How Paul Chryst and Arch Manning used 'an hour of watching film and an hour of venting' to overcome frustration in 2023

Arch Manning was the starting quarterback on whatever team he played on every season until his freshman year at Texas in 2023. Manning often joked the only thing he came off the bench for was Isidore Newman‘s basketball team. Though much had been made about the Manning family and “the plan” for Arch as far as developing, learning, and waiting behind Quinn Ewers for a year before getting his turn, the reality of the process was difficult for Manning.

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It was his first time ever stuck on the bench for a football team, after all.

Manning didn’t play during his freshman campaign until the very last regular season game versus Texas Tech. He was third on the depth chart behind Ewers and redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy. When Ewers went out with an injury versus Houston and was forced to miss a couple of games, Murphy was the one who stepped into the starter’s role. In two starts, Murphy guided Texas to an easy win over BYU. He then tried and failed to give the game away versus Kansas State, with Texas’ defense stepping up in overtime to save the day.

Manning never got an opportunity to go in the game. Ewers returned to action and guided Texas to within a win of the Big 12 title game. It took Murphy getting injured on Keilan Robinson‘s kickoff return for a touchdown in the Texas Tech contest for Manning to get his opportunity.

Before that point, there was a lot of frustration. Justified frustration, but frustration all the same. Manning had never sat behind anyone. Now, for most of 2023, he was sitting behind not one but two quarterbacks. It was something new for him. And he needed to talk through it.

“I played every year in high school,” Manning said at SEC Media Days. “I don’t know if that’s a flex or not, we were 2A. Freshman year was tough. I didn’t deserve to play, but I wasn’t used to not playing. Paul Chryst was on our staff. I would go in his office, we’d watch film. It was an hour of watching film and an hour of me venting. I’m always grateful for him and still keep in touch with him.”

Chryst was a special assistant to head coach Steve Sarkisian. A former Wisconsin head coach, Chryst was brought on board to provide ideas for Texas’ offense and be another head coach’s mind in the building. He probably didn’t think he’d end up being part coach, part therapist for Manning, but that’s what became one of his main job titles.

Chryst could not be reached for this story, but it makes sense he was the one who Manning was drawn to. Sarkisian had an entire team to coach. Quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee had to get Ewers ready, and then he had to get Murphy prepared as a redshirt freshman. Sure, Milwee needed to make sure that if that “one snap” arrived that knocked Murphy out, Manning was ready. But he needed to make Murphy as ready for games as possible considering Texas had College Football Playoff aspirations and any slip up would have ended those dreams.

So, the third string quarterback talked to Chryst. Both were in positions they’d never been in before. The last time Chryst was anything close to a “special assistant to the head coach,” a glorified term for an analyst, was as a graduate assistant for Don Nehlen at West Virginia.

In 1990.

Chryst had plenty of quarterback coaching experience. That was his area of expertise at stops at Wisconsin-Platteville, the CFL’s Ottawa Rough Riders, Illinois State, the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, Oregon State, and Wisconsin. He had a big hand in signal-callers as a head coach at Pitt and Wisconsin, working with NFL draft picks like Russell Wilson and Tom Savage. To work with Manning on some of the finer points of college football play was likely expected of him. But therapist was something new.

“I’m not going to lie, it was pretty tough,” Manning said. “Obviously the competitor in me always wants to play and be able to help my team out. Looking back, it has definitely helped me grow as a person and a player. I’m blessed for that.”

This role also wasn’t something Sarkisian asked of Chryst. Again, Sarkisian had a one-loss team with national championship goals to oversee. The emotional wants and needs of a third-string quarterback was not something he could dedicate precious time to. Not to say he ignored them completely, but the reality was Ewers was the starter and Murphy was the backup.

It flew somewhat under his radar, but it came as no surprise.

“I don’t know a whole lot about those,” Sarkisian said Tuesday of those meetings. “I try not to get too involved when players are having meetings like that. That’s for them if guys are looking for extra meeting time and extra work. That doesn’t surprise me from Arch. That’s the way he approaches the game. He wants to be really good.”

Milwee was closer to ground level with Manning and Chryst, who only stuck around in Austin for one season. At last week’s Texas assistant coaches media day, Milwee mentioned he hopes they’re recruiting the type of player who wants so badly to get on the field that there is healthy frustration in not playing. Anyone Texas is recruiting likely was the guy on their high school team for at least two years, if not three or four. To go to a third stringer?

“The vent session, you completely understand and get,” Milwee said. “You also get the part of where he’s still trying to grow himself and make sure he’s prepared if that moment does come, which allowed him to grow and go up the depth chart as that year went on, too. If he would have just sat in there and those would have just been vent sessions, he maybe not would have done that and maybe would not be as prepared now for what’s to come.”

They obviously weren’t just vent sessions. Manning even said it was to watch film with venting as the secondary purpose. But those types of days spent learning about college football in 2023 have helped Manning become the high-profile player he is entering his first season as the starter for the Texas Longhorns.

“It’s always been, how can I get better?” assistant quarterbacks coach Mike Bimonte said of Manning’s attitude last week. “He’s shifted toward this small-track mind of just trying to make it about today. That’s where you want him to be.”

Sarkisian said on Tuesday that after a recent practice, he looked and saw Manning leading more work with the offense. It functions as another example of looking for the one small step that can get him and his team a bit ahead of others, especially as Texas continues to search for its first national title in 20 years.

“He’s always going to try to find an edge,” Sarkisian said. “He’s always going to try to make sure that he’s in the best space to compete at a high level.”

How committed is Arch Manning?

Coach Sark says when he was leaving to go home after a walk through, he looked over at the practice field and saw Arch leading another walk through with half the team #Texas | #Hookem pic.twitter.com/5rOiz8jXcM

— anne-parker coleman (@anneparkercole1) August 5, 2025

That type of work also grabs the attention of others. When not playing, Manning wasn’t pouting too much. He would be upset and let that frustration be known to Chryst. But he was working to improve himself. And that type of foundation has him as one of the primary leaders of the 2025 Longhorns

“As much as it wasn’t always fun sitting those two years, I think I got a lot of respect from my teammates,” Manning said.

Manning ended up getting some run against Texas Tech late in the season and had to apply those lessons learned with Chryst. In his debut, he was 2-for-5 for 30 yards and also rushed for seven yards. He took the final snaps in the 2023 Big 12 Championship. Murphy transferred ahead of the Sugar Bowl, thrusting Manning into the backup role. He remained the backup throughout 2024 behind Ewers, but started two games and saw action in 10, including scoring the first touchdown for the Longhorns at Texas A&M.

Manning is the starter now. Chryst isn’t there to hear his vent sessions or watch film anymore. Manning, as QB1, has other coaches to study and possibly vent with, namely Sarkisian, Milwee, and Bimonte.

Those sessions in 2023 with Chryst, however, were part of the growth and maturation process that has Manning in position to do great things at the helm of the Longhorn offense in 2025.

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“Looking back, it has definitely helped me grow as a person and a player,” Manning said. “I’m blessed for that.”