NEW ORLEANS — Texas is “back.” Debates have raged at various times over the last decade whether the Longhorns are “back” and what “back” entails for a program that is rich with tradition and resources, but the program’s first-ever College Football Playoff appearance puts those conversations to rest.
As No. 3 Texas prepares to compete for a national championship, beginning with Monday’s Sugar Bowl semifinal against No. 2 Washington, what’s become more apparent is how coach Steve Sarkisian and this 2023 Longhorns team has reached the status of championship contenders — which, to be clear, is “back” for Texas football.
It all started when Sarkisian arrived in 2021 and conducted a diagnostic test, of sorts, for a program that had gone more than a decade without winning a Big 12 title and had just one 10-win season over the prior 11 years.
“We have an adage that culture beats talent. But culture and talent combined is extremely dangerous,” Sarkisian said earlier this week. “So when you take over a program, you’re trying to figure out where are your issues, what are the issues. I don’t think anybody ever felt like our issue was a lack of talent or lack of resources.”
The issue, Sarkisian explains, was culture. It was the need for the Longhorns to feel connected as players and coaches to the point they’re playing for each other. One approach Sarkisian took to address that was to push the program to a point of honesty. He was able to set the standard from the top.
“I’ve always given my story every year,” Sarkisian said. “Where I’m from, how I was raised, where I went to school, where I worked, why I went to rehab, all the things that has transpired in my life to get me to this point so that they could get to know Steve [Sarkisian], the man, as well as the coach.
“And I was hopeful that that would open the door to them to want to become vulnerable, to want to be honest with one another so that they could have some empathy for one another for what someone has been through to get to this point in their life. And that just started it.”
Culture is a buzz word used in nearly every introductory press conference for an incoming coach, but Texas has invested in making it part of every single week. Culture can’t just be a sign in the weight room, a slogan on a t-shirt or one day during training camp if it’s going to stick for maximum impact. It has to be something that…
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