That didn’t take long.
Hours after firing Tom Herman on Saturday, the University of Texas hired Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian as its head football coach.
Welcome to the Forty Acres, @CoachSark!https://t.co/IRG92M501E pic.twitter.com/TEQENDjewv
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) January 2, 2021
For Sarkisian, it is a return to head coaching at a legendary program. The 46-year-old was named head coach at USC in Dec. 2013. He remained in that position until Oct.11, 2015, when it was announced Sarkisian would take an indefinite leave of absence.
The next day Sarkisian was fired. It was reported he had issues with alcoholo and there had been several incidents.
He became an analyst for Alabama football in 2016. In 2017, he was hired by the Atlanta Falcons and return to the Crimson Tide in 2019 as offensive coordinator.
Overall as a head coach, he has a 46-35 mark, including five seasons at Washington.
Breaking: Texas has announced current Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian as its new head football coach. pic.twitter.com/X7mt1pccNx
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 2, 2021
Sarkisian will remain with Alabama through its Jan. 11 College Football Playoff championship game with Ohio State.
Sources: Nick Saban confirmed during an Alabama team meeting that Steve Sarkisian is headed to Texas.
Sarkisian will remain with Alabama through the national title game.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 2, 2021
This is four years to the date of when another Alabama OC left for a head coaching job. Lane Kiffin took the Florida Atlantic job and elected to remain as the Alabama Offensive Coordinator through the playoffs, However, Kiffin was relieved of his duties as OC and replaced in the interim by … Sarkisian.
He stepped into the role in the National Championship game against Clemson. The Tide would lose narrowly to the Tigers in his first and only game of the 2016 season as offensive coordinator at that time.
