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June 1, 2014.
That was my first day at Orangebloods. I remember the initial conversation Ketch and I had that ultimately convinced me to leave the NFL world and cover college football. I could have more freedom as a writer, which occurred. I could reinvent myself as a University of Texas reporter/columnist, which occurred. Ketch sold me on the beauty of Austin. Of course, Ketch did sell me on the possibility of covering Charlie Strong leading Texas to a national championship. Maybe he meant to say I would rarely need to worry about covering a bowl game in December.
As I drove a U-Haul truck from Tampa to Austin, I thought about what covering college football would be like as opposed to the NFL (I also wondered if I booked a hotel in a safe part of Louisiana for my overnight stay). I thought about how great life would be without dealing with agents again. I figured my life would be less stressful without having to worry about free agency. The NFL is about money and I looked forward to getting away from the business aspect of football. Before covering Texas, my greatest time as a sports reporter was covering high school football because athletes played for the love of the game, and I loved it.
Ten years later, I cannot tell the difference between college football and the NFL. Players are getting paid. The transfer portal is just free agency with a fancier name. Nearly every player has an agent. SEC coaches and administrators discussed creating their version of an injury report, which we could see during the 2025 season. I'm an NFL reporter again.
When I think about college football changing in real-time, the coaches who can quickly adjust will succeed. Those who remain stuck in the past, like Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney, will struggle to succeed. Those who cannot adjust to the power shift will leave college football, like former Alabama coach Nick Saban. However, when I think about Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian in this new era of college football, he may be better suited to navigate this landscape than the majority of his peers.
Sarkisian was made for this era of college football.
“I try not to spend a lot of time complaining,” Sarkisian said. “I'm more solution-oriented than I am pointing out the problem with it. Okay, these are the rules. This is what it is. How do we how do we best navigate through this to put ourselves in the best position to have some success?”
Here is one thing I have noticed about Sarkisian as college football changes.
Many coaches are freaking out.
Sarkisian has displayed comfort amidst the chaos.
The reason why is Sarkisian has an NFL background. Sarkisian was young when he became Oakland’s quarterback coach in 2004. He was an offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons for two seasons. Sarkisian understands the business of college football more than those who have never stepped into an NFL locker room.
To better understand the world Sarkisian came from, allow me to share a few stories you may have heard from me in the past.
The NFL is a league dominated by its players. They often earn more than their coaches, and some are practically untouchable due to their lucrative contracts. They also have a player's union for support when needed. Coaches who fail to adapt simply cannot last.
I recall covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2009 season. That year, the Bucs played the New England Patriots in London. The organization treated it as a business trip, arriving just two days before the game rather than spending the whole week in England. Players were given a strict curfew, which frustrated those who wanted to explore the city. To make matters worse, Tampa Bay was 0-6 at the time and ended up losing 35-7.
During the weekend, a few players decided to ignore the curfew and enjoy the city. They returned to the hotel to find the coach and general manager waiting to reprimand them. However, one former first-round pick among them confronted the coach and GM, cursing at them in the hotel lobby. He challenged them to cut him if they didn't like it, knowing they wouldn't dare. He told them to shut up, and nothing came of it.
When I covered the Detroit Lions, the meeting rooms were standard, with folding chairs for everyone except Ndamukong Suh. Suh had bought a red lounge chair from Nebraska and sat in the back of the room while the rest of the team used the folding chairs, and the organization said nothing. As an NFL star, Suh enjoyed certain privileges. He continued this practice until an article highlighted the discrepancy, after which he purchased chairs for everyone else.
This is the environment Sarkisian came from.
Sarkisian knows how to deal with young men who have choices. He knows the importance of having honest conversations with athletes because players will not suit up for coaches they do not respect. I remember discussing a player injury with an NFL assistant coach and he told me, “Don’t worry about it. He’ll be out there on Sunday. He won’t take a needle for anyone else. But he’ll take a needle for me.”
Having an NFL background is a huge advantage for Sarkisian.
“For us in the transfer portal, we do view that as kind of free agency for us where we have gaps or holes in our roster where we can fill those things in,” Sarkisian said. “I do think understanding the temperature in your locker room and who's making what, and keeping that that culture the right way. Now we're going to player-to-coach communication which is very similar to how it was in the NFL as well. Now there's talk of reporting player injuries and things for the week.
