Texas’ Steve Sarkisian: Saban Saved My Career, 2nd Chances, Marriage & Future w/ Manning | The Pivot

we'll get to the bottom of what the people want to know yeah who's dressing who yeah we know coach a come with the new cements by itself oh man yo this is Huff I just asked him myself yeah we know coaching ain't gonna go get the cements by itself her four Jordans though in the league and games yeah he was like might have been one of The Originals yeah oh wow I didn't know that yeah because you gotta remember Huff was drafted seventh the Raiders overall and huff is the guy that tackles Lindell white in the national championship game so he reminds me of that too fourth and two yeah when we were at SC wow and at SC were were you and laying there we and Layman together because I had to think that y'all dang that unbeatable that year we knew we were a little vulnerable defensively We Were Young okay so like that whole crew like Cushing yeah I want to talk about this all those guys they were freshmen and so when we when we were just we just were outscoring everybody but then we got to that game I remember like in warm-ups I'm like damn they look like us yeah yeah and then early in the game we try to hit Reggie on a wheel route and he got wired I was like I remember that okay and then Steve Smith Double moved uh I think it was Aaron Ross and Griff came over the top and picked it I'm like I got some they got they're playing ball they got real players too man that's the fun ones well you're good and then you yeah you see I mean Superman started playing Vince went berserk yeah eventually I remember where I was when I was watching that game we wanted events to go play freaking receiver at LSU I still remember receiver out of Houston he's like hell no he was six five wasn't he yeah oh but he could do everything have you seen Vince is a big man yeah so he's the same all the time at AFC South when he was in Tennessee yeah adventurous Vince's uh Debo suplex them though yeah I got 15. when that's your pride Plum that's your pride are you in trouble yeah we took we took it off of advanced mine put on his tail it changed the whole thing hold up [Music] [Music] [Music] well coach thank you so much for letting us into this beautiful facility you know I at one point in my life thought I was going to be a Texas Longhorn you know it was back in the day they sent you the book Chris Carter was on the front Westbrook I was like oh yeah they gonna offer me for sure they did not I realized that there was enough players in Texas that they didn't need me but coach tapping in uh to Louisiana uh coach Steve sarkeesian head coach of Texas I know for you you know to be at a university like this it just says a lot about the things you've gone through and the things that you've accomplished Channing Crowder Freddie T welcome to the pivot top Partners happy Dad DraftKings our sponsors we think thank you for all your support everybody that watches the show uh we're gonna get in trouble right you Florida guy all right you sitting here with the head coach of Texas I'm an LSU guy yeah uh I'm doing the same coach but to get to where we are now for you to have an opportunity to coach at one of the greatest universities in the entire land it has to start in 2015. to go through what you went through not as just a coach but as a person and to come through that adversity to be at this point is a story of perseverance but also will and effort just take us back to that time of your life yeah it was a tough start like when you I like that we started there because the reality is that's when my life changed right that was when you're out of work you can't get a job you can't get an interview you're trying to figure out who you are as a person and you start chopping away and you find out who is close to you and who's supporting you and you leaned into those people and you lean into the people that have good intentions for you and you just start trying to find your way and in 2015 as I came out of that and had been gotten fired at USC gone to recovery started working on me personally and then coming out of that not being able to get a job somewhere in there somebody's got an extending all the branch to you and in 2016 I was ready to go do TV I I couldn't get it I couldn't get an interview for a job and uh Nick Saban saved my career and he offered me an analyst job and I was willing to do it for free but he said I gotta pay you thirty thousand dollars so you can get benefits and I said okay I'll do that I'm forever indebted to him because at that time you know somebody in life has got to give all of us a second chance right and um it totally changed my perspective it changed my perspective on how I coach how I deal with our players um because everybody's going through stuff right everybody's got stuff whatever that your stuff is you just try to get through it and if I can be that guy that can extend that all a branch to our players as we go through this journey I always lean back to that time because here's the greatest coach of all time in our era right and um for whatever reason he saw something to me to give me a chance to give me a shot from there he actually makes me the offensive coordinator for the national championship game against Clemson and I was an analyst I wasn't even a coach I called that game um it was amazing game Jalen hurts scrambles and scores DeShaun Watson goes down wins