Here is a portion of Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian's introductory press conference on Saturday. I will have the remaining question-and-answers in my column on Sunday.
Q: How much were you craving the opportunity to run a program as a head coach again after five years away?
Sarkisian: “Well, I think, for me, what was unique? I've had opportunities to interview. I've had opportunities. I’ve been offered head coaching jobs in the last couple of years and ended up not taking them. I was in a little different scenario, clearly. I've been a coach two separate times in two great universities. The University of Washington and University of Southern California. So, it wasn't so much that I wanted to be a head coach, I just couldn't wait to be a head coach again. I wanted to make sure when a head coaching job that it was the right job. That it was a job that I felt like had the resources in place, had the people in place, hopefully, it was a university that we could recruit to, and that we could win championships in, that had rich history had the traditions. When this opportunity came, I jumped on it. I looked at every job separately and nope, that's not the right one. Nope, that's not the right one. When Texas came along, it felt right initially, and it continued to feel right the more I got engaged and the more I started to research it. This just felt like an awesome opportunity for me. I knew I wanted to be a head coach again. I thought it could happen again, but I was just hopeful that the right job would come. I definitely felt like this was the one.
Q: How will you juggle your duties over the next week or so with Texas and Alabama, and was there any hesitancy from Nick Saban to let you continue working?
Sarkisian: “I'll start backwards. Coach Saban was tremendously supportive. I owe a great deal to Coach Saban. Without his guidance and the opportunity he gave me at Alabama, this would not be possible. I owe a great deal to Nick Saban and the mentor that he is to me and everybody at Alabama, whether it's President Bell or athletic director. Those people are fantastic to me. Coach Saban wants to win he wants to win this national championship, so, no, he didn't push me out the door. He's definitely very supportive of the opportunity I have here at Texas from. From a juggling of duties, it's pretty clean. First and foremost, here at Texas, it's assembling a staff. We'll work on those things here and CDC and I will we'll start working our way through that of hiring the best staff in America. Then starting to forge those relationships with current players on the roster. I've already had one team meeting with them and we'll continue to meet with them separately along the way. In the meantime, it's a preparation. I've made a commitment to Alabama and to these kids here. So, from a game-planning standpoint and a preparation for that game standpoint, that's where my focus will be. I've done this before. I coached the Rose Bowl for USC when I had taken a job at the University of Washington in mid-December. I kind of know what it looks like. The only difference now is with some of the COVID restrictions, the recruiting factor is a little bit different, clearly, and then obviously, some of the travel is a little bit different with some of the limitations out there right now.”
Q: Where are you at with the personal challenges you faced at USC?
Sarkisian: “Yeah, I'm actually doing great. Again, anytime you go through something like I went through and you make the personal decision to get the help that you know you need, it's a process. It's a process to get that done. I put in a lot of hard work. I'm proud of the work that I put in. I know I'm a better man today than I was a little over five years ago. That's just not as a football coach, but as a man, as a father, as a husband point, and all those things are very important to me because at the end of the day, when you're sitting in a young man's living room, or you've got a young man on your team that's going through something, you have real life experiences like I have now to lean on that I think they can relate to. That they can value that I'm being sincere with them. At the end of the day, they can recognize the work that you put in, who you are and how you treat people. I'm proud of the work, But I will say when you battle what I battle, you have to work on it every day. This isn't just a one-time thing and you take the happy pill. Everything's good all of a sudden and you never have to work on it. I work on it every day. I worked on it through meetings, through sponsors, whatever that may be. That's important to me that's important for me to be the best football coach at the University of Texas that I can be, and so that's what I do.”
Q: Have you had a chance to look at the current Texas football roster, do you anticipate trying to keep him on the roster for a fifth season if possible?
Sarkisian: “Well, clearly, Sam's a heck of a football player. I mean this guy's a tremendous competitor. He's somebody that I'd be remiss not to try to keep around. There's a phone call coming. But, we'll see he's got a personal decision to make. I'll try to guide him as best I can and maybe some of the limited discussions that we'll have. I'll try to guide him as best I can with some information and knowledge that I have of what it looks like for him now, and maybe what it would look like for him in a year. That's all those are all conversations down the road. I do believe this is a talented roster. I think we saw that on display in the Alamo Bowl. I thought there was a lot of young talented players that were playing that night that were athletic, long, physical, all of the really cool attributes you look for in a player. There was a lot of young players doing that. But, I'm going have to get in there and start to dig into the individuals and who does what well, and then try to get them to put them in position to do the things they do well. Then what do we need to work on, or maybe where we’re limited that we need to fill the void.”
Q: What will be the process of putting together a coaching staff, including giving current staff members a chance to interview for their jobs?
Sarkisian: “I already had a brief meeting earlier today with the current staff members, but I'm planning on meeting with all the current staff members individually. In turn, we’ll start dialogue and interviews with coaches that are not on staff. I say this all the time about putting together staff, it’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It's not always the prettiest pieces, but it doesn't form what you want it to form. There's definitely a process to it. We'll work our way through it. We'll be diligent in what we do, but yet we need to get it done pretty swiftly. With the second signing period coming up here in a month, we want to make sure we solidify the remaining spots we have in this class, as well as getting people on board and getting boots on the ground with the current roster.”
Q: What's your message to the fan base that is 11 seasons removed from a national title game?
Sarkisian: “Well, I think the message is this. I want when people when watch us play that they're proud of the brand of football that we put on the field. That's a physical brand of football. One that's built on toughness. One that's fast. One that's attacking. One that they want to be able to brag to their buddies and say, “Did you watch Texas play today?” That takes time. My belief is we're going to put something together here that is going to be exciting. That is going to be fun to watch. That's going to be attack-driven, whether that's on offense, defense or special teams, but it's also a discipline, physical style of football that is going to be needed to win championships.”
