Steve Sarkisian's head coaching responsibilities reveal importance of AJ Milwee

In the years following his dismissal from USC, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian held roles overseeing one side of the football as offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Atlanta Falcons. In that coordinator role, he mainly worked with one position group, the quarterbacks, and never had to be responsible for decisions concerning the defense save for one game as Alabama’s interim coach in 2020 when Nick Saban tested positive for COVID-19.

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His return to the head coaching ranks at Texas added program oversight of defense and special teams to his list of responsibilities. While making the jump from offensive coordinator back to head coach, he didn’t lighten his load and abandon playcalling since he believes it’s one of his strengths.

“It’s a real balancing act,” Sarkisian said Tuesday.

As a result, Sarkisian works with the offense regularly, specifically the quarterbacks. He mentioned Tuesday he tries to attend every quarterback meeting. Since it’s his offense, he has a better sense of where the quarterback, a position he calls the most important in sports, needs to put the football.

However, he doesn’t only work with the quarterbacks. He works often with the offense at large. During media viewing portions of Longhorn spring practices, Sarkisian is often seen working with wide receivers and explaining finer points of routes, reads, and other fundamentals.

But as a head coach, he understands he has to oversee the entire operation. On Tuesday, he said he does so plenty during a Longhorns practice.

“When we go to individual routes, I’m coaching the receiver, the quarterback, the tight end, the running back, because that’s my expertise,” Sarkisian said. “But, understanding of the defense, the why’s, the what’s, and having the ability to coach a guy on defense for an error or things we want to do better, I’m definitely involved in that, especially when we get to our team runs, our 7-on-7s, our team settings.”

Moving his focus to defense and special teams in the course of the practice means leaving the quarterbacks under the purview of position coach AJ Milwee. Like Sarkisian, Milwee is a former college quarterback and has an understanding of what Sarkisian wants from his signal-callers from their time together at both Alabama and Texas. Sarkisian therefore has a lot of faith in the former North Alabama star.

“This is our fourth year together doing this, so we speak the same language,” Sarkisian said.

Milwee’s work with quarterbacks in individual drills includes practicing back-shoulder throws, maintaining proper footwork on rollouts, and utilizing the right technique on play action among countless other drills not seen during limited media viewing portions. Sarkisian’s trust in Milwee is evident during games, too, when Milwee is the only offensive full-time assistant coach in the press box acting as an “eye in the sky” for the rest of the field level staff.

When he’s working with players like Quinn Ewers, Hudson Card, Maalik Murphy, and others, Milwee makes it much easier for Sarkisian to fully handle his head coaching responsibilities throughout the course of a practice.

“When we’re on the field, I don’t stand right next to the quarterbacks the whole time,” Sarkisian said. “A lot of times I’m in the back, I’m behind the quarterback. If I need to convey a message to them, I do, no different than if I need to convey a message to (Keondre) Coburn, to (DeMarvion Overshown), to Christian Jones, whoever it may be. I’m trying to coach the team at that point.”

There’s trust in Milwee on the recruiting trail, too, as he is one of the main points of contact along with Sarkisian for 2023 Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Arch Manning.

Sarkisian’s trust in Milwee’s coaching ability allows for the second-year head coach of the Longhorns to keep an eye on all the positions at the level necessary for a head coach of a Power 5 program, while also knowing his quarterbacks are being developed in the manner he prefers.