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If Steve Sarkisian became the next coach of the Chicago Bears, he’d be the best offensive mind in franchise history the second he signed.
As a Bears fan, I say that with full confidence. Without digging into my 34 years of pain — I was 5 years too young to be alive for the ’85 Bears — just know this. Sarkisian would be one of the few candidates not named “Ben Johnson” who would actually excite me. Other fan bases would be on board with hiring Sarkisian, too.
NFL front offices would be foolish not to gauge the Texas coach’s interest, especially during a time in which the college game and the pro game are more similar than ever. That’s true on the field (schematically) and off the field (managing personnel and building a roster).
But nah, Sarkisian treating the reported NFL interest (per Adam Schefter) as anything more than some flattering leverage would be a mistake. At least at this point in his career.
The Texas coach is cooking in ways that I’m not even sure the average college fan fully realizes. He clinched consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Mind you, he did that at a program that previously couldn’t stop losing to Maryland in September. Here are the list of coaches during the CFP era who made consecutive trips to the semifinals:
- Nick Saban, Alabama
- Dabo Swinney, Clemson
- Kirby Smart, Georgia
- Ryan Day, Ohio State
- Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
- Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
- Steve Sarkisian, Texas
That’s pretty solid company when you consider that Swinney, Smart, Day and Sarkisian are the only ones who are still at the place where they accomplished that feat. It’s even more impressive when you realize that Sarkisian is the only coach that’s currently riding that streak.
Again, he’s got it rolling.
This situation is unlike one of Sarkisian’s early mentors, Pete Carroll. When Carroll left USC for the Seattle Seahawks job at the end of the 2009 season, he did so after building a dynasty in the first half of the decade, only to struggle to maintain that same level of success in the post-Reggie Bush/Matt Leinart era. It also wasn’t a coincidence that Carroll left USC just as NCAA sanctions were about to hit.
That’s not Texas’ situation with Year 4 of the Sarkisian era. At all.
But if some wonder, well, could Sarkisian follow the Jim Harbaugh path? Harbaugh finally broke through and led his alma mater to a national title before going back to the NFL. Surely Harbaugh’s ties to Michigan are stronger than Sarkisian’s to Texas, and Harbaugh rebuilt his career in the college ranks, just as Sarkisian did when he took the Alabama OC job in 2019.
That comp falls flat when you realize that Harbaugh had already been an NFL head coach, so after leading Michigan its first undisputed national title since the Harry Truman administration, he made that move at the end of Year 9. Even if Sarkisian’s truth serum mission is to win 1 national title at Texas and take things from there, we’re probably overlooking the most obvious question here.
Is Sarkisian jaded from his time in the NFL?
And no, I’m not talking about his 1 season as the Raiders’ quarterbacks coach 20 years ago. Remember, he spent 2 years with the Atlanta Falcons and was fired at the end of the 2018 season. That was after he led the Falcons to a top-10 scoring offense even with starting running back Devonta Freeman missing all but 2 games. Sarkisian was on the wrong end of a staff shakeup after a disappointing 7-9 season. Granted, that was as an assistant, not a head coach, where he’d have more control over the roster. As an NFL head coach, Sarkisian would still have less control over the roster than he does in Austin — Texas will bring in top-5 high school/portal talent in any era of the sport — yet he’d have less grace in the NFL.
Yes, Sarkisian has earned the ability to survive a bad year or 2 in Austin — if those ever come again. The guy hasn’t lost to a team outside the top-15 of the AP Poll in more than 2 years, and he’s responsible for the program’s best multi-year stretch in 15 years. Hence, why he’s already in the 8-figure club — he signed an extension after the 2023 season that starts at $10.3 million annually — who’ll name his price if Texas wins a national title this year (or any year).
Compare that to the NFL, where one the the sport’s top offensive minds, Mike McDaniel made headlines on Sunday night because the Dolphins front office released a statement that he was keeping his job.
Welcome to the NFL in 2024.
There’s a narrative that college football in 2024 is nothing but head coaches bolting for the NFL because they’re exhausted with the NIL/transfer portal era. Sarkisian, according to some who watch the sport through an NFL lens, could fit that description. It’s a bit more rare than that crowd might realize, though. Only 13 NFL head coaches were hired directly from the college ranks in the 21st century (H/T Field Yates).
I wouldn’t rule out the idea that Sarkisian could one day join that club, depending what the rest of his decade looks like in Austin. But to do so now wouldn’t make any sense. Even if Sarkisian wins a title, heading to the NFL like Harbaugh would be puzzling as he’s about to enter the Arch Manning era.
Any Sarkisian path to the NFL has plenty more college miles on it. And dare I say, it likely has a couple of rings along the way, too.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
