Steve Sarkisian lauds 7x national champ Nick Saban after "Texas wont run the SEC" comment at Media days

Nick Saban and Steve Sarkisian were the most talked-about coaches throughout the 2023 season. Especially after Texas defeated Alabama 34-24, their first double-digit loss at home in 17 years. Sarkisian has repeatedly praised Nick Saban for his achievements as head coach.

Before his tenure at Texas, Sarkisian spent his time coaching at Washington from 2009 to 2013 and later moved to coach the USC Trojans in 2014–2015. In 2016, Saban hired Sarkisian as an analyst for the program and he was later promoted to offensive coordinator.

Sarkisian returned to Alabama after trying his luck with the Atlanta Falcons (2017–18) in the NFL in 2020 and was appointed as interim head coach due to Coach Saban's lack of availability due to COVID-19.

During the 2024 SEC Media Days, Sarkisian took the stage and thanked Coach Saban for helping him in his career with a heartfelt speech:

"I want to talk briefly about Coach Saban, coach I see you. I know everybody's been coming up talking about you, but and I know you've impacted a lot of a lot of people who have been up on this stage. No one have you impacted more than me.

"I would not be standing here today without you, and what you've what you've met, to my career, to my life, and can't thank you enough. And the ACT you've had on our game has been second to none. And I just can't thank you enough. I want to be able to publicly do that to you, Coach. Thank you very, very much"

This comes after Nick Saban made an unfavorable prediction for the Longhorns this season.

“What kind of tickles me is all these people asking questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in. They’re not gonna run the SEC,” Saban said. “… They’ll be a good team and a great program and Sark will do a great job, but that’s not gonna be a problem.”

Steve Sarkisian weighs in on Arch Manning's transfer portal chatter

Due to Quinn Ewers' decision to come back for another year, many expected Arch Manning to enter the transfer portal, looking for a program where he'd have more opportunities to play.

The chatter especially grew following Manning's electrifying spring game performance, where he threw three touchdowns and one interception. Along with that, he went 19-for-26 for 355 yards.

During an interview with college football analyst Josh Pate, Sarkisian laid out what's in store for Arch Manning at Texas:

"I get a chuckle out of this everyone's praising Arch for staying at Texas. He's going into year two, what do you mean? But that's the that's the mentality, our locker room is not a whole lot different than everybody else's, but that's mentality," Sarkisian said.

"Good for Arch he's sticking it out with Texas in year two. And I'm like, 'Hey, that's part of the process like we're developing him to play, be a great football player, and a great leader and he's going to be worked like that,' but that's where we're at."

Fans would be interested to see how Texas performs in their first year playing in the SEC.