Steve Sarkisian says it’s ‘hard to re-create’ Texas’s culture with significant transfer additions
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Steve Sarkisian understands the role of the transfer portal in building successful rosters. But it could have an adverse effect on a team’s culture, the Texas head coach said.
“I just think it’s really hard to recreate our culture every year when you’re bringing in 30 new faces from other schools who have learned a certain way,” Sarkisian said on Tuesday. “I can bring in five to ten every year, and I can get them assimilated to our culture because it’s so strong.”
While he realizes its importance, Steve Sarkisian hasn’t been heavily reliant on the portal during his time at Texas. In the 2025 offseason, the Longhorns welcomed 11 transfers. In the prior year, 12 players joined the program from the portal, and in 2023, Texas signed just 5 incoming transfers.
Keeping those transfer numbers relatively low is intentional, Sarkisian noted.
“The moment you start going higher than that, whose culture is it, right?” he said. “Am I getting some other school’s culture, or is it ours?”
That’s not to say players from other programs can’t fully assimilate into the culture the Longhorns have tried to build, he added.
“I think about guys like Cole Brevard (from Purdue), I think about guys like Hero Kanu (from Ohio State), I think about Emmett Mosley (from Stanford),” he said. “They are making our culture even better because they’ve bought into it, they’ve grown within it, and they realize the power of it.”
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
