players back, Texas has a chance to have another strong season in 2024.

The Longhorns will open the season on Aug. 31 when they host Colorado State in Austin.

Steve Sarkisian claims turning down Alabama job took ‘all of about 60 seconds’

As it turns out, Quinn Ewers had good reason to not be worried about Steve Sarkisian leaving Texas for Alabama.

Sarkisian recently revealed how much he truly considered the Alabama job.

“Naturally, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it,” Sarkisian told ESPN. “But it took me all of about 60 seconds to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not doing that.’ I had an awesome two years at Alabama and loved my time under Coach Saban, but ultimately you want to reap what you sow.

“We’ve poured a ton into this program for three years, and we’re on the cusp, I think, of going on a run that will be epic. I believe that. Our staff does, and our players do, too, just the support we have and the culture we’ve created here. Why leave something like that?”

It’s hard to blame the Longhorns’ head coach, who took Texas to its first College Football Playoff this past season, for at least letting the thought creep into his head. After all, being the successor to Nick Saban, who is largely considered to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, as Alabama’s next football coach, is something that not many coaches would shoot down.

However, it appears that Sarkisian feels as though he’s building something special in Austin.