Steve Sarkisian: Exploring the trajectory of the Texas Longhorn HC's coaching career

Steve Sarkisian has been a part of the college football scene in a coaching capacity since the early 2000s. The 49-year-old has had a diverse coaching portfolio. He is currently serving as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns.

Born in 1974, Steve Sarkisian initially started his football journey as a quarterback for El Camino, before transferring to the BYU Cougars for his junior and senior years. After college, he went on to join the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League in 1997.

His professional footballing career was short-lived, as he played in the CFL for only three seasons. He subsequently returned back to El Camino, where he kick-started his coaching career in 2000.

Steve Sarkisian was the quarterback coach for El Camino for just one season. Then, in 2001, he joined USC with former head coach Pete Carroll, and began working as an offensive assistant. In 2003, he was promoted as the quarterback coach for the team. Sarkisian was joined by Norm Chow, who was a part of the coaching staff during his college football stint with BYU.

A year later, Sarkisian went on to make his coaching debut in the NFL. He joined the Oakland Raiders as their quarterback coach and went on to lead his team to the eighth position in the NFL in terms of passing yards that season. However, Steve Sarkisian stayed on for just a year and then returned to USC in 2005. He was promoted to assistant head coach shortly after and stayed till 2008.

Texas Alabama Football

After the 2008 campaign, the 49-year-old joined the Washington Huskies as their 23rd head coach. His debut season saw the team drastically improve from a 0-12 season to a 5-7 overall season in 2009. In his second year at the helm, Sarkisian led the Huskies to their first Bowl appearance since 2002, and defeated Nebraska 19-7 in the Holiday Bowl.

He returned to USC in December 2013 as their head coach, but the tenure was short-lived. The 49-year-old was suffering from health issues which affected his duties. After being contacted by USC athletic director Pat Haden, it was decided that Sarkisian would be let go from his position in 2015.

After being fired by USC, Steve Sarkisian was hired by Alabama as an analyst in 2016. He was promoted to the role of offensive coordinator in January 2017. But just a month later, the 49-year-old quit and moved to the NFL once again, this time as the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.

However, the Falcons did not perform well under Steve Sarkisian. They dropped from a scoring output of 33.8 points per game to 22.1 points per game. He was then removed from his position in December 2018.

Sarkisian was once again hired by Alabama in 2019 as their offensive coordinator. He also filled in for head coach Nick Saban as an interim during the 2020 campaign when Saban underwent quarantine because of COVID-19.

Then, in January 2021, Sarkisian signed as the 31st head coach of the Texas Longhorns.

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Steve Sarkisian: Coaching record with the Texas Longhorns

The Longhorns did not have much success in Sarkisian's first season in Texas. They ended their 2021 campaign with a dismal 5-7 record. Not only this, but Texas also lost six consecutive games that season, something which last happened during the 1956 season.

Steve Sarkisian improved in his second season with the team last year. He racked up an 8-5 campaign, and his team started to show signs of being a more cohesive unit. He began his third stint in Texas this season and has already racked up a 2-0 campaign so far.

Sarkisian's boys recently defeated Alabama at the Bryant-Denny Stadium. This will be a massive boost to their confidence, as they focus on becoming genuine contenders for a College Football Playoff berth.