In one of the more notable developments when it comes to the upcoming title, EA Sports is adding over 300 real-life coaches to College Football 26. In turn, many fans of the series will be quick to judge whether or not these coaches are accurately depicted. This comes down to play-calling tendencies, recruitment strategy, and (of course) their in-game appearance. But fans aren’t the only ones looking at this stuff — it appears Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian is also among those paying close attention to how they are digitally presented.
Being one of the highest-paid coaches in college football (according to The Analyst), Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is one of the more notable figures in the sport right now. As far as football itself goes, Sarkisian has shown a penchant for developing effective offensive schemes in the past and has helped rehabilitate the Texas Longhorns program to where it used to be, winning the Peach Bowl against Arizona State last year. On top of that, the guy seems to be a great ambassador for Texas as a whole. On Twitter, Sarkisian is constantly retweeting and talking about Texas sports and seems to have a real sense of pride when it comes to the University of Texas at Austin.
And though he doesn’t have an iconic look, such as Bill Belichick‘s infamous cut-off hoody getup, Sarkisian definitely has some drip and can typically be seen with orange shades when on the sidelines. But it looks like someone at EA didn’t get the memo.
Within the first ten seconds of the College Football 26 trailer, Coach Sarkisian and the Longhorns can be seen emerging from a tunnel full of orange smoke. Sarkisian leads the charge, but something’s off — he has no shades! In a recent Instagram story posted to his account, Sarkisian seems puzzled as to how EA could put him in a polo shirt whilst omitting the orange shades from the look (h/t @TexasEx10 on X).
Of course, Sarkisian’s observation is likely no more than a small jab and making light of a small (but also big) omission when it comes to his likeness. But hey, it could be worse, like Derrick White not being bald for the longest time in NBA 2K24, despite rocking the look for a while at that point.
Well played, Sark.