“There’s definitely a shift, which I don't think is a bad thing. The NFL has done extensive homework and research on a lot of these things. And so if that's the direction we go in, we just try to fall back on some of our experiences to do the best that we can.”
One of the effects of the House vs. NCAA court settlement could be shifting from scholarship limits to roster limits in college football, with an 85-man cap being widely discussed. This change would eliminate walk-ons and coaches who rely on having over 120 players for practice are strongly opposing it. A compromise might be reached, but if an 85-player roster cap is enforced, coaches will need to make significant adjustments.
Like most coaches, Sarkisian would prefer not to have a cap.
Unlike most coaches, Sarkisian is not panicking.
“The challenge of that is adjusting,” Sarkisian said. “I've said this all along like we're in this era of college football where we have to continually adapt. From the moment I got this job at Texas, we were still almost operating under the old ways. And here comes the transfer portal. Here comes NIL. Here comes conference realignment. Now here comes a new settlement. Now there's talk of potential roster size being reduced. Through it all, you have to adapt. If we don't adapt, we're aren’t going to be here.
“I think at the end, if that's the number, that's the number. We have to adapt, we have to adjust and we got to figure out the best way to put our players in the best position to have success.”
As coaches discussed how to conduct practices with fewer players, the solution they discussed was simple.
The NFL conducts practices with a limited amount of players.
Just mimic NFL practices.
Sarkisian can pull that off with ease.
In addition, Sarkisian did not freak out when asked how the SEC can ensure coaches are being transparent on injury reports.
“Fine us. That’s what they do in the NFL,” Sarkisian said. “I'm a big believer in this. The NFL has figured a lot of this stuff out already. They've already had to live through all of these things that have occurred. We don't have to try to recreate the wheel so much. If I try to game the system and I don't report a guy and so on and so forth, fine us. We all like the money that we make. That's a really simple way to get us to adhere to the rules.”
Looking back at my leap from the NFL to college football, expecting a simpler, less business-like atmosphere now feels as naïve as thinking I could find good BBQ outside of Texas.
Today’s college football, with players getting paid and the transfer portal acting as free agency in disguise, is the spitting image of the pros.
However, Sarkisian’s NFL experience means he can handle this chaos like a pro. His ability to find solutions in the middle of a mess is better than the day I walked into H-E-B.
Ten years later, I am still waiting for Texas to win a national championship.
I get the feeling it will happen – just not the way I believed it would occur during that U-Haul ride.
Sarkisian was made for this era of college football.
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
Yes, some people are this dumb
Have you ever wondered what life without football looks like?
Here is a great joke for the golfers
I will stick to my two-mile walks in the morning
Drake must fight Kendrick
Sports On A Dime
1. Texas President Jay Hartzell’s response when asked if the eventual revenue-sharing agreement between schools and athletes is a version of pay-for-play: “If you look at where we are today and the settlement and where things are heading, I think we all have to agree that there's the likelihood of some pay for play that is highly likely. I think it's almost certainly at some point. Then you're debating how to do it and do it in a way that keeps what's great about college athletics. Keep it keep it right. Yes, the genie is out of the bottle at some level, and I don't see us as an institution, or set of institutions, putting it back in fully.”
2. Hartzell on the difference between SEC Spring Meeting and Big 12 Spring Meetings: “I think one thing that struck me is, and it comes out in these meetings, is the holistic approach they take to the entire enterprise. For example, part of the program today was bringing in student-athletes to hear directly from them and hear from their experiences. And I don't recall that happening. They've got a chief medical officer who's worrying about the mental health and physical health of the student-athletes, and how can we share best practices and learn from each other. So those are things we just didn't see before. I've been struck by the extremely high degree of organization. Way more attendance, it turns out. We were all laughing about what kinds of people you see on the plane as we flew in. People are geared up. This is a holiday, but people are planning their family vacations around the SEC meetings. I never saw that in Big 12 meetings. As you'd expect with a premier conference, it's a holistic structure approach to not just think about what happens on the field, but all the pieces that fit around that to make it better.”
