Texas fires Tom Herman, brings in Steve Sarkisian as head coach
Yahoo Sports College Reporter Pete Thamel gives you the latest on the Texas coaching situation after it was announced that the school was parting ways with head coach Tom Herman after 4 seasons with the Longhorns and is bringing in Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian to replace him.
Video Transcript
PETE THAMEL: This is Pete Thamel from Yahoo Sports, National College Football Reporter. And the big news on Saturday came off the field where Texas fired coach Tom Herman after four seasons. Herman has a record of 32-18, won all four of his bowl games.
But Texas sent a clear message that being good isn't enough. Texas is going to spend $15.4 million on Herman's buyout and could potentially, with the entire staff, including Herman, spend $24 million to have coaches not to coach. That's a difficult look at a pandemic for Texas Athletic Department that's laid off at least 35 people since September and undergone crippling furloughs and pay cuts in the athletic department. Texas's answer, sources tell Yahoo, appears to be Steve Sarkisian, the Alabama offensive coordinator.
Texas officials, as they were courting Urban Meyer to potentially replace Herman, also were doing background on Sarkisian. Sarkisian has been Alabama's offensive coordinator for the last two seasons. They have been one of the best offenses in all of college football in that time.
Sarkisian won the Broyles Award this year. But there is risk with Texas's $24 million investment here. Sarkisian was a middling coach at the University of Washington. In five seasons, he won about 54% of his games. He was the coach at USC for about a year and a half, and was subsequently fired, and went to rehab, and addressed later the issues he had with alcoholism.
Sarkisian's middling record will obviously be an issue, as that's the type of record Texas just fired Tom Herman for. So can Sarkisian go to a state where he doesn't have many ties, revive a fading brand? That's the $24 million question at Texas that they are asking today.