the game coming out of that game Dan Quinn offers me the offensive coordinator job with the Atlanta Falcons and I'm thinking Kyle Shanahan just goes to the 49ers I'm going to go to the Atlanta Falcons and I go do it for two years for whatever reason that didn't work you know and I was like okay I figured out and I realized again I'm a pretty good coach I was going to stay in the NFL that was the plan and I'd actually verbally accepted a job to be an offensive coordinator in the NFL and guess who called me again Nick Saban called again when Nick calls man whether you're a player or coach it's tough to say no I called the woman in my life at that time who now is my wife L'Oreal and uh I said she didn't want me to leave Alabama the first time and I said why did you not want me to leave and she reminded me that he gave me that chance and that I owed him I went back and I went back for that very reason like I had unfinished business with this man that we didn't accomplish what we set out to do and two years later we go win a National Championship an amazing run I had turned down some jobs along the way and Texas called and it was like okay this is the one this is the one you're supposed to go take because you never know if you're gonna get another one so you the one you get you hope that it's one that you can go achieve greatness and win a championship and build your own legacy and uh here we are man it's amazing been amazing ride coach as you and you're talking about you calling the national championship game and I remember that we were part of football and as we're playing and analyzing your coaching your path is different than most coaches they usually come in the system they sit behind somebody then they'll have their job to go to a small school or just stay behind that guy yeah El Camino College how was that offense but why is your past so different like why are you talking about yeah I coach this game and I get an offer to coach the NFL team and things like it seems like your coaching history is way different than other coaches I don't know you know first of all I've been lucky early in my career um you know I was coaching in junior college at El Camino Junior College and uh Pete Carroll offers me to be a graduate assistant at USC when he just gets the job at SC and you know Pete really became my mentor I worked for him for seven years I leaned into Pete and I just was like man I'm gonna be a sponge from this guy who I thought was incredible the way he coached the way he tapped into his players shoot at 34 years old I was the head coach at University of Washington but I took that job when they were 0 and 12 the year before and I was like okay I'm gonna try to go build this place I'm gonna go take it back because just like you Ryan I always wanted to go to UW when I was coming out of high school they didn't offer me but that was when UW was in their Heyday you know national champs in 1991 all that we did it for five years USC called and I went I went back and probably that was the one mistake in my career because I didn't realize what I was building I didn't recognize it it my eyes were too far down the road rather than just being where my feet are and in the end Coach Peterson comes in and two years later they're in the college football playoff you know with a lot of those kids that that we had recruited as you kind of navigate through man I just the people I'm around I try to be a sponge you know whether it was a Dan Quinn or a Nick Saban or a Pete Carroll shoot off with North Turner for a year in Oakland and I thought he was an amazing offensive mind and the other thing you know I try to do quite frankly I try to recreate our offense every year I try not to just be the same you know who are we what are we good at and then let's go craft an offense that fits what those guys can do really well in this business relationships like a currency have you identified what they saw in you other than being a really good coach one thing I think I work hard there's never I'll get to that later it's like I'm gonna finish what I start and I'm gonna try to do it well because if I work for you I want you to look at my work and say this is really well done you know so whether I'm a pleaser or not I don't know but I feel like I always want to I want to validate my work with the people that I'm working for I do think that positive energy there's something about that every day I walk in a building I'm grateful man every day I walk through this front door here man I'm so grateful to be the head coach University of Texas like I do not take it for granted that energy starts at 5 30 when I walk in you know and with the next person I see it's like how do I uplift that person to be the best that they can be and I'm about giving not taken and in the end because when you give you do end up receiving them I just try to impact people that way you know in just a really positive in a positive way and I don't know you know quite frankly I don't know what they saw you know but it must have been something pretty good they keep promoting me for the next job speaking of a positive impacts and relationships you mentioned your wife earlier and a lot of times when you are going through things people see it as occupational because what you were dealing with occupationally was so public but there's also that personal and internal fight that you have to deal with and I told your wife