Inside The Huskies

Sarkisian Dives into the Texas Pressure-Cooker, Launches Spring Football

The former University of Washington coach has to show immediate results now.
Dan Raley|
Sarkisian Dives into the Texas Pressure-Cooker, Launches Spring Football
Sarkisian Dives into the Texas Pressure-Cooker, Launches Spring Football

Gulfstream, billboards, slogans, Sarkisian.

For University of Texas football, image has been everything so far.

Yet Steve Sarkisian's grand return to the head-coaching ranks now goes from promotional appeal to show us what you've got.

On Tuesday, he opened spring practice. 

For the third time in a dozen years, beginning with the University of Washington, Sarkisian is attempting to re-energize and reposition a Power 5 program that needs a boost.

With the Huskies, his job was never tougher — Sarkisian assumed control of an 0-12 brushfire, the worst team ever fielded in Seattle — and he slowly brought the program back to respectability.

At USC, he was asked to improve on a 10-4 team and make people forget the ousted Lane Kiffin. Yet consumed by alcoholism behind the scenes, he made things worse and was gone after a season and a half in Los Angeles. 

Sarkisian now is the man in charge of a Longhorns football program that went 7-3, 8-5, 10-4 and 7-6 under Tom Herman — that was deemed not good enough.

This comes following the Charlie Strong era at Texas that was Charlie weak and bottomed out completely with 5-7, 5-7 and 6-7 seasons.

Texas fans want Darrell Royal or Mack Brown success again.

National championships.

Everybody in the country waving two fingers again and saying "Hook'em Horns!" 

People seeing college football orange and thinking Texas, not Clemson.

For all the bravado coming out of Austin over the past two months, Sarkisian has to be checking his pulse at times and trying to slow it down. 

All gas, no brakes, is his motto.

It should be all cardiac, no resuscitation. 

Seemingly the only greater pressure Sarkisian could have taken on was to replace Nick Saban at Alabama, his previous stop, where national championships are like spring ball.

They happen every year.

For now, Sarkisian is going to pore over the talent that Herman left him, players who supposedly weren't good enough to save that coach's job, and see what he can do with them.

Remember, Herman came to Texas with great fanfare, too, from Houston, already a state citizen. 

And he couldn't survive 32-18. He couldn't get over the hump. Win the big games. Return to New Year's Day bowl games. Or the playoffs. 

Sarkisian needs to see if he can succeed right away before he gets his own recruits on campus. 

He's a cautious man right now, making no promises.

"The depth-chart piece, I actually talked to the players about this today, it's really fluid," the coach said. "Again, we don't know everything about these players and so a guy may be a three tomorrow on the depth chart. He may be a one come Thursday. Or Saturday, a guy may be a two, and he may become a one, or a one may go from a one to a two or three."

All of the Longhorns assistant coaches received a little airtime as spring ball commenced, too, and a chance to share their fearless approach.

It was weird seeing Pete Kwiatkowski, dressed all in orange rather than purple, talking football. 

"We're going to throw a lot at them," the former UW defensive coordinator said in the tweeted video here. "It's how they respond, keep grinding. It's going to be a lot of defense and see how they respond to that."

Sarkisian has thrown himself into the college football fire again, at a place itching to get back to the top 10 and national title consideration, at a place that has never been forgiving or patient.

It didn't quite work out for John Mackovic, David McWilliams or Fred Akers, who all succeeded Royal and preceded Mack Brown as coaches. 

Yet it can be done.

After all, Royal built this Texas monster after starting but not finishing a total rebuild at Washington.

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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