Steve Sarkisian coached under Nick Saban, so it was only natural he would be linked to the Alabama head coaching job following Saban’s retirement.

Friday morning, the Longhorns put out a video reel on social media that shot down any speculation about a possible move.

“I came here to win championships. That’s the goal,” Sarkisian says in the video. “We’re here to chase greatness, to win championships. This is the University of Texas and people are gonna want to be part of it.

“It sure is great to be on The Forty Acres.”

Texas captioned the video with a short phrase: “Just getting started.”

Sarkisian is going into his fourth year as the Texas head coach. He’s coming off his best season ever as an FBS coach, winning 12 games and a Big 12 title to advance to the College Football Playoff.

He has the Longhorns positioned well to enter the SEC in 2024. UT signed a top-five recruiting class this cycle. It signed the third-ranked class in 2023 and the fifth-ranked class in 2022. The win total has improved every year, from five in Year 1 to eight in Year 2 and then to 12 this season.

The Longhorns are trending up, and seemingly doing what they can to keep that momentum. According to a report from 247Sports’ Chip Brown, Sarkisian and Texas are “close” on a contract extension that would boost his salary.

Since news of Saban’s retirement came down, Alabama has been linked to several high-profile coaches. Initially, Oregon’s Dan Lanning was believed to be a strong candidate for the job, but he quickly shut down any talk of him leaving Eugene.

Reports on Thursday suggested Washington’s Kalen DeBoer and Florida State’s Mike Norvell were expected to be the focal points of the Alabama search.