AUSTIN — Texas linebackers coach Johnny Nansen was arrested Wednesday night and charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, head coach Steve Sarkisian announced Thursday.
“We had an unfortunate situation last night. We are obviously aware of the situation. I’m still gathering facts,” Sarkisian said in his regular weekly online press conference. “I’m still monitoring the situation. We’re obviously disappointed, but that’s all I really have at this time.”
The Austin American-Statesman reported that Austin police responded to a three-vehicle crash on the South Capital of Texas highway at 8:55 p.m. Wednesday night. Nansen was the driver of one of the vehicles, and he “displayed signs consistent with possible impairment. Officers conducted standardized field sobriety tests and observed multiple clues of impairment.”
Nansen, who has coached at Texas since 2024 and also serves as co-defensive coordinator, was not at the Longhorns’ practice Thursday morning.
Nansen is in his 28th year as a college assistant, first linking up with Sarkisian as his special teams and defensive line coach at Washington in 2009. He followed the head coach when Sarkisian got the head coaching job at USC in 2014. Nansen went on to coach at UCLA and Arizona before rejoining Sarkisian in Austin.