In a leadup to today’s final regular season games, and in anticipation of the infamous Black Monday to follow, ESPN’s Adam Schefter did a deep dive on some of the latest rumors on the upcoming coaching carousel. In this deep dive, Schefter claimed that he expects there to be interest from some NFL teams in University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian. Let’s take our own look at this possibility. 
Sarkisian, affectionately referred to as “Sark” by many in the media, has been the head coach in Austin for the last four years. A former dual-sport athlete in high school, Sarkisian chose baseball as the sport to follow in college, walking on at USC. After struggling in Division I, he transferred to El Camino College, a junior college at which he was encouraged to go back to football. After being named a JuCo All-American, he transferred once again to BYU. After graduation, Sarkisian’s playing career ended following three average years in the Canadian Football League.
Immediately following the end of his playing career, Sarkisian went back to one of his alma mater’s, El Camino, to coach quarterbacks. The next year, he went to another of his former schools, taking the same job at USC coaching quarterbacks like Carson Palmer, Matt Cassel, and Matt Leinart; Palmer would become a No. 1 overall draft selection in 2003, and Leinart would be drafted in the top 10 in 2006.
After three years in the role, Sarkisian got his first NFL opportunity, taking the same role with the Raiders in Oakland in 2004 under then-head coach Norv Turner. He only coached over quarterbacks Kerry Collins and Rich Gannon for a year before returning to USC as quarterbacks coach in 2005, just missing out on a national championship with the Trojans. He finished out the career of Leinart and remained at USC until 2008, getting promoted to assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2007. Over that time, he also coached future No. 5 overall pick Mark Sanchez.
Following his success molding quarterbacks in Los Angeles, Sarkisian got his first head coaching gig at the University of Washington. In five years in Seattle, Sarkisian never found much team success, going 34-29 with his best year being an 8-4 campaign in his final season. His time their did result in quarterback Jake Locker getting drafted No. 8 overall in 2011, though.
Despite a contract extension that would’ve kept Sarkisian in Seattle until 2015, the new head coach opted to head back home to California, accepting the newly open head coaching gig at USC, replacing an ousted Lane Kiffin. Sarkisian only lasted two years in the job himself, getting fired due to suspicions of being intoxicated on the job. Sarkisian claimed to have mixed alcohol with medication, but multiple reports indicated that he simply imbibed too much alcohol on multiple occasions.
This started a road of Sarkisian working his way back to a head coaching responsibility. He took a job in 2016 as an offensive assistant at Alabama, eventually replacing Kiffin as the interim offensive coordinator when Kiffin left to become head coach at Florida Atlantic. The next year, then-Falcons head coach Dan Quinn hired Sarkisian on as offensive coordinator in Atlanta. In 2017 under Sarkisian, the Falcons offense finished 15th in points scored and eighth in total yards. The next year, Atlanta’s offense was 10th in points and sixth in total yards, but these were still considered regressions from 2016 when the team was first in points and second in yards, and Sarkisian was dismissed.
This sent Sarkisian back to Tuscaloosa, where he officially got the role of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Crimson Tide. In his two years back at Alabama, Sarkisian took over the tutelage of first-round picks Tua Tagovailoa (No. 5 overall) and Mac Jones (No. 15), coaching over Jones’ incredible 4,500-yard, 41-touchdown, four-interception season with a 77.4 completion percentage in 2020. 
This led Sarkisian to his third opportunity at a head coaching job, this one with the Longhorns. It took him a moment to find success in Austin, going 5-7 in his first season, but in 2022, transfer quarterback Quinn Ewers came to Texas and the team returned to their winning ways. Last year, the Longhorns made the four-team College Football Playoff for the first time, falling to the eventual runners-up of the season and his former team, the Huskies.
This year, Texas was dominant for much the year, falling only twice (both times to Georgia). They made the 12-team College Football Playoff, and after two wins against Clemson and Arizona State, they have advanced to the semi-finals for the second time in a row. They will play Ohio State this weekend and, if they win, will play the winner of a matchup between Penn State and Notre Dame for a national championship title.
The prospect of Sarkisian getting head coaching interest in the NFL is certainly an intriguing one. His history with alcohol abuse will be an obvious red flag in interviews, but he seems to have distanced himself from such issues with his time at Alabama, Atlanta, and Texas and has perhaps earned back some good will. His time in Austin has been his longest stint in one place since his five years with Washington, and his turnaround of the Longhorns’ program has certainly been impressive.
He’s considered a respected offensive name in the football world and has shown a strong ability as a head coach in recent years. As a molder of many NFL quarterbacks over the years, he could be an ideal fit for a team fielding a young quarterback or looking to draft one. It will be interesting to see where he draws interviews in the coming weeks.
Sark had success at U-Dub. Sark replaced Tyrone Willingham, who led the Dawgs to an 0-12 season in 2008.
Sark rebuilt UW football.
I’d rather the Jets hire him than Rex…
Maybe it would be wise to wait and see how this upcoming game goes? Ohio State has finally looked like they’re up to their hype and Smith has been tearing through defenses. There’s no guarantee that Sarkisian’s team advances, and while successful, he’s only been at Texas for four years. That’s only one full class (in our pre-portal days, at least), and he hasn’t had a long tenure anywhere yet in his career.
I doubt that Sarkisian would leave a high profile championship contending school for a job as a coordinator in the NFL, and I’d want to see more stability at the college level before handing him the reigns long term as a head coach. It’s more likely that one ends up with Kliff Kingsbury than Pete Carroll. While I don’t necessarily predict it for Sarkisian himself, there’s also always the chance that one could instead end up with a Matt Rhule-or worse, Lane Kiffin.
Also…with all due respect, because I don’t enjoy saying this and appreciate what you all do, this article needs some proofreading. Adding an apostrophe never, ever makes a word plural (“alma mater’s”), and “their” is possessive, not a place indicator (which would be “there”).