Trust The Process: Longhorns Coach Steve Sarkisian Is What Texas Needs
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AUSTIN - It is difficult to ignore the numbers regarding the Texas Longhorns losing leads under Steve Sarkisian.
Through 16 games, Sarkisian is 7-9, with five of those losses coming despite holding leads in the fourth quarter and four coming after holding double-digit leads at some point in the game.
Just this season, Texas has blown a fourth-quarter lead against the nation's No. 1 team at the time, Alabama, and a 14-point second-half lead over Texas Tech this past Saturday.
Inevitably, as is typical with any Texas loss since the beginning of the social media era, vultures have again started to descend upon the Longhorns.
More specifically, Sarkisian has once again become the subject of ire across the Texas fan base.
So does he deserve it?
Well, yes.
Despite not having his starting quarterback, the loss in Lubbock is an inexcusable one.
The Longhorns coasted in the first half, leading 24-14, and perhaps a fourth down decision away from putting the game away completely in the third quarter.
A field goal would have given Texas a 17-point lead and put Tech in a tough position.
And a conversion and a potential touchdown would likely have sent the Red Raiders fans home with their tails between their legs.
Instead, the Longhorns failed on their fourth down attempt, giving Joey McGuire's team momentum and more importantly, hope.
The Red Raiders would outscore the Longhorns 23-10 from there, stealing the game in overtime after a rare Bijan Robinson fumble.
In short, the Longhorns beat themselves, which falls on the head coach 100 percent of the time.
However, there is a far more important question that many are putting on the table about Sarkisian: Is the right guy to pull Texas out of its decade-long rut and bring them 'back'?
Once again, the answer is quite straightforward.
Yes.
Texas was in a very precarious position following the firing of Tom Herman.
Not only was the program leaderless from a head coaching standpoint, but its the discord left in Herman's wake was crippling.
What is worse is that the Longhorns' biggest locker room presence, Sam Ehlinger was also gone, leaving a gigantic leadership void amongst the roster as well. Not to mention a host of 'bad apples' on the roster that have since made their way to other programs via the transfer portal.
It was so bad that the vaunted 2019 recruiting class under Herman has just four players remaining on campus - T'Vondre Sweat, Jordan Whittington, Roschon Johnson and David Gbenda.
In short, Texas was in shambles.
And despite the 2021 Longhorns being a mess, Sarkisian did the best with what he had.
Yes, the Longhorns likely should have finished the season 9-3, blowing double-digit second-half leads over Oklahoma, Baylor, and Oklahoma State. They also held leads in their losses to Iowa State and Kansas.
Instead, they finished 5-7.
However, these blown leads and issues closing games are not indicative of the idea that Sarkisian is not the right man to resurrect the Longhorns program.
What they are indicative of is the fact that the Texas program was in the midst of both a major depth problem and a significant culture shift.
Both of those things have been remedied in 2022, albeit to varying degrees.
The culture in the locker room in Austin is now, by all accounts, an immaculate one. The bad apples are gone, leaders are in place, and the players have bought into Sarkisian's vision.
That much is evident by the Longhorns' near-upset win over Alabama and their come-from-behind win over UTSA in Week 3.
What is still a bit of an issue... is depth. And to some degree, talent, most notably in the trenches.
Sark quickly began putting in the work to fix those issues.
He started by bringing in multiple instant impact transfers who have improved the team significantly, including quarterback Quinn Ewers, defensive back Ryan Watts, and linebacker Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey.
Wideout Isaiah Neyor also looked like a big improvement, but he was lost before the season due to a torn ACL.
He then finished off the 2022 recruiting cycle with an elite class, as well as a historic offensive line haul - two of which, Kelvin Banks and Cole Hutson, started from Day 1 for the Horns.
In 2023, he has taken that recruiting momentum to the next level, putting together a top-4 class that consists of seven members of the SI99, including quarterback Arch Manning, wideouts Johntay Cook and Ryan Niblett, and the nation's No. 1 running back, Cedric Baxter.
He has also loaded up on talent in the trenches on both sides of the ball, with five top-level commitments on both the offensive and defensive fronts.
In short, talent and culture-wise, Sarkisian has the Longhorns well on the right track.
Again, that does not excuse the blown leads. Quite the opposite in fact. However, they also do not mean he isn't the right man for the job.
Those issues are simply the next step in this program's extremely complicated, multi-faceted rebuild.
With that said, if those shortcomings persist over the remainder of the season, and into Year 3, without much sign of a continued upward trajectory, there will eventually be a breaking point for fans and administration alike.
However, that time is not yet here. Nor should it be. Sarkisian is still early in establishing the Texas brand, which will continue to take time after a decade of mismanagement, embarrassment, and catastrophe.
For now, Longhorns fans have one choice: Trust in Sark's plan, and trust the process it will take to get to his end goal.
That process continues against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday at 6:30 pm in Austin.
You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan
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