I don't think I've seen all of this information on OB, but maybe I've missed it:
DESTIN, Fla. — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian swung by his office prior to boarding a plane for the annual Southeastern Conference spring meetings this week, and marveled at the rapid changes coming for the Longhorns.
“The SEC logo is getting put down in DKR right now,” Sarkisian said Tuesday of the league’s emblem being emblazoned in and around Royal-Memorial Stadium. “It’s all happening — it’s all becoming a reality. And it’s exciting.”
Sarkisian, who led the Longhorns to their first four-team College Football Playoff appearance last season, was upbeat and energetic in a UT coach’s first official appearance representing the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma are exiting the Big 12 and entering the SEC on July 1, and are at the SEC spring meetings this week in a hotel on a Florida beach.
“This conference is amazing,” said Sarkisian, who was Alabama’s offensive coordinator under then-coach Nick Saban from 2019-20. “As an assistant, I had some great years here with Alabama and Coach Saban. I love the competitive spirit of the SEC, and I think about that on three levels: the coaches, the athletes and the fan bases.
“Week in and week out, you know the challenges the (SEC) poses for you, whether it’s playing on the road, whether it’s game-planning against some of the best coaches in our sport or whether it’s competing against some of the best athletes in college football. There are great challenges, but that’s why we do what we do.”
UT still has a few pots boiling in the Big 12: The softball team is bound for the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, where the top-seeded Longhorns will face eighth-seeded Stanford on Thursday night in the eight-team WCWS.
The baseball team is a No. 3 seed and will compete in an NCAA Tournament regional in College Station against second-seeded Louisiana on Friday night. And the track and field outdoor championships are June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore.
The Longhorns open their first season in the SEC and fourth under Sarkisian on Aug. 31 at home against Colorado State, and after playing at reigning national champion Michigan and at home against UTSA and Louisiana-Monroe, their first league game is against Mississippi State on Sept. 28 in Austin.
“What (Sarkisian) has done there with the program, he’s done a great job building it and improving it each and every year,” said new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, who faced Sarkisian the past two years as Washington’s coach. “He has an extremely competitive team with a lot of talent, and they play with great physicality.”
The Huskies defeated the Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl following the 2022 regular season and in the four-team CFP semifinals in New Orleans on New Year’s Day this past season. Texas behind quarterback Quinn Ewers and linebacker Anthony Hill is expected to be a national championship contender in its first season in the SEC and in the first year of the 12-team CFP.
“We’re in this era of college football where we have to continually adapt,” Sarkisian said of dealing with the transfer portal and NIL (name, image and likeness), among other prevailing goings-on of the sport. “From the moment I got this job at Texas we were still operating under the ‘old’ ways. Then here comes the transfer portal, then here comes NIL, here comes conference realignment. …
“But through it all, you have to adapt. If we don’t adapt, we’re not going to be here. In the end … we have to adapt and we have to adjust. And we’ve got to figure out the best way to put our players in the best position to have success.”
Along the way Sarkisian, 50, said he’s done his best to not complain about the heavy-duty changes that have occurred in college football and college sports over the past few years.
“I’m a believer in this: change is inevitable,” Sarkisian said. “We have to change with change. My biggest thing is this, as long as we’re all playing by the same rules, it is what it is. I try not to spend a lot of time complaining, I’m more solution-oriented than I am pointing out the problems.
“It’s, OK, these are the rules and this is what it is. How do we best navigate through this, to put ourselves in the best position to have some success?”
DESTIN, Fla. — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian swung by his office prior to boarding a plane for the annual Southeastern Conference spring meetings this week, and marveled at the rapid changes coming for the Longhorns.
“The SEC logo is getting put down in DKR right now,” Sarkisian said Tuesday of the league’s emblem being emblazoned in and around Royal-Memorial Stadium. “It’s all happening — it’s all becoming a reality. And it’s exciting.”
Sarkisian, who led the Longhorns to their first four-team College Football Playoff appearance last season, was upbeat and energetic in a UT coach’s first official appearance representing the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma are exiting the Big 12 and entering the SEC on July 1, and are at the SEC spring meetings this week in a hotel on a Florida beach.
“This conference is amazing,” said Sarkisian, who was Alabama’s offensive coordinator under then-coach Nick Saban from 2019-20. “As an assistant, I had some great years here with Alabama and Coach Saban. I love the competitive spirit of the SEC, and I think about that on three levels: the coaches, the athletes and the fan bases.
“Week in and week out, you know the challenges the (SEC) poses for you, whether it’s playing on the road, whether it’s game-planning against some of the best coaches in our sport or whether it’s competing against some of the best athletes in college football. There are great challenges, but that’s why we do what we do.”
UT still has a few pots boiling in the Big 12: The softball team is bound for the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, where the top-seeded Longhorns will face eighth-seeded Stanford on Thursday night in the eight-team WCWS.
The baseball team is a No. 3 seed and will compete in an NCAA Tournament regional in College Station against second-seeded Louisiana on Friday night. And the track and field outdoor championships are June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore.
The Longhorns open their first season in the SEC and fourth under Sarkisian on Aug. 31 at home against Colorado State, and after playing at reigning national champion Michigan and at home against UTSA and Louisiana-Monroe, their first league game is against Mississippi State on Sept. 28 in Austin.
“What (Sarkisian) has done there with the program, he’s done a great job building it and improving it each and every year,” said new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, who faced Sarkisian the past two years as Washington’s coach. “He has an extremely competitive team with a lot of talent, and they play with great physicality.”
The Huskies defeated the Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl following the 2022 regular season and in the four-team CFP semifinals in New Orleans on New Year’s Day this past season. Texas behind quarterback Quinn Ewers and linebacker Anthony Hill is expected to be a national championship contender in its first season in the SEC and in the first year of the 12-team CFP.
“We’re in this era of college football where we have to continually adapt,” Sarkisian said of dealing with the transfer portal and NIL (name, image and likeness), among other prevailing goings-on of the sport. “From the moment I got this job at Texas we were still operating under the ‘old’ ways. Then here comes the transfer portal, then here comes NIL, here comes conference realignment. …
“But through it all, you have to adapt. If we don’t adapt, we’re not going to be here. In the end … we have to adapt and we have to adjust. And we’ve got to figure out the best way to put our players in the best position to have success.”
Along the way Sarkisian, 50, said he’s done his best to not complain about the heavy-duty changes that have occurred in college football and college sports over the past few years.
“I’m a believer in this: change is inevitable,” Sarkisian said. “We have to change with change. My biggest thing is this, as long as we’re all playing by the same rules, it is what it is. I try not to spend a lot of time complaining, I’m more solution-oriented than I am pointing out the problems.
“It’s, OK, these are the rules and this is what it is. How do we best navigate through this, to put ourselves in the best position to have some success?”
