Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian Sends Shot at SEC Rival Over Program Standards

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian has never been one to mince words.

He has never shied away from calling things like they are, standing up for his team, or speaking his mind on a football related topic.

In a recent interview with USA Today Sports, however, Sark took things to another level, calling out the decaying state of college football.

Steve Sarkisian rips Ole Miss and the state of college football

Sarkisian was particularly frustrated about the rules surrounding the transfer portal, and went so far as to put the Longhorns' SEC rival and 2026 opponent, Ole Miss, on blast for their academic standards for their athletes.

“It’s like we’ve forgotten about academics, yet less than 5% of these guys will play in the NFL," Sarkisian said. "At Texas, we will only take 50% of a player’s academic credit hours. You may be a semester from graduating, but you’re going all the way back to 50% if you play here and want a degree. But at Ole Miss, they can take you. All you have to do is take basket weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree.”

Obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is frustrating about the transfer portal.

Every single season, thousands of players leave their original school for another via the portal, simply for the money. There are even examples of players signing and enrolling with one school via the portal, and then leaving for another just days later.

Ironically enough, Ole Miss - who sark attacked by name - is perhaps the most famous example of that, after they lured linebacker Luke Ferrelli away from Clemson, after he was enrolled in the university and attending classes.

In other words, college football has become the wild wild west.

But perhaps the most irritating thing of all is the lack of enforcement from the NCAA, who seems to be more concerned with preventing players from utilizing a medical redshirt for an additional year of eligibility, rather than protecting the member institutions that they are meant to govern.

Regardless, the state of the game is what it is, and there is nothing any one coach can do to change the calculus of that.

And as a result, all a coach like Sark can do, is try to move forward and adjust to the times until a real and effective enforcement process is created.

“I try my best to not get consumed with how bad it is," Sarkisian said. "It just wears you out.”

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow