Sarkisian Will Still Coach For Bama In CFP Title Game. How's That Going to Work?
It can be argued that Steve Sarkisian, the Alabama offensive coordinator who was named head coach at Texas on Saturday, has done the best work of his career this season.
Yes, he was the quarterback coach on the legendary 2005 USC team that featured not one but TWO Heisman Trophy winners, running back Reggie Bush and quarterback Matt Leinart.
He was the offensive coordinator of the 2019 Alabama offense featuring quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and four future NFL draft picks at wide receiver. That offense averaged 510.8 yards and 47.2 points per game, second only to LSU, the eventual national champion.
But consider what Sarkisian has done this season.
He began with a quarterback, Mac Jones, who came on for the injured Tagovailoa at the end of the 2019 season. There was some thought that Jones wouldn’t even win the job over incoming freshman Bryce Young.
Well, in 2020 Jones became a Heisman finalist by completing 77 percent of his passes for 4,036 yards, 36 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
Alabama lost two receivers—No. 12 pick Henry Ruggs and No. 15 pick Jerry Jeudy—to the NFL Draft last April. After four games in 2020 the Crimson’s Tide’s No. 1 receiver, Jaylen Waddle, was lost for the season with an injury.
The Crimson Tide passing game never missed a beat.
Senior DeVonta Smith stepped up and was brilliant, finishing with 105 catches for 1,614 yards and 20 touchdowns, leading the nation in both categories. And Tuesday night there is a very good chance Smith will win the Heisman Trophy.
So if you’re keeping score at home, Alabama has two of the four Heisman finalists. Alabama running back Najee Harris was the No. 5 vote getter.
Alabama scored 578 points this season, easily more than any team in college football. Its 48.2 scoring average beat last season’s school record by a full point.
Oh by the way: Sarkisian won the 2020 Broyles Award, which goes to the nation’s best assistant coach.
And on Jan. 11, in his last official act as an Alabama assistant coach, he will put this record-setting offense against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game. Then he will fly from Miami to Austin to starting serving as the 28th head coach of the Texas Longhorns.
It has been quite a journey for Sarkisian.
Sarkisian has previously been as head coach at Washington (2009-13) and USC (2014-15). The on-field results were mixed (46-35). But in October of 2015 he took an indefinite leave of absence to deal with off-the-field issues. Published reports at the time said that Sarkisian was dealing with alcohol-related issues.
Alabama Coach Nick Saban, as he has done to others, gave Sarkisian a chance to resurrect his career by hiring him as an offensive analyst—not a full-time assistant--in September of 2016. He served in that capacity until Lane Kiffin, Alabama’s offensive coordinator, left after the CFP semifinal win over Washington. Sarkisian was elevated to offensive coordinator for the national championship game with Clemson, a 35-31 loss.
Sarkisian then spent two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, who fired him on Dec. 31, 2018.
That’s when Saban brought Sarkisian back as offensive coordinator to replace Mike Locksley, who became head coach at Maryland. Sarkisian proceeded to coordinate the two best offensive teams to ever take the field at Alabama. Those teams have also scored 35 or more points in 24 consecutive games, which is the longest streak in college football history.
Sarkisian made it clear in his introductory press conference in Austin last Saturday that he is staying with the Alabama team through next Monday’s national championship game.
“I made a commitment to Coach Saban and these players to see them through the championship game,” Sarkisian told reporters on Saturday. “And then directly after that I’ll be in Austin.”
So how’s that going to work? How do you give your complete attention to two jobs at once?
Well, it won’t surprise you that Nick Saban has a plan for this.
In fact this will be the sixth national championship game Saban has coached with a lame duck coordinator or a new coordinator. Her is a quick rundown:
2011: OC Jim McElwain was named head coach at Colorado State but stayed to coach in Alabama’s 21-0 win over LSU for the BCS national title.
2015: DC Kirby Smart was named head coach at Georgia in early December. With Saban’ blessing, Smart spent his days working for Alabama and his nights working for Georgia. Alabama beat Clemson 45-40 in Glendale, Ariz., for the CFP national title.
2016: OC Lane Kiffin had been named head coach at FAU but planned to stay with Alabama through the playoffs. After a sloppy 24-7 win over Washington in the semifinals, Saban and Kiffin decided to part ways. Kiffin was replaced by Sarkisian for the national championship game with Clemson. Clemson scored with only a second left to win 35-31 in Tempa.
2017: DC Jeremy Pruitt was named head coach at Tennessee but stuck around to coach in the CFP. Alabama beat Georgia 26-23 for the national championship Atlanta.
2018: OC Mike Locksley was named the head coach at Maryland but stayed to coach in the national championship game with Clemson, which won 44-16 in Santa Clara, Calif.
So Alabama is 3-2 (both losses to Clemson) in these circumstances.
The good news: From the time that Sarkisian was named the Texas head coach last Saturday until the championship game with Ohio State on Jan. 11 is only nine days. Most of his predecessors had to handle both jobs for a month.