$5,000,000 worth Steve Sarkisian's open-heart surgery no less than "ticking time bomb" as Texas coach recalls battle with life and death

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is about to lead the No. 3 Longhorns into a College Football Playoff semifinal to face the No. 2 Washington Huskies in the Sugar Bowl on Monday night.

This is the biggest game that Sarkisian has had in his coaching career. But it is by far not the most significant battle that he has had in his life.

During this morning's "College Gameday" on ESPN, Sarkisian, who has an estimated net worth of $5 million according to Clutch Points, was interviewed about a deeply personal battle.

Sarkisian was diagnosed with a heart condition in the summer of 2020 when he was an assistant coach at Alabama. He found this out during a mandatory physical exam before the season.

The physician found that Sarkisian had an aneurysm in his heart caused by a leaky valve. The physical also discovered that Sarkisian had only two heart valves, while the norm for humans is three.

The aneurysm was seen as a “widow maker” in the medical world, and Sarkisian was only given a 5% chance of survival. According to Alabama's associate athletics director Jeff Allen, Sarkisian was a “ticking time bomb”.

"If we don't get this fixed, this is going to be a major issue," Allen said.

Four days after his diagnosis, Steve Sarkisian had life-saving heart surgery. After this, he had to learn how to walk and talk again. But the coach wanted to return to the Alabama sideline as soon as possible. He challenged himself to walk again and to recover.

Sarkisian said the experience made him a better person on and off the field.

“The scar reminds me that we can overcome a lot. Just because we hit a roadblock in our life, we don't have to stay there. We can get on the other side of it and keep charging forward. I'm a better coach today. I'm a better man because of that,” Sarkisian said.

Three weeks after surgery, Sarkisian returned to Alabama training camp just before the 2020 college football season started. That year, he would be part of the Alabama team that would become a national champion. At the end of that season, Sarkisian would leave the Alabama program to become the head coach of the Longhorns.

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“I would not be here without Nick Saban” - Steve Sarkisian

In September last year, after Texas beat Alabama, Sarkisian said he would not “be here without Nick Saban.”

If Nick Saban had not mandated that all of his staff have a physical examination before the season began, Sarkisian's heart problems may have never been detected, and this may have cost him his life.

Under the long-serving Alabama coach, Sarkisian led a high-power offense to a national championship, the highest prize one can get.

Sarkisian has already won his biggest challenge off the field. Now, can he lead the Texas Longhorns to a national championship?