Reflecting on the second straight College Football Playoff appearance for the Texas Longhorns last year, head coach Steve Sarkisian cited staff continuity as a “huge component” of the program’s success.
But after losing three assistant coaches in the wake of playing in back-to-back semifinals and moving on from three assistants as the team prepares to play in the Citrus Bowl late this month, it’s clear that Sarkisian is moving into a new era of his tenure with more coaching turnover from year to year.
There’s some simple math involved here after the NCAA lifted its limits on on-field coaches last year, so having more coaches will inevitably result in more consistent staff changes.
There’s also a new reality on the Forty Acres — Texas is now in a position where the standard of making the playoff is set, with no room for improvement beyond playing for a national championship, and any regression putting the jobs of assistants at risk.
That’s exactly what happened in a shocking release from the school on Thursday that revealed Sarkisian’s dismissals of fifth-year defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and defensive passing game coordinator Duane Akina, who returned to Austin last offseason in hopes of revisiting his Mack Brown-era success building the Longhorns secondary into DBU.
Combined with the termination of running backs coach Chad Scott, the moves reflect unprecedented aggression from Sarkisian in pursuing upgrades — prior to firing Scott after one season, Sarkisian had only moved on from one assistant during his Texas tenure, wide receivers coach Andre Coleman after the 2021 season, a poor retention choice by the new Longhorns head coach after his arrival in Austin.
Other than that misfire, Sarkisian’s assistant hires had gone well with running backs coach Stan Drayton and co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate both leaving Texas to take head coaching jobs, running backs coach Tashard Choice departing for the NFL, wide receivers coach Brennan Marion becoming the offensive coordinator at UNLV, defensive line coach Bo Davis returning to his alma mater, LSU, defensive passing game coordinator Terry Joseph taking a job with his hometown New Orleans Saints, and safeties coach Blake Gideon taking the defensive coordinator role at Georgia Tech.
Overall, Sarkisian’s track record hiring assistants is sterling, with the additions of new running backs coach Jabbar Juluke and the return of Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator both looking like ideal hires initially.
Even so, more staff changes may still be coming — if Sarkisian was so quick to move on from Scott and Akina and ready to add Muschamp despite the strong track record of success by Kwiatkowski after some early-tenure struggles, then how has offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Kyle Flood survived a reckoning for his obvious mismanagement of the line, a mistake that cost the Longhorns against the Gators and proved decisive in keeping Texas out of the playoffs? Will Sarkisian retain wide receivers coach Chris Jackson, whose contract is ending? Is anyone else’s job on the line?
Beyond Flood, the only holdovers from Sarkisian’s first staff are now co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach AJ Milewee and tight ends coach/special teams coordinator Jeff Banks.
However those upcoming decisions by Sarkisian shake out, it’s clear that the staff continuity that defined the start of his tenure on the Forty Acres has come to an end and won’t return with limited space between assistants performing well enough to advance their careers and performing poorly enough to warrant removal.