3. Texas women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer’s response when I asked him to reflect on how his team rallied together after Rori Harmon’s season-ending injury: “I couldn't have been more proud of that group. To go through what they went through, losing a player and a person like Rori, you heart and soul of your team. I've compared it to Apollo 13, when it was in the sky and it short-circuited, and now all of a sudden they're on their way to the moon. Well, you can't go to the moon and now I got to try to get you home. There's enough circuitry on the capsule to get you home. But now we got to figure out a way to rewire it. That’s what I had to do with my team. My challenge at that moment that day on December 27 was we got our conference season in front of us. I got to get these kids home. So, we rewired the capsules. We moved Madison Booker from small forward to point guard. Usually, you move your two-guard. I moved my three-player to point guard. Brought Shay [Holle] off the bench and put her in the starting lineup. But then we had some other injuries we were dealing with. Deyona Gaston was still out from a major ankle injury. We had to navigate a lot. So, when I think back to that team, y'all, it's one of my more prouder teams that I've had.”
4. Schaefer on the current popularity of women’s basketball: “I've been doing this for 40 years. I've seen a big growth, a big change. It just confirms what I've always said. If you invest in something, you're going to get a return. I think there's been a big investment by administrations across the country in women's basketball, and they're seeing the return. You know, it's really unfair to put a value on something just because of the monetary value. There's a value to what we do. There's a value to being on TV on Sunday afternoon, and there's 10,000 people in an arena screaming and hollering, and somebody's surfing the channels, and all of a sudden they go, hey, what's going on on that channel? Oh, man, that place is packed. What school is that? Oh, wow. I'm thinking about going there. You can't put a value on that. That's free advertisement for your university versus they cost us X-number of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to have that program. It’s just not a real fair assessment in my opinion.”
5. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne’s response when asked if he will have to reduce expenses: “We're gonna have to figure out how to pay for the new line item in our budget. Is there an opportunity for revenue growth? They're always there's always a rock you can look under … We're going to figure that out. Unlimited meals. That was great. Didn't complain about that. That's a good step that we should have taken earlier. This is different. This is a big deal. I think we just have to recognize that we don't have all the answers yet, and we have to be very thoughtful in how we decide to move forward with the new model, and how that impacts our department across the board.”
6. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s response when asked if they have tweaked the strength and conditioning program to prepare for a longer season: “I have not. Whether that's right or wrong, I think when you get there, you worry more about that then. I know that’s unusual for a school that prepares for everything. I think you got to get there first. The most important thing is getting there and then worry about that then versus, okay, well we're going to cut back here or cut back there, and then all sudden you don't get there. You fall short because of whatever things. I have not thought that way.”
7. It just means more
8. Brett Yormark neglected to mention Texas and Oklahoma did not receive a payout since both schools are leaving for the SEC. Nonetheless, the countdown to July 1 is on.
9. I am going to ignore what occurred during the Austin FC match on Saturday and say I enjoyed watching the Champions League final. That was fun.
10. Deontay Wilder was once viewed as the greatest American heavyweight boxer since Mike Tyson. However, those days are long gone.
In My Feelings
I did not think an elementary school graduation would result in a few tears. However, there I was, sitting in the audience, and having one of “those” moments that every parent has experienced.
My son, Maximus, was 1½ years old when I moved to Austin. He sat and my lap and played with a knife when I met the Orangebloods staff for dinner at Eddie V’s 10 years ago. Now, he’s 11 years old and time flies. He’s emerging into a fantastic goalkeeper who has a chance to do great things in the sport. He is respectful, soft-spoken, and has an amazing heart.
I cried during the graduation ceremony when I noticed Max was screaming his support for one group of kids more than anyone else. Every time the name of a special needs student was announced, he cheered like he was at an Austin FC game. When you see your child show love and support for people who are ignored in our society, it is hard not to get emotional. I’m emotional right now.
In addition, Max began the school year in the lowest math percentile (1 percent). Through hard work, biweekly tutoring, and help from his teacher, he finished in the 89th percentile and can take honors math in the fall. I will not add the pressure of honors math on him. Yet, I told Max I am prouder of his math achievement than anything he had done on the soccer field (that includes getting invited to train at PSG in Paris or guest-playing for the Austin FC Academy).
Congrats, Max.
