Steve Sarkisian discusses how coaching under Nick Saban and Pete Carroll impacted his career

Speaking of leadership, you have, I don't want to say just fortunate, but in your gratitude tree, I'm sure there's like, I got the coach under Pete Carroll and I got a coach under Nick Saban and be with the Falcons and Matt Ryan and like, yeah, you've gotten to coach great players, coach under great coaches, but specifically two guys that just stepped away. Yeah, Pete Carroll, Nick saban, they step away and basically the same day, same day, same day. And those are, I would have to imagine please correct me if I'm wrong, the most influential coaching influences in your career, hands down, what did each of them bring to you. Crazy to think like I'll say this in my era of coaching the three greatest of all time, right. If you put Coach Saban and Coach Carroll and Bill belichick, I would agree. Right the most successful era and those guys in their organizations that they were part of the biggest thing I got from those two. Dramatically different personalities. Here's Pete Carroll. He's bouncing around. He's chewing gum. He's playing catch every day. He's got his gloves on. He's creating an environment of energy and the guys are flying around. Here's Nick Saban. It's like the methodical regiment, the discipline of this is how we're going to go about our business. And this is the approach. OK but in the end, they're both striving for the exact same thing, which is being champions. They're both highly competitive. Two of the most competitive humans I've ever been around and both extremely successful. But what I came to find out in my time having been with Coach Carroll, then I get back with Coach Saban and asking those questions were if you look at their careers. The second half of their careers is when they really took off. Yeah, I would argue way more successful than the first. Not even close. Right Both of them right around 50. And then the last 20, 22 years, they're both 72 have been the greatest years of their careers. Well, why is that. What happened. And so I asked them both the exact same question and really got the exact same answer. They figured out who they were and then they coached who they were rather than trying to be something that they're not. And because when you try to be something you're not, when adversity strikes, the real you comes out and then everybody around you like, who the hell is that guy. Like, that's not who he was yesterday and the day before. But all of a sudden, here's this guy that comes out. And I think that for me, was probably the biggest thing because remember, I was 34 years old. I was the head coach at University of Washington. I didn't know what the heck was going on. I was one day I was like this and the next day I was like this. I was I was at that time. And I use this analogy. I was a thermometer. I was walking into whatever the situation was, whatever the temperature was. That's how I responded. And I've gotten to now I'm a thermostat. I set that temperature for how I want it to be every day. And then others can either buy into that temperature or not. And so if you figure out who you are and then you try to act in accordance to who you are as consistently as possible. So everybody knows what to expect. And I think that's the beauty of having an opportunity to work for those two guys. They're drastically different, but they figured out who they were. Pete Carroll wasn't following Bill Parcells in New England anymore, trying to be how do I be Bill parcells, but still be Pete Carroll. He didn't have to do that anymore, right. Nick Saban figured out who he was. I see So many coaches now that left that those trees of those two guys that tried to be Pete Carroll tried to be Nick Saban and failed miserably because they weren't trying to be themselves. But still hold on to some of the premises of the things that were really good in that program. And like I said, I feel like I've been fortunate to work for two amazing men in our sport that have been tremendous, and the life lessons I learned from them well beyond football that I've been able to apply but apply in a way that fits me. So there's a consistency to the approach that I give every day. I love the analogy that you gave there, the thermometer and the thermostat. I've used the you're either the refrigerator or you're the Carton of milk. You're either going to turn into everybody that whatever temperature is around you or you're going to turn everything into your temperature. That's exactly right. Which is the exact same thing. Same exact thing. But in order to do that, there has to not just be a self belief, not just be a confidence. There has to be a presence in a groundedness about, you know, those guys. Nick Saban wasn't comparing himself to anybody else. Pete Carroll wasn't comparing himself. And then in this profession, what I see is guys comparing all the time, all the time, my program, my style, my assistants, my players to all of these other places. And inevitably it doesn't work. And I would make the argument, I think it's why we have such. High turnover is that the comparison in our industry is so high and now we're seeing it with players too. Which brings me to Nick's comments after he retired. He was and has been incredibly forthright with his displeasure with where we're at in college football and what he thinks that's done to the young men participating in college football. You know, he basically said my conversations were, how much am I going to play and how much are you going to pay me. And he decided that it's not for him. In this environment. How do you grow. Also adapt to not be a dinosaur and succeed even with these things that he was talking about. Well, I think this I think one. Why did you choose to come to Texas. Right and there's a formula to that if you lead with NIL. To get a young man to come to your school, then that's why you came there. Then a year from now, what's he going to ask about first. No And so our kind of perspective on this and our approach to this is we've got an amazing product here. The history and tradition of Texas football is second to none. The education the quality of education at UT is incredible. The coaching staff, we have, the development of our players, the trajectory of what we've done from year one to year, two to year three of our program, the City of Austin, all these things that we're talking about. That's why I want you to come to the University of Texas. N.I.l doesn't come up. That should be the last reason to choose to go to a school, whether it's Texas or any other school. Because if and then if you take players predicated off of NIL that you want them. So bad that you're willing to go to whatever length and whatever degree to get that kid from an NFL perspective. Of course, that's what he's going to talk about the very next year when you bring him into your office. And so we've tried to create a culture that is a little bit different that way. I think we've got a healthy NIL program here. Our Texas one fund is fantastic, but I got a lot of players that could probably go to another school and make more money. But I think we've created a culture that they like being part of. They get treated really well. They feel like they're getting developed on and off the field. They've got a brotherhood with their teammates in that locker room that they succeed with. And we talk to that stuff and we work to that stuff. And I'll tell you this, you don't play more because you have more NIL here. I think we make that very clear as well. The best players play that give us the best chance to be successful as a team that do things the right way on and off the field. And you may have a great NIL deal this year. If you don't play, you're probably not going to have a great one next year and maybe you're better suited for somewhere else if that's what's important to you. And that's OK. There's nothing wrong with that.