UT's Steve Sarkisian doesn't hold back on Ole Miss, basket weaving and an in-state school's schedule - Texas News Beep

Steve Sarkisian cleared up a misperception or two that have arisen lately.

To set the record straight, the sixth-year Texas head football coach did NOT take a basket-weaving class himself when he was a student at BYU.

“No I did not,” a chuckling Sarkisian told a handful of reporters at the Omni Hotel Thursday. “But I was a sociology major. I didn’t go to McCombs (School of Business), I can tell you that.”

Sark was referencing his recent slam aimed at Ole Miss and other SEC programs’ lower academic standards that make it harder for Texas to sign the same transfer portal players because those players have to take 50% of their classes at Texas to graduate.

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He found himself immersed in that controversy with his inflammatory comments in a USA Today article when he claimed that “all you have to do is take basket-weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree.”

He didn’t exactly walk the comment back and tried to explain that “the only reason the Ole Miss thing came up is because two of my best friends were there, Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding. … I probably shouldn’t have used basket-weaving as my example. OK, macro-economics. I don’t give a damn. We have yoga at UT.”

Could not receive any verification from Ole Miss that it does not offer either a course or a degree plan for basket weaving. Texas does not, although you can take one of its more than 400 courses that’s a close cousin by signing up for the Sewn Products Analysis in the Textile and Apparel program.

Nor did Sarkisian spare any other feelings in a no-holds-barred talk Thursday.

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This is the new unapologetic, guns-blazing Steve Sarkisian, who no longer watches his Ps and Qs and doesn’t mind firing from the hip. And I like it.

Next thing you know, he’s going to call Oklahoma a second-tier school, call Texas A&M a playoff fraud and claim the Longhorns were the best team in the nation last year. OK, maybe he’s not going to be that over the top.

However, he stirred up a hornet’s nest with his slap at the Rebels and not only chose to elaborate on that controversy before almost 400 Longhorn fans at the Touchdown Club of Houston and also in a short press conference ripped the current College Football Playoff system and the sport’s “inequalities” that are threatening the game.

He skirted with some new rants when, asked about the value of the strength of schedule component, he told the audience, “There’s a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue, if I play with our 2s and 3s (backups), we can go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year.” Hello, Texas Tech. UTSA? SMU? Of course, he lost three games last season, playing his 1s, so there’s that.

He took potshots at other schools as well. He chided national champion Indiana for its weak non-conference schedule. “All the credit in the world to Curt Cignetti,” he said, “but they don’t play a Power 4 school in their non-conference schedule. They get opportunities to develop their players (against lesser opponents.)”

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He directed some fire at other unnamed programs that only make their students take on-line classes and never even leave the football facility as compared to Texas students who go to classrooms for two-thirds of their classes.

He mentioned how tough the SEC is and the fact the league’s schools, starting this fall, will have to play nine conference games plus a Power 4 team in non-conference play. He pointed out the Big Ten doesn’t have that same requirement for its schools.

He said he believes all 16 SEC teams have a “minimum $30 million roster” and added “there are some that are close to $50 million.” He also blasted those who cite the size of Texas’ NIL and revenue-sharing payroll and said those over-estimations are “at a minimum $10 million off.” He did not share what the accurate Texas number is.

For his part, Sarkisian also doubled down but may be the only person in America who still prefers the four-team playoff model over any other format. He did allow he would accept a 16-team format moving forward because he doesn’t care for the systems with the current 12-team and the proposed 24-team idea. “I think 16 is a really good number,” he said.

He also brought down the house with several of his off-the-cuff remarks and predictions during his 30-minute address to the Club.

For instance, he said his upcoming sixth season at Texas will mark the longest he’s ever spent anywhere, outranking his five years at Washington, and added, “I hope I retire at the University of Texas.”

He did offer some self-deprecating criticism about his 2025 team’s penchant for penalties, noting that Texas ranked 132nd and Indiana second and saying, “We need to reduce our dumb-ass penalties.”

He said Texas will face eight ranked teams this fall with “the hardest schedule in the country” and touts the value of an Ohio State on this year’s schedule and Michigan on next year’s. “I think I’ve embraced it for the next two years. Beyond that, hopefully we get some clarity in college football in the next two years.”

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte declined to discuss the future of the home-and-away series with Notre Dame in 2028-2029. “It depends on what happens with the playoffs,” he told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday.

It’s actually refreshing to see Sarkisian evolve into a more candid, outspoken spokesman for one of the biggest brands in sport.

He cited the 9.7 million viewers who tuned in to watch Texas crush Michigan in last year’s Citrus Bowl, which outdrew some CFP games. Actually it was 9.1 million viewers – the audience peaked at 15 million – and only had better numbers than the Oregon-James Madison playoff game, which only 4.4 million watched. Tulane-Ole Miss drew 14.6 million.

“More people watched this game than some first-round playoff games,” Sarkisian said hyperbolically. “If you added two of them, they didn’t even get to 7 million. The brand is real. You either love us or you hate us but you still wish you were us and want to watch us play.”

At this rate, I’m happy just listening to New Sark talk. Now if New Sark can coach half as well as Old Sark too, the Longhorns just might be in for a special season.

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This article originally published at UT’s Steve Sarkisian doesn’t hold back on Ole Miss, basket weaving and an in-state school’s schedule.

UT’s Steve Sarkisian doesn’t hold back on Ole Miss, basket weaving and an in-state school’s schedule

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