Sarkisian On Hot Seat? Longhorns Coach An ESPN Name to 'Keep an Eye On'

According to ESPN, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian could be on shaky ground in Austin

Matt Galatzan | Feb 13, 2023

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian made some major strides in 2022, taking the Longhorns to an 8-4 record and an Alamo Bowl berth after a dreadful 5-7 opening campaign in 2021.

He also was able to land his second-consecutive top-5 recruiting class, complete with the nation's No. 1 overall recruit, Arch Manning.

Despite that, however, ESPN has listed Sarkisian as a college football coaching hot seat name to 'keep an eye on.'

Says ESPN:

Sarkisian is 13-12 at Texas, continuing a head-coaching tenure -- no 10-win seasons, only one nine-win season -- that hasn't come close to what he accomplished as a coordinator. He's signed through 2026 and would be owed $12.6 million if fired this year, but Texas has the funds if the team backslides this fall. The arrival of decorated quarterback recruit Arch Manning helps Sarkisian's chances of coaching in 2024. What could hurt him: two attractive replacement candidates within the state in Sonny Dykes, who just took TCU to the national title game, and UTSA's Jeff Traylor.

But despite ESPN's prognostications, should Sark's job really be in danger?

To put it bluntly, no.

As it stands right now, Sarkisian is currently on the cusp of resurrecting the Longhorns program to where it once was in the Mack Brown era, as they enter the offseason as the early favorites for the Big 12 title in 2023.

And by proxy, should the Longhorns manage to indeed win the conference, they would almost surely be in line to make the College Football Playoff.

That said, even if the Horns do not live up to those loft expectations in 2023, the idea of Sarkisian being on the hot seat is a stretch at best.

If Texas does fall to a .500 or another sub-.500 record next season, perhaps the conversation shifts.

But for now, it is hard to believe Sark will not be on the Longhorns' sideline for their first season of SEC football.

You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan

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Published Feb 13, 2023

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.