Texas HC Steve Sarkisian has big pressure, but also big support

Expectations are always high for the Texas Longhorns.

Darrell Royal and Mack Brown ensured that with their championship legacies and coaches like Charlie Strong and Tom Hermann found that out the hard way.

So far so good for Steve Sarkisian, though. He went 5-7 in Year 1, 8-5 in year 2 and 12-2 last season with a berth in the College Football Playoffs.

Now, heading into Year 4, Sarkisian and the Longhorns firmly have legitimate national championship aspirations. And yes, while that does come with a ton of pressure for a head coach — at a place like Texas, he does also have all the resources he needs to succeed.

In a new interview with Joel Klatt, Sarkisian was asked what the best perk of being Texas’ head coach was. After joking about the great food in Austin, he relayed that its the vast support network he has at his disposal.

“What comes out of it is how many people support you, want you to do well, are willing to help in any capacity that they can,” Sarkisian explained (h/t On3). “Whether it’s the high school coaches, the Texas High School Coaches Association, what that means. And I feel like I’m their head coach because I’m coaching their kids. To our donors, our boosters, our student body, the other athletes on campus, and so I just try to do my best to support everybody.”

Sarkisian is doing his best to give back to the support around him so that it’s a beneficial situation, but ultimately, he does know that the structure around being the Longhorns’ head coach is the biggest perk of the job.

“But in reality, probably the best part is that everybody’s supporting me, knowing that being the flagship program in the state of Texas and being the football program here. We’re on the front line, and we represent everything that the Texas Longhorns are about,” Sarkisian said.

If that support structure isn’t enough, perhaps $10.3M will do the trick for coach Sark. That’s one heck of a perk as well.