"It was essentially free agency": Steve Sarkisian opens up on Texas transfer portal struggles in first year in SEC

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian led his team to a successful first year in the SEC. The Longhorns made the conference championship game and then the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

However, it was during the postseason where Sarkisian believed his team struggled. However, the struggles were not on the field but off it.

Sarkisian explained his thoughts to former Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy:

"The whole month of December, when we were in the College Football Playoff, it was basically free agency. Every player in our team could have gone into that portal."

The winter transfer portal caused troubles for many teams this season. In the past, this had led to some teams having to cancel bowl game appearances due to a lack of players. However, this year, the impact was felt most by those playing in the College Football Playoff, such as the Texas Longhorns.

This year was the first of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, with important games being played throughout December. This was immediately during the transfer portal.

Not only did Steve Sarkisian have to keep an eye on how well his current roster were performing and if players were healthy, but he also had to look at which players were being taken or on the verge of being taken in the transfer portal.

In the end, the Longhorns did not lose any key players to the portal and reached the CPF semifinals, where they were defeated by the eventual national champion Ohio State Buckeyes.

The reason why Steve Sarkisian did not talk on Monday

Steve Sarkisian was scheduled to give a news conference on Monday after the Longhorns had a spring practice session. However, the coach decided against this. According to the university, this was a decision made "out of deference to Vic Schaefer and Bob Bowman’s programs.”

Schaefer's Longhorns women's basketball team, the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, made the Final Four with a win over TCU on Monday.

Bowman is the coach of UT's swimming and diving team, which just became national champions.

Sarkisian did not speak to keep these coaches and what their teams did in the media cycle. In January, Sarkisian will hope that they'll do it for him after what could be a strong 2025 season for Texas.