Q: How much were you craving the opportunity to run a program as a head coach again after five years away?
Sarkisian: “Well, I think, for me, what was unique? I've had opportunities to interview. I've had opportunities. I’ve been offered head coaching jobs in the last couple of years and ended up not taking them. I was in a little different scenario, clearly. I've been a coach two separate times in two great universities. The University of Washington and University of Southern California. So, it wasn't so much that I wanted to be a head coach, I just couldn't wait to be a head coach again. I wanted to make sure when a head coaching job that it was the right job. That it was a job that I felt like had the resources in place, had the people in place, hopefully, it was a university that we could recruit to, and that we could win championships in, that had rich history had the traditions. When this opportunity came, I jumped on it. I looked at every job separately and nope, that's not the right one. Nope, that's not the right one. When Texas came along, it felt right initially, and it continued to feel right the more I got engaged and the more I started to research it. This just felt like an awesome opportunity for me. I knew I wanted to be a head coach again. I thought it could happen again, but I was just hopeful that the right job would come. I definitely felt like this was the one.
Q: How will you juggle your duties over the next week or so with Texas and Alabama, and was there any hesitancy from Nick Saban to let you continue working?
Sarkisian: “I'll start backwards. Coach Saban was tremendously supportive. I owe a great deal to Coach Saban. Without his guidance and the opportunity he gave me at Alabama, this would not be possible. I owe a great deal to Nick Saban and the mentor that he is to me and everybody at Alabama, whether it's President Bell or athletic director. Those people are fantastic to me. Coach Saban wants to win he wants to win this national championship, so, no, he didn't push me out the door. He's definitely very supportive of the opportunity I have here at Texas from. From a juggling of duties, it's pretty clean. First and foremost, here at Texas, it's assembling a staff. We'll work on those things here and CDC and I will we'll start working our way through that of hiring the best staff in America. Then starting to forge those relationships with current players on the roster. I've already had one team meeting with them and we'll continue to meet with them separately along the way. In the meantime, it's a preparation. I've made a commitment to Alabama and to these kids here. So, from a game-planning standpoint and a preparation for that game standpoint, that's where my focus will be. I've done this before. I coached the Rose Bowl for USC when I had taken a job at the University of Washington in mid-December. I kind of know what it looks like. The only difference now is with some of the COVID restrictions, the recruiting factor is a little bit different, clearly, and then obviously, some of the travel is a little bit different with some of the limitations out there right now.”
Q: Where are you at with the personal challenges you faced at USC?
Sarkisian: “Yeah, I'm actually doing great. Again, anytime you go through something like I went through and you make the personal decision to get the help that you know you need, it's a process. It's a process to get that done. I put in a lot of hard work. I'm proud of the work that I put in. I know I'm a better man today than I was a little over five years ago. That's just not as a football coach, but as a man, as a father, as a husband point, and all those things are very important to me because at the end of the day, when you're sitting in a young man's living room, or you've got a young man on your team that's going through something, you have real life experiences like I have now to lean on that I think they can relate to. That they can value that I'm being sincere with them. At the end of the day, they can recognize the work that you put in, who you are and how you treat people. I'm proud of the work, But I will say when you battle what I battle, you have to work on it every day. This isn't just a one-time thing and you take the happy pill. Everything's good all of a sudden and you never have to work on it. I work on it every day. I worked on it through meetings, through sponsors, whatever that may be. That's important to me that's important for me to be the best football coach at the University of Texas that I can be, and so that's what I do.”
Q: Have you had a chance to look at the current Texas football roster, do you anticipate trying to keep him on the roster for a fifth season if possible?
Sarkisian: “Well, clearly, Sam's a heck of a football player. I mean this guy's a tremendous competitor. He's somebody that I'd be remiss not to try to keep around. There's a phone call coming. But, we'll see he's got a personal decision to make. I'll try to guide him as best I can and maybe some of the limited discussions that we'll have. I'll try to guide him as best I can with some information and knowledge that I have of what it looks like for him now, and maybe what it would look like for him in a year. That's all those are all conversations down the road. I do believe this is a talented roster. I think we saw that on display in the Alamo Bowl. I thought there was a lot of young talented players that were playing that night that were athletic, long, physical, all of the really cool attributes you look for in a player. There was a lot of young players doing that. But, I'm going have to get in there and start to dig into the individuals and who does what well, and then try to get them to put them in position to do the things they do well. Then what do we need to work on, or maybe where we’re limited that we need to fill the void.”
Q: What will be the process of putting together a coaching staff, including giving current staff members a chance to interview for their jobs?
Sarkisian: “I already had a brief meeting earlier today with the current staff members, but I'm planning on meeting with all the current staff members individually. In turn, we’ll start dialogue and interviews with coaches that are not on staff. I say this all the time about putting together staff, it’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It's not always the prettiest pieces, but it doesn't form what you want it to form. There's definitely a process to it. We'll work our way through it. We'll be diligent in what we do, but yet we need to get it done pretty swiftly. With the second signing period coming up here in a month, we want to make sure we solidify the remaining spots we have in this class, as well as getting people on board and getting boots on the ground with the current roster.”
Q: What's your message to the fan base that is 11 seasons removed from a national title game?
Sarkisian: “Well, I think the message is this. I want when people when watch us play that they're proud of the brand of football that we put on the field. That's a physical brand of football. One that's built on toughness. One that's fast. One that's attacking. One that they want to be able to brag to their buddies and say, “Did you watch Texas play today?” That takes time. My belief is we're going to put something together here that is going to be exciting. That is going to be fun to watch. That's going to be attack-driven, whether that's on offense, defense or special teams, but it's also a discipline, physical style of football that is going to be needed to win championships.”
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