Steve Sarkisian explains why he doesn’t complain about current issues in college football

The world of college sports has evolved quite a bit in recent years, from the introduction of the transfer portal to the advent of NIL. It’s given coaches like Texas‘ Steve Sarkisian a lot to adjust to.

But while some coaches have bemoaned the changes to the sport, which have increased the time demands on many of them, Sarkisian has taken it all in stride.

He was asked about his seemingly laid-back approach to the changes in the sport at the SEC spring meetings in Destin last week.

“Well because I’m a believer in this: Change is inevitable, and I think we have to change with change,” Sarkisian said. “My biggest thing is this. As long as we’re all playing by the same rules it just is what it is. I try not to spend a lot of time complaining, you know? I’m more solution-oriented than I am point out the problem with it.”

The good news is that despite the ongoing litigation that is forcing the NCAA’s hand on many of these topics, the picture has grown a bit clearer overall in the last couple years.

Coaches have had a chance to get a handle on NIL and the transfer portal, even if they’re not huge fans of one or both.

Steve Sarkisian embodies what it looks like to embrace the change.

“So OK, these are the rules, this is what it is, how do we best navigate through this to put ourselves in the best position to have some success?” he said.

NCAA enforcement has been another sore spot for many coaches, with no real routine enforcement thanks to the overhanging litigation over the governing body. For his part, though, Sarkisian thinks the SEC has done a nice job keeping programs in check.

“The one thing I’ll say, and I know the NCAA is one thing,” Sarkisian said. “But I think the SEC does a really good job of that. I think commissioner (Greg) Sankey does a heck of a job of that, and I think it starts there first. We’ve got a lot of great coaches in that room that I’m about to go into an we’ve got great leadership, OK, with our athletic directors and commissioner Sankey and his team.”

At some point, once the dust settles on most of the litigation, coaches like Sarkisian will have a more defined framework to work within. But for now all is good for the Texas coach.

“In the end whatever they define for us of the umbrella that we’re supposed to operate under, they’ll start that policing mechanism to make sure that we’re all playing by the same rules,” Steve Sarkisian said. “Then where the NCAA goes with it in the new way they’re going to get to it, we’ll find out where that is. But I think it has to start within our own conference before we can worry about too much from a national level.”

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