Steve Sarkisian joins Texas coaching icons Darrell Royal and Mack Brown with this signature accomplishment
Royal, Brown and now Sarkisian are the only coaches in Texas history to win 10 games in back-to-back seasons
Steve Sarkisian has talked about having such a laser-focused approach in previous years that he never stopped to appreciate important moments along the journey.
In that vein, last Saturday’s win over Kentucky represented a huge milestone moment in the Sarkisian era at Texas.
Sarkisian is now just the third coach in UT history to win 10 games in back-to-back seasons. The other two coaches who accomplished that feat? Darrell Royal and Mack Brown, the top two coaches in Longhorns’ history and two historic contributors to college football.
“Didn’t know that,” Sarkisian said with a look of amazement. Then, he joked, “They probably didn’t play 10 games back in the day, so they couldn’t win 10.”
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Royal won 10 games seven times in his 20 seasons at UT from 1957-76. Brown won 10 games every year from 2001-09 during his 16 seasons. Royal won three national titles while Brown won one.
Sarkisian is chasing the first of his head coaching career at Texas this season with a 10-1 team that is one win away from the SEC championship game. The third-ranked Longhorns only have to get past the 20th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies (8-3, 5-2 SEC) in a huge rivalry matchup that’s become 13 years in the making.
It’s believed that if Texas beats A&M, the Longhorns would then be practically locked into making the College Football Playoff. With a win Saturday, Texas would face Georgia the following week in Atlanta. Most observers feel even a two-loss Texas squad, and potential SEC runner-up in that scenario, would still make the final 12-team bracket.
That’s all in the days and weeks to come.
For now, Sarkisian should stop to enjoy that he’s now enjoying the same level of success that UT icons once did before him.
“I don’t think in my opening press conference, I said, hey, I came to the University of Texas to win 10 games,” Sarkisian said. “We came here to win championships. That’s been our goal, that’s been the standard, that’s what we keep striving for and that’s the end result, right? So we always put that at the end.
“Are we doing championship work every day?,” Sarkisian said. “Are we championship coaches? Do we have championship schemes? Do we have a championship weight program? Do we have a championship nutrition program? Do we have a championship study hall? Do we have a championship work ethic?
“Do we have a championship culture? Do we have a championship locker room? That's what we’re striving for, and we’re chasing that every day. But we’ve got to make sure the way we’re chasing it every day is at a championship level.”
