"In 2016, I couldn't get an interview": When Steve Sarkisian spilled beans on importance of second chances that helped him land Texas job
Steve Sarkisian began coaching quarterbacks at El Camino College in 2000. He later held the same role at USC and with the Oakland Raiders before becoming USC’s offensive coordinator. He took his first head coaching job at Washington in 2009. After five seasons, he returned to USC as head coach but was fired in 2015 due to alcohol-related issues.
In a 2023 episode of The Pivot, Sarkisian said he regularly calls young coaches to check in and pay forward the second chances he once received.
“I've coached on our staff, why are you giving that guy a second chance? I mean, this guy or a fourth or a fifth chance,” he said. “Because I got those chances.”
He reflected on the gap between 2016, when he couldn’t get an interview, and 2021, when he was hired at Texas after winning a national title in Alabama.
“Man, I have to pinch myself sometimes,” he said. “In 2016, I couldn't get an interview. I couldn't get an interview. In 2021, I was the head coach of University of Texas. I'd won a national title. I'd been in the NFL playoffs. It was an incredible journey.”
“But that wasn’t without A. the love and support for my wife and B. working hard,” he added.
Steve Sarkisian is a coach and “a good dude”
After undergoing treatment, Steve Sarkisian joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama as an analyst, later becoming offensive coordinator. He also spent a season with the Atlanta Falcons before returning to Alabama, where he helped the team win a national title in 2020.
Texas hired Sarkisian in 2021. He has since led the Longhorns to back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances, and he believes that staff and fans like his real personality:
“I think I'm a good dude, yeah, I really do,” Sarkisian said. “I think that I like people, I get along with people, I try to find the good in every person I talk to, and I try to let them feel me of exactly who I am, and then I just try to bust my butt and do the best job that I can do it whatever I'm doing.”
And, Sarkisian is now among the highest-paid coaches in the sport.
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