What Steve Sarkisian said he learned from Nick Saban at Alabama

Steve Sarkisian is about to be a college football head coach for the third time. His Texas tenure will differ from the others in one big way: Sarkisian will arrive in Austin influenced by his time on Nick Saban’s staff.

In his Saturday press conference, Sarkisian discussed what he learned from working with Saban.

“I think now having spent some time in the National Football League and having spent obviously the last two years with Coach Saban here in Alabama, you realize the value in the staff and why you hire such a good staff is to put people in place to do what you’re asking them to do what they’re hired to do,” Sarkisian said. “And in turn, I think that takes some of the burden off of your shoulders as the head coach and allows you to manage people and not overreact to some of the other things that are going on and allow those people to do what they do.”

The Longhorns are counting on the Saban experience helping Sarkisian reach the next level as a head coach. Sarkisian went 46-35 in six-plus seasons coaching Washington and USC. In only two of Sarkisian’s six full seasons did his team managed to win more than seven games. His final Washington team (2013) went 8-4 and his first USC team (2014) went 9-4. The Trojans were 3-2 in 2015 at the time of Sarkisian’s leave of absence and termination.

SDS Staff

Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.