Steve Sarkisian has been one of the elite college coaches making major rounds in the postseason after winning 13 games in a high-flying season for the third time in the school’s history. The Texas Longhorns couldn’t make it to the playoff semifinals failing 28-14 to Ohio State, but the way they handled the season with grit and some solid wins over big opponents added more feathers to coach Sarkisian’s cap.

Before he took the chair in 2021, Texas had only one 10-win season since 2009. Cranking that up to 13 in just a couple of years was no easy task. But as the trend shows, with great success comes the greater urge to take it to the next level often, and Sarkisian is on the rise. But the college football is full of distractions too. Leveling up and attracting better offers go hand in hand. Question is: Is Sarkisian also looking up to a higher-paid NFL offer after his Texas success?

Steve Sarkisian and his NFL motive

The buzz has been there for a while, for obvious reasons. Transition from college football to the NFL is always a lucrative move both for athletes and coaches and for Sarkisian specifically, he reportedly managed to get some attention from the NFL biggies following a decent season at Austin. Also, Sarkisian isn’t a rookie in the national league. In 2004, Sarkisian was the Oakland Raiders’ quarterback coach. In 2017 and 2018, as a coordinator, Sarkisian led the Atlanta Falcons offense before making his way to the college rank with Alabama and Texas, respectively.

So, the idea of him reigniting that old career path doesn’t seem like a far-fetched idea until the coach himself came up to clear the air. Speaking on Up and Adams on Thursday, the Texas Longhorns HC said he is fully content with his current job. “I really think I have the best job in America,” per Sarkisian. I mean, it’s a very palpable truth. After all, Texas boosters have gone to an extreme extent to beat whatever alluring NFL paycheck lurking behind with a  $81.6M contract extension through 2030.

”We were 5-7 in year one and it was like, tough, six-game losing streak. No draft picks, like really poor,” Sarkisian analyzed the sincere progress of the Horns since he took over in 2021. “And then year two we get to 8-5, Bijan (Robinson) goes in the first round and we’re starting to build a little momentum.” Texas has really come a long way. With a strategic portal effort, Sarkisian is looking to dodge the semi-final curse next. But before that, he pulled the rug of a quintessential Texas tradition, and here’s why.

Steve Sarkisian opted out of the Spring game. Why?

The Longhorns played an incredible 16 games during the 2024 season, which set the highest mark in the program’s history. Meanwhile, the NIL market has taken the space and started to change things outright in the college football realm. These are just some of the factors that triggered Texas coach Steve Sarkisian to take a landmark decision: to drop the Spring game this year.

Shedding light on such a decision is imperative and Sark took his chance to explain his motive. “Over the last two years, we played 30 games. That’s a lot for college football. 14 [games] two years ago. 16 this year. And I just mentioned we’ve had 25 guys get invited to the NFL combine the last two years, so we’ve got a lot of young players on our roster. We have 21 mid-year high school kids who just showed up. And so the development that’s needed for these guys to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be.” Looks like the Longhorns have not left any page unturned when it comes to proving themselves, and they can do away with the Spring game highlight.

Sark said it’s crucial to transform the allotted 15-day spring period into NFL-style organized team activities over the summer while moving toward a scrimmage format. However, Texas is not the first school to opt out of the Spring game. They, in fact, joined the long list of schools like USC, OSU, Nebraska, etc. However, the reason greatly differs. Nebraska Cornhuskers‘ HC Matt Rhule chose to sit back in the wake of a severe poaching and tampering trend among the coaches and outsiders. He deems the Spring game as an open platform to watch out for guys and get them on board by hook or crook. So, he doesn’t want to take any risk, and rightly so. No coach would advocate for unwanted attention on their team’s talents.

So, Steve Sarkisian just proved his love for the Texas folks. Watching Coach Sark kick off their 2025 regular season would be interesting, especially how Arch Manning gets the ball rolling. We’re yet to see how the Longhorns push their limits this time, but their HC definitely gives off a good vibe!