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Steve Sarkisian has no plans to give up playcalling duties

by: Evan Vieth8 hours ago
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Steve Sarkisian (Jordan Prather-Imagn Images)

Despite yet another disappointing performance from his offense, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has no plans to give up playcalling duties.

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“That’s why I got hired. I was a really good offensive coordinator,” Sarkisian said, shaking his head when asked if he had thought about giving up playcalling duties. “I believe in what we’re able to do; every year we have to continually evolve.”

Sarkisian has been receiving backlash for the way he’s managed his offense. Entering his fifth year as the head of the Texas Longhorns football team, Sarkisian’s offense ranks 80th in yards per game and 81st in scoring, easily the lowest ranks in each statistical category since he was hired in Austin.

Often seen as a quarterback whisperer and an offensive guru due to his days as the offensive coordinator at Alabama and the Atlanta Falcons, Sarkisian’s offense is far behind the standard expected from a playcaller entering his fifth year at a school the stature of Texas.

Still, Sarkisian has no plans on changing his duties, comparing his job to something more relatable to the average fan.

“If I was the best outside sales guy and I had a startup company, surely I’m going to go to the sales meetings if I’m trying to sell something,” Sarkisian said. “If that’s one of your strengths, I’m always going to tap into the strengths that I have, and I think being a playcaller on offense is one of my strengths. Some may disagree. That’s okay.”

These quotes all come after Texas’ worst offensive performance under the Sarkisian era, scoring 16 total points and averaging 3.3 yards per play. It was easily Texas’ lowest time of possession since Sarkisian came to town, and quarterback Arch Manning completed just 44% of his passes for 132 yards.

Sarkisian was also asked about critiquing himself as a playcaller, removing that aspect of his coaching from the rest of the duties of a head coach.

“Like I do after every game, I look in the mirror,” Sarkisian said. “I can look at a lot of different things within a game, good, bad, and different of the result, but I’m always looking in the mirror first to say, ‘Okay, what could I have done differently? What could I have done better, not only for the offense, but for the team?’ And so I’m very comfortable doing that. I’ve been doing this a long time.”

Despite making it clear that he will remain the playcaller at Texas, he was quick to critique his game.

Sarkisian most blamed himself for the decision to run to the right on the first play of overtime, putting tackle Brandon Baker in a tough spot resulting in a holding penalty.

That mindset trickled through the rest of the offense, from calling RPOs and zone reads at the correct time to aligning his players to give Manning the best chance at success.

“At the end of the day, offensively, I’ve got to do a better job. I’ve got to do a better job of putting all of our players in position to be successful,” Sarkisian said. “That’s blocking people, that’s throwing the ball to open people, that’s running routes precisely where they need to be. That’s on nobody but me. When you can look in the mirror first and say I’m responsible to try to get this fixed and get better at it, I’m very comfortable with that.”

There’s no plan for change in Austin, but there is room for self-reflection and improvement for the head of the program. What lies ahead for this offense is yet to be seen, but Sarkisian plans to evolve week-to-week to give Manning and his players the best chance to succeed.

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