For the second time in less than a month, a high-profile report suggested that head coach Steve Sarkisian might not be with the Texas Longhorns next season.
In the wake of the late October report from The
Athletic’s Diana Russini that Sarkisian’s agents were exploring NFL interest, prompting responses from Sarkisian and his agency, ESPN analyst Desmond Howard posted a video to social media on Monday morning that was even less substantial.
“Don’t be surprised if that Texas job opens up at the end of the season,” Howard said. “You guys were shocked when LSU opened up. Imagine how you’re going to feel if that job in Austin pops open. I’m not calling or saying anyone’s going to get fired — maybe a mutual parting of ways, you dig?”
The initial response to Howard’s speculation came from Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte on Monday evening.
On Wednesday, Sarkisian used his opening statement on the weekly SEC Coaches Teleconference to lambast Howard’s post:
“I’d like to comment something before I get into our team that has been bothering me now over the past few weeks. That is people reporting that are insinuating that there’s a possibility I could leave the University of Texas, and that is absolutely false and untrue. I’m not going anywhere. Never do I do this because I never want to be a distraction, so I never address these things. At this point, I feel like this is important that I do this because it’s important for our team. It’s important for our university.
“I’ve had no discussions, not with my agent, not with the university, not with any other school, not with any NFL team, about ever going anywhere else. I came here to win championships. I’ve got two kids enrolled at the University of Texas, one in law school, one on our team. I’ve got a third that hopefully decides to enroll at the University of Texas next fall. My wife and I just had our son here in Austin. This is our home.
“We came here to win championships. We’ve built a damn good football program over the five years that we’ve been here. We’ve been to two College Football Playoffs. We won a Big 12 Championship. We went to the SEC Championship game in year one. We’ve had 23 players drafted the last two years, which is more than any other school in the country and our team GPA is at an all-time high.
“Can we please stop putting things out there that you have absolutely zero evidence on? Can we please stop retweeting and putting it back out there as if it’s true? As if it’s the gospel? It is not true.
“If you have a question about my future, call me or call Chris Del Conte, our athletic director, and we can set the record straight for you so everybody understands. So moving forward, when some Joe Blow decides to put something on social media out there, we all don’t run with it like it’s the gospel. Can we all agree on that on this call? If you have a question about my future with the University of Texas, ask me on one of these calls. Ask Chris Del Conte. He’ll be more than happy to take your call so that we can set the record straight and so we can focus on our football team, which is what we should be doing.
“Everybody good with that?”