when we walked in I was like listen you're a damn black woman superhero you know I mean I talk about Legendary game day fits you say she don't dress you I don't really know coach you got the cement you got the cements on but when you are going through those things not only like you said rebuilding your career but rebuilding yourself what is it like to have someone so strong believe in you and continue to be in your corner through those times of getting back to this point I think a couple things you know she is she is that person because you know the reality of it is there were things in my life that shoot I I had to get reconnected to the Lord you know and she helped me do that I had to find my own self-confidence again you know well anytime you get fired I don't care what industry you're in you lose some of that confidence you know it's like how do you find it again how do you recreate it again and she was the one that kept reminding me she was the one when jobs would come up she said I don't think that's the one I think you're better than that and I was like wow okay all right it was like I needed I needed some of that you know to build my own self-confidence and then even going through our times like because the the idea to think that hey I did that in 2015 and then I've just life's been great and perfect since then nah we all we still have struggles we still go through things you know it's a it's a daily process for all of us she's been there every step of the way the good the bad the ugly whatever it's looked like and she's right there every single time and even on game day she dresses me on game day I'll give her that not everybody loves what I wear but I like it she liked it so so we're good with it and coaches it's crazy to hear you say like that you get down because as a player like you know it's going to come to an end sooner or later or if you get hurt you can say I'm slower because of my ankle as a coach like your system works your offense works it's worked so if you lose a job or have you know some turmoil why would you question yourself like you know you just said I can recreate what I know works so why would you ever question yourself I I think just part of human nature some right I mean at the end of the day nobody likes to feel like I didn't get the job done like that's who I've always been I've been a worker I'm going to get the job done and they didn't think I got the job done yeah well my point is my point is you get you get to that right yeah but I wasn't there in 2015. I was at a point where man I had gotten fired I was trying to get a job shoot I couldn't get a call back I was willing to work for free I couldn't get an interview and so the point of it was man then you start to question like well shoot is is it ever going to happen again is this going to happen again and it takes one shot the one shot I got just happened to be from the goat man you know that changed the whole deal coach and listening to Channing it almost seems like he's asking about questioning your football Acumen clearly no one questions that because that's how you have a job that's why the goat calls you because he ain't stupid right right and he understands and he believed in you as a person too you know you said you didn't get the job done but is it different that you feel like you didn't get the job done and it was who you were because I to me I think that would be harder for me it's not it's not that I didn't know football because I didn't know I knew football I could do that I didn't do some other things and right I'm pretty sure that's why you couldn't get the call back or the interviews how difficult was that part to do that was the key right because in the end of the day it's like man I made some choices and decisions in my life that are impacting my future right it wasn't about did I know how to beat Cover three or could I pick up this blitz or could I attack you know red four or any of those things it was I had done some things in my life and I made choices and decisions in my life that at that point I was like man this is affecting my future now not only did it affect my present I got fired because of it but now man is this affecting my future yeah am I ever gonna get another shot to show you what I really know in football to show you how I can beat red four how I can find that weak Link in your defense how I can go attack that corner and get it formationally set up to where my best players against your worst player I knew I could do that it was were my choices and decisions gonna ultimately affect my chance to go do that again that's where that was the struggle you know you made the decision to keep the main thing the main thing and come down here to the big beautiful state of Texas why Texas biggest brand in the land man that is very true and football down here is heaven yeah you know people down in Texas especially these Cowboy fans like our producer back there she's she's crazy uh but they love their football in this state and the pressures that come along with that what was it about this University where you said you know what this is going to be on I've never not loved a great challenge I've always wanted something to men I wanted to do it the biggest the best better than anyone's ever done it before so that's why you take a 0-12 Washington job that's why you go to USC when they're on probation and they only got 50 kids on scholarship