When Texas coach Steve Sarkisian recalled Alabama practice incident that left Nick Saban fuming

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian had two stints working under Nick Saban at Alabama before taking up the job with the Longhorns in 2021. Sarkisian joined the Tide for one season as an offensive analyst and offensive coordinator in 2016 and then returned to the team in 2019 for two years as Alabama's offensive coordinator.

During his time with the Tide, Sarkisian learned a plenty from Saban but also understood what would frustrate the legendary coach. In an appearance on the Rich Eisen show in August 2022, Sarkisian spoke about his experience of facing Saban's wrath.

"There was one day in practice we were working on kinda a big personnel, short yardage situation. And I could not get the formation right that he (Saban) wanted me to align up in," Sarkisian said.

"And man, he got upset with me because I was a new coordinator and I was doing some things offensively that I thought would be beneficial to the team. And I clearly didn't do a good enough job of learning what they had been doing offensively."

He added:

"So that was one time that we still get a bit of a chuckle about that one. But that was about the most upset I got him and that was in practice and not in a game."

Saban and Sarkisian worked together in the season when Alabama won the national title in 2020. However, Sarkisian took up the coaching job at Texas just 10 days before the national championship game.

Saban, who finished his career with seven national titles, including six at Alabama, retired from coaching earlier this year.

Steve Sarkisian's Texas will aim to bounce back from crushing defeat against Georgia in Week 8 of 2024 season

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian - Source: Imagn

Steve Sarkisian's Texas was the top-ranked team in the country heading into Week 8 of the 2024 season. The Longhorns, who began the season with six straight wins were the favorites to beat the Georgia Bulldogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

However, Texas lost 30-15 against Georgia, suffering its first defeat of the season. The result also saw the Longhorns drop to No. 5 in the latest college football rankings.

Nonetheless, Sarkisian will want his team to get back to winning ways when the Longhorns travel to face Vanderbilt in Week 9 on Saturday.