The Texas Longhorns are currently on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff after being the #1 ranked team in the nation in the preseason. And Desmond Howard thinks there should be more pressure on head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Thankfully for Sarkisian, his boss doesn’t agree.
Texas began the season as the national championship favorite with Heisman frontrunner Arch Manning and a stacked roster coming back. However, after a season-opening loss at defending national champion Ohio State, the season has never really clicked into full gear.
Arch Manning has bounced back somewhat after some early season struggles. However, a primetime loss against Georgia has left the Longhorns at 7-3 on the season. And even a victory against Texas A&M in their rivalry game might not be enough to sneak into the playoff, depending on how much favoritism the committee wants to give the SEC.
The disappointment of the Texas season led ESPN College GameDay analyst Desmond Howard to take to social media to talk about the job security of Steve Sarkisian while he was taking out his trash.
“Don’t be surprised if that Texas job opens up at the end of the season. You guys were shocked when LSU opened up. Imagine how you’re going to feel if that job in Austin pops open. I’m not calling or saying anyone’s going to get fired. There may be a mutual parting of ways, you dig?”
Howard floating out that bombshell of a rumor led to a direct response from Texas Longhorns athletic director Chris Del Conte. In quote-tweeting Howard’s video, he simply said “This is news to me… Thanks for the insight” with a pointing finger and a facepalm emoji for good measure.
Steve Sarkisian has been the subject of rumors that he might look towards the NFL for a new opportunity in the professional game. But right now they are just that, rumors. It has been a crazy season already in the coaching department with Penn State and LSU firing James Franklin and Brian Kelly respectively. Another blueblood in Florida also has an opening while Franklin has already landed at Virginia Tech.
The Texas job becoming open, especially with Arch Manning likely coming back for another season, would definitely be the biggest surprise of all. Desmond Howard probably wouldn’t put that message out there, especially the specific language of “mutual parting of ways,” without hearing something that would motivate him to blast that out to the world and stir up speculation. At least one would hope. Josh Pate did the same thing with USC and Lincoln Riley, seemingly out of nowhere.
Nevertheless, it adds just one more layer of drama to what has already been one of the wildest coaching carousels in recent memory.
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