Notes from Steve Sarkisian's appearance at the Texas Exes Houston event
On Tuesday evening the Houston Texas Exes chapter hosted the final stop of the Texas Fight Tour, a multi-city trek that featured UT coaches hitting San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston throughout the month of May.
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Among the coaches was head football coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian first met with media and then joined the panel with equally well-dressed athletic director Chris Del Conte, soft-spoken yet assertive men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry, hometown boy and women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer, and longtime soccer coach Angela Kelly.
While it seems half of the Houston fanbase was in attendance, I’ll recap what Sark said for UT fans who missed the event.
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(If you did attend the event and didn’t hear him say some of this, a reminder that he met with media before taking the stage)
The panel was asked about what the city of Houston means to Texas athletics. Sark quickly and succinctly mentioned, “Vince Young.” Sark has previously stated the program will focus on recruiting the city even more for the 2025 cycle. Houston has been “down” a little relative to its reputation for being one of the best talent producers in the state but the 2025 group is strong.
It’s clear Sarkisian has more confidence in the program than at any other time in his tenure. He even joked how UT will play in Houston on October 21st but he hopes to play two games in the city. The implication was Texas could make the National Championship game in the Bayou City.
While that quip was somewhat tongue in cheek, he gave reasons for his optimism. On offense he stated they return 10 of 11 starters. The one missing, Bijan Robinson, is a big one, but on balance he thinks the offense will be better thanks to the addition of wide receiver AD Mitchell, the return from injury of explosive wide receiver Isaiah Neyor, and all the returning experience.
On defense he mentioned continuity. I personally believe continuity is a major advantage and led off the recent Leading Indicator series with that factor. Only around 20% of FBS teams return the head coach, both coordinators, and the starting quarterback for the 2023 season. That includes Texas.
Sark’s point about continuity was two-fold: The defensive staff was an “All-Star” cast but unlike many of the offensive coaches they had never worked together before; the other point was geared toward the players. He used DeMarvion Overshown‘s revolving door of linebacker coaches and coordinators as a primary example. Players simply hadn’t had time to master assignments and techniques.
He also mentioned keys to defense being “effort, playing together (continuity), and being violent when you arrive to the football.”
The move to the SEC was of course discussed. Sark mentioned regardless of what level of football you play he thinks you need to be big up front (offensive and defensive lines), physical (size and athleticism help), and have speed on the perimeter. He intimated he had been building the roster in that direction. If you follow recruiting that’s plainly obvious. If you don’t follow recruiting that closely, I’ll break that down in my next post.
As is his custom, the third-year head coach embraced the expectations at Texas and mentioned the goal is to win the Big 12. That was music to the large crowd’s ears.
