Sark Focused on Big 12 But 'Not Naive' That Longhorns Need Growth Before SEC

"Ultimately, we got to start winning some more games. I'm not naive to that," Sarkisian said amidst Tuesday's meeting with Big 12 coaches

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian spent three years in the SEC at Alabama, winning a national championship as offensive coordinator in 2020.

So when he was hired to be the next head football coach at Texas in Jan. 2021, life in the Big 12 seemed to be all there was to look forward to. But with the Longhorns now on a crash course for the SEC sometime before 2025, it's hard to avoid the discussion, especially this week as he attends meetings with the other nine Big 12 coaches.

"For us, at the end of the day, we're in the Big 12," Sarkisian said. "It's important to know the direction of the conference and direction of college football and where we are going on a lot of these topics. ... We're in the Big 12, so we need to know the direction of where the conference is going right now."

Coach speak? Maybe. Focusing on the present is the right mindset for a coach to have and maintain. But this isn't your everyday conference mega-eruption, as Oklahoma and UT lie in wait for the unprecedented move to the best conference in football.

Sarkisian's time at Alabama certainly aids Texas in the transition. However, Nick Saban isn't stepping in to run the show anymore. Sark says it's important to remember where you came from while also creating your own identity as a team.

"There's a lot of great aspects of [Alabama] that I think we can take with us, but naturally, we have to do the things I'm comfortable doing and doing it the way that best suits us," Sarkisian said. "There's great coaches in the SEC, there's really good players, there's big people, there's fast people. We've got to assemble a really good staff, which I think we've done. We've got to recruit on a really high level, which I think that we've shown that we can do. And then ultimately get those players big enough, faster and stronger."

A 5-7 record simply doesn't cut it for a program like Texas. It'll be hard to do worse than that in 2022. Sarkisian clearly sees improvement ahead while acknowledging the lack of wins.

"Ultimately, we got to start winning some more games, I'm not naive to that," he said. "But as far as just people tugging and pulling and moving in different directions, no. I felt like everybody is moving in a positive direction. That was something that I challenged our fan base to do, our donors to do, our administration to do, was trust the fact that you hired me to do a job; let's get on board and let's all move in the same direction to make this thing special again."

Something special could certainly be brewing in Austin. But with about four months still next to go before the start of the season, the speculation will remain on Texas' ability to improve before joining the SEC.

Texas football

© Nelson Chenault, USA TODAY

Bijan Robinson (left) and Steve Sarkisian

Isaiah Neyor (left) and Xavier Worthy

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