Steve Sarkisian Reveals What He Learned From Rams Coach Sean McVay

Sarkisian is looking for some championship-winning influence after a 5-7 season.

Texas Longhorns football coach Steve Sarkisian said Tuesday that he wanted to spend most of his time in Austin during the summer months, aiming to build his team back up after a disappointing 5-7 record last season during his first year on the job.

“The path in which we’ve taken was not the chosen one,” Sarkisian said in May week the Houston Touchdown Club. “Five-and-seven is 5-7. That sucks. I’ll call it like it is.”

But when Sarkisian wasn't in Austin, he was making the most of his time elsewhere. It was revealed in May that the Southern California native made a trip to his home state to attend OTAs for the Los Angeles Rams.

And on Tuesday, as the Longhorns made preparations for their first fall practice in full pads, Sarkisian shared some of what he learned during his time with the Super Bowl champs and coach Sean McVay.

"I had a great opportunity to really just kinda spend a day with them and watch them practice and watch how (McVay) interacted with his players. I think one thing that Coach McVay does a fantastic job of - he's got a brilliant mind, I mean this guy is a very forward-thinker from an offensive perspective - but he's very in tune with defense, special teams, and he's got really good rapport with the players and the staff in his organization."

Sarkisian admitted that he wasn't traveling to LA to necessarily learn anything new, but to relearn and "reinforce" the philosophies that he wants to continue to establish at Texas.

"I don't know necessarily that I learned (anything) new, but I did think it for me is was kinda reinforce a lot of the things that I believe in," I'm a relationship-driven guy, I like to have a great relationship with the people I interact with on a daily basis. And there's some coaches that don't operate that way. They operate more in the Eiffel Tower. They're almost untouchable, but that's not me."

Sarkisian called out, though indirectly, many of the "all-about-me" coaching approaches that often fail to work. Watching McVay and the Rams gave him a healthy reminder that what he and the Longhorns are doing is a step in the right direction, just as long as they don't let up.

"All of a sudden, your record can tell you that your way doesn't work anymore and then you go see the Super Bowl champs and you watch how that head coach interacted with the people in his organization," Sarkisian said. "It just kinda reinforced to me, hey, my way can work too, it fits my personality. We just have to stay the course and continue to build the way that we're building."

The Longhorns open up the 2022 season at home on Saturday, Sept. 3 against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. The Rams' season begins just a few days later with a matchup against the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium to kickoff the 2022 NFL season.

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You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7

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