Texas Longhorns Building Strong Environment Amidst Transfer Portal Chaos

Any program that wants to succeed in the transfer portal era simply has to adjust to the changing times, and Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is well aware of that fact.

The Longhorns have been pretty successful in the transfer portal, landing some key contributors each year and generally adding more than they lose. The reason for that success, at least according to Sarkisian, is a culture that players want to be a part of.

“We’ve tried to create an environment that is fair,” Sarkisian said on Sirius XM. “I’m not going to sit here and say that, hey, our guys don’t have any NIL, that I’m not going to … But the point is, we try to be fair, we try to be honest, we try to be transparent. As far as where guys are at in our program, what they need to work on, what they’re doing, right? Maybe what they can improve upon …

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian before the Peach Bowl. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

“The standard is a standard, and if you’re not meeting that standard, then it then it’s our responsibility to let you know, and if you’re exceeding the standard, it’s our responsibility to let you know, and that’s as a team, that’s as individual players in the program. But I think now the veteran players are holding players to a point of accountability, to where it’s not coming out of a sense of if you don’t do this, you’re gone. It’s more out of a sense of love. It’s meant: we need you. We want you to do well. And so I think we’ve created an environment where guys really want to be here, they don’t have to be here.”

Of course, a strong culture is only part of the equation. The Longhorns are among the national title favorites after making it to the College Football Playoff semifinals in each of the past two years, and everyone being on the same page will only help them reach that goal.

“They’re working towards a common goal,” Sarkisian said. “There’s a commitment towards something that when I mentioned the portal opening the day that it opened, we didn’t have anybody kind of going in before it opened. I said I hope nobody wants to leave.

"You know, really, I know a lot of programs are trying to create space and move players. I said, I hope nobody else wants to leave. I hope that we created an environment for you here that makes it really difficult for you to want to leave, and understandably so that some of you probably will have to, just because that’s the nature of the beast."

Sarkisian has done a great job of bringing the Longhorns back to national prominence after more than a decade of darkness, especially in a period of such drastic change for the sport. He should only continue to build and improve upon the foundation he's set as he chases a championship.