Steve Sarkisian - All Gas. No Brakes.

The Coach

Texas High School Coaches Association

HELPING COACHES TO HELP KIDS - Since 1930

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One of the nation's premier coaches who has steadfastly returned the Texas football program back to prominence, Steve Sarkisian is in his 24th year of coaching and 11th as a head coach. Entering his fourth season at Texas, his Longhorn rebuild has been a patient and deliberate one. Sarkisian's process and efforts included a steady growth of on-field results through player development and recruiting, combined with a strong team culture, both of which has positioned the program for continued long-term success. The Longhorns finished 5-7 in 2021, improved to 8-5 with an Alamo Bowl bid in 2022, before turning in a historic season in 2023 with a 12-2 record, Big 12 Championship, No. 3 final ranking and College Football Playoff semifinal appearance. Sarkisian has also turned in top-5 recruiting classes the past three years. He enters 2024 with a 25-14 record in three seasons at Texas and 71-49 mark in 10 seasons as a head coach, with seven of his teams earning bowl bids. 

A former All-American quarterback at BYU whose coaching career includes six years as an offensive coordinator at both the NFL and collegiate levels, Sarkisian was the 2020 Broyles Award winner (best assistant coach in college football) as offensive coordinator at Alabama. The former head coach at USC and Washington, he was named the 31st Head Football Coach at The University of Texas on January 2, 2021.

The 2023 season had Texas Football attain heights not seen on the Forty Acres in over a decade. Sarkisian was named a finalist for the Bear Bryant, George Munger and Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year awards after leading the Longhorns to their first Big 12 Championship since 2009, winning 12 games for the first time since that season and reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. The 12 wins marked just the fourth time in school history that the Longhorns had 12 or more victories in a season. He was also tabbed the Big 12 Coach of the Year by The Associated Press. Texas earned a No. 3 final ranking in The Associated Press Poll, its highest finish in 15 years since earning the No. 2 spot in 2009. The Longhorns were one of only five Power-5 programs that ranked among the top 15 in scoring offense (35.8 ppg) and scoring defense (18.9 ppg), finishing 15th nationally in both. Sarkisian’s versatile and balanced squad ranked ninth nationally in total offense (477.5 ypg), led the Big 12 in total defense (336.7 ypg/34th FBS) and was bolstered by one of the nation’s top special team’s units. The Longhorns had 11 players invited to the NFL Combine in February 2024, the most ever in program history.

Sarkisian earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from BYU in 1997 after getting his associate’s degree in general studies from El Camino College in 1994. He is married to the former Loreal Smith, who competed and coached in track and field. He has two daughters, Ashley and Taylor, and a son, Brady.