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Steve Sarkisian explains roles of Texas' newly hired special assistants

Steve Habelby: Steve Habel08/03/23stevehabel
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Paul Chryst (Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports)

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian added three special assistants to his staff in the offseason and outlined their scope of duties on Tuesday at the Longhorns’ introductory media availability in advance of the start of preseason training camp for the upcoming 2023 campaign.

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Paul Chryst, Payam Saadat and Joe DeCamillis joined the Texas staff this summer and will advise Sarkisian and his coaches on offense, defense and special teams, respectively, for the Longhorns’ final season as members of the Big 12 Conference.

“All three of those guys came in and had a great rapport with the staff and brought a lot of positive energy into the building,” Sarkisian explained. “I want to make sure everybody that we bring in can only enhance that continuity. So we’re extremely excited to have all three of these guys – I think they’re going to be tremendous assets for us.”

Saadat will be focused on nuances of the defense, with a keen eye developed in more than three decades as a coach after playing at Washington State. Saadat’s most recent position was as defensive coordinator at Portland State, an FCS powerhouse. 

“Saadat is a guy that has had a really cool background in defensive football,” Sarkisian explained. “He’s a guy that was one of the pioneers of the old Arizona ‘Desert Swarm’ flex defense, which historically provided a lot of pressure on the quarterback and created a lot of one-on-one matchups up front. That’s a style of defense that I felt like is that something we’re trying to get better at.”

DeCamillis joins the Longhorns sporting a resume that features more than 30 years of experience as an NFL special teams coordinator, most recently with the Los Angeles Rams where he was on the Super Bowl-winning staff in 2021. He was also the special teams coordinator for Denver Broncos during its Super Bowl championship.

“What a wealth of knowledge and experience DeCamillis provides,” Sarkisian said. “He’s been around some great coaches, been around some great players. A year ago, Dave Brock was on our staff (as a senior analyst) and he’s now with Rutgers. Dave worked with us on offense and then worked with me on a weekly basis from a game management standpoint. Joe D is going to assume some of that responsibility with me.

Chryst and Sarkisian go back to when they were both NFL assistants at San Diego and Oakland, respectively. Chryst was most recently head coach at Wisconsin, a job he held for seven seasons.

“Coach Chryst and I go back some time, to when I was with Norv Turner with the Oakland Raiders, and he was with Mike Riley with the Chargers,” Sarkisian explained. “The connection there with those two coaches is systematically the style of play. 

“I know a lot of people wouldn’t think you of me and Wisconsin football being lined up, with their power running game and me in the play-action pass. We’ve kind of veered off in our own ways. But inevitably, when you get at the core, there’s a lot of similarities to what we do in Chryst’s NFL background in his time with the Chargers. 

“And then obviously, (you have to recognize) what he was able to do at Wisconsin, being Big 10 coach of the year and winning championships. When you when you can get someone with that resume on board (you want them on your staff.)”

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Sarkisian also said former TCU coach Gary Patterson, who was a special analyst for the Longhorns last year, is not currently working with the team.

The Longhorns began practice on Wednesday and will continue their preparation of the season throughout the month.

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