Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
Eight days ago Desmond Howard started a fire that Steve Sarkisian tried to immediately stamp out. Eight days later, the embers are still burning.
During a post to social media, the longtime College Football GameDay host offhandedly mentioned that in this historic coaching carousel, he wouldn’t be surprised if another massive job opened in the college football landscape.
“Don’t be surprised if that Texas job opens up at the end of the season,” Howard said. “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. Maybe a mutual parting of ways, you dig?”
Steve Sarkisian wasn’t thrilled with the buzz, especially when he had to address it after a 25-point loss to Georgia. He called the rumors “absolutely false and untrue.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Never do I do this because I never want to be a distraction, so I never address these things. But at this point now, I feel like it is important that I do this, because it’s important for our team. It’s important for our university. I’ve had no discussions, not with my agent, not with the university, not with any other school, not with any NFL team, about ever going anywhere else.”.
Steve Sarkisian claps back at Desmond Howard a bit in response to who his message was for during Wednesday’s SEC Teleconference.
“Think about something else when you are taking your trash out.”@ontexasfootball pic.twitter.com/GKPB1SuJjQ
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) November 20, 2025
It’s still silly season, but this reaction generating anything but silence is shocking to me.
Nothing about his response felt like Saban’s infamous denial before taking the Alabama job, nor did it carry the disingenuous tone surrounding the situation unfolding in Oxford.
Sarkisian has already spent time in the NFL as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons. He came back to the college ranks for the same position at Alabama. He’s been close to the mountain top for two years in a row, and has dug Texas out of the decade long depths of mediocrity and brought them to top tier national relevance.
He’s got the deepest pockets of any booster base in America. He’s a top three playcaller in the country, and almost any coordinator in the country would flock to Austin for a job opportunity at the drop of a hat if they were asked.
Do you think he’s going to give that up to go be the head coach of the Tennessee Titans? No. That’s about as dumb as when Howard picked Texas A&M to win the national title in a CFP field of Pittsburgh, Baylor and Michigan a few years ago.
I’m with Sarkisian, because quite frankly, I can’t believe we are even talking about it.
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