Despite the increasing difficulties of coaching in college football, Sarkisian is remaining on the Forty Acres.
A second appearance in the College Football Playoff semifinals earned Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian a second contract extension in the last year as Sarkisian turned down interviews with two NFL teams, news first broken by Brett McMurphy of the Action Network.
Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte simply posted an uncaptioned photo with Sarkisian and UT Board of Regents chairman Kevin Elite.
— Chris Del Conte (@_delconte) January 18, 2025
“The fact Sarkisian didn’t take any NFL interviews shows his buy-in and commitment to the University of Texas,” a source told McMurphy.
There are currently six head coaching vacancies in the NFL — the Dallas Cowboys, the Las Vegas Raiders, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Chicago Bears, the New Orleans Saints, and the New York Jets.
Sarkisian agreed to the extension on Friday night, a week after the Longhorns lost in the Cotton Bowl to the Buckeyes — the seven-year contract adds a year to his existing deal in addition to a “significant raise” and other commitments from Del Conte. According to Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods, those commitments include raises for his support staff, including rising star Brandon Harris, the program’s general manager, who could roughly double his yearly salary.
Earlier this month, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that NFL teams could inquire about Sarkisian, who spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons before returning to Tuscaloosa to serve as Nick Saban’s play caller at Alabama.
But Sarkisian has now rebuffed that interest with the proactive move by Texas coming as the administration navigates the pending departure of UT president Jay Hartzell to SMU and Sarkisian navigates an increasingly complex college football landscape.
In April, the final approval hearing is set for the House vs. NCAA settlement case that will shrink college football rosters to a maximum of 105 players. Sarkisian has been vocal about his concern about the impact the settlement could have on walk-on players like star safety Micheal Taaffe, who earned a scholarship two years ago after enrolling at Texas as a walk on. Coaches are also concerned about player safety with the pending roster limits set to make it more difficult for programs to field full scout teams.
Over recent weeks, Sarkisian had to prepare for the SEC Championship game in early December the same week that his No. 1- ranked recruiting class signed. Two days after the loss to Georgia, the NCAA transfer portal opened.
As Texas played three games in the College Football Playoff, Sarkisian dealt with losing players to the portal while recruiting players out of the portal despite lacking the certainty of how many would declare early for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Once the season ended, Sarkisian and his staff were consumed with providing feedback to possible early entrants as they also worked to retain the current roster, never more difficult in an age of constant tampering that impacts every program in the country, especially one with the talent level of the Longhorns after signing top classes under Sarkisian.
So the comparative ease of roster building and roster management in the NFL compared to college is certainly appealing to head coaches. But despite the challenges in college, Sarkisian also has more job security after leading the Longhorns to consecutive College Football Playoff berths and two straight conference title games, including the Big 12 win in 2023.
Whatever ultimately influenced Sarkisian to remain on the Forty Acres is ultimately less important than the administration’s imperative to keep their head football coach at Texas after the two most successful season in program history since the Mack Brown era.