that's why you go to Atlanta after they just have the catastrophic loss in the suit more see if you can take them back and then that's why you come to Texas after a decade of down years and would they ever get back and and can you can you recreate it in turmoil and different things going on and it was like yeah this is what I'm supposed to go do this is I'm built for this you know and as you go through it and you watch the transformation in my past I didn't appreciate the transformation because I was always worried about what was down the road today now I go through it I see it I try to really watch our team like I was just telling my brother-in-law the other day I said this looks like my team and it's year three I said it feels and looks like my team the way the players talk the way they act what they look like the way they move the way they run how we practice the speed the tempo all those things but I'm like okay now we're about ready to go this is this is what it's supposed to look like in 90 days and we need to because we're going to the conference you guys just canceled big time Big Time but ninety percent of your offense well you're rushing offense just went to the NFL in in Bijon Robinson and I see that you have some guys that have been here and you got a five star right from Florida out of Orlando out of Orlando and a few young quarterbacks one who can't keep up with his ID right horse Manning that's right how has the process of you know getting back to it you just finished up Spring how has that process been for you know to get this next season going it's it's been good you know every year you have your own challenges right you look at your team you look at your roster where are your issues okay how are we going to fix these issues and then how are we going to play to the strengths of what we have we lost two great players really we lost Bijan Robson and Roshan Johnson I mean those guys watch those two dudes trained I don't mean to interrupt you coach great humans like not just good kids I mean great leaders great young men those dudes host Bible study with their guys that they're training with for the combine and so I can understand the sort of attachments you would have to both of those and I owe a great deal to both of them because when we came here the program was not stable as I would like to say it in our first year was tough it was hard man we lost some really tough games those guys were rocks every day they showed up they practiced harder than anybody they worked harder than anybody in the off season now they're gone so now you've got to tap into okay who do we have now and we got some really good players on board now who's coming into the program to help us you talked about Cedric Baxter out of Orlando but what else on our team where are we going to lean into right are we going to lean into an Xavier worthy of Jordan Whittington are we going to bring in an A.D Mitchell from Georgia maybe we got to throw the ball a little bit more but what I do know Fred every year I've called plays in college football I've always had a thousand yard Russia we started two true freshmen alignment we had a freshman All-American left tackle uh in kelvin bank so um we believe in running the football we believe you you win games up front and you run the ball and I think your Team figures out you know we do team run you aren't allowed to throw a pass man it's it's 11 all nine really because we the safeties no we're not throwing it but we develop an identity and the team knows hey that guy running that ball right there in the fourth quarter he's going to run it and we're going to be able to run it when they know we're going to run it and I think there's a mentality in that and you got to stop the run like everything in football starts there it's like it goes all the way back for decades you've got to be able to run the football hey coach you are tasked with getting Texas back to the top of the mountain in football but this isn't your first run-in with Texas at one point USC was the was the Pinnacle coach you know I mean Reggie Bush Lindell white Matt Atlanta y'all had them all coach uh you guys run into Texas in the national championship and that's what they want your team to look like now what was that like when you step onto the field and you kind of know that y'all were it and you look across the sideline and you're like oh shoot they might be it too when we went into that Rose Bowl we had won 33 straight games I mean that's 33 games in a row and we're trying to we're trying to win our third straight national championship and um even a pre-game you could kind of look you know you know as coaches you you're looking at there yeah let me check like they look like us you know they look they look like we looked and um as the game got going I remember you know we call the wheel route to Reggie early in the game and the linebacker was in his hip pocket and the ball fell incomplete I remember we threw a double move and Michael Griffin comes out of the roof and intercepts the ball uh right on the goal line and then all of a sudden Superman started taking over and Vince Young started being Vince Young but but that team that Texas team was a lot more than just Vince that secondary is legendary the Michael Huff Aaron Ross is of the world Brothers yeah it was it was an amazing game and I say it all the time like even when we got in the locker room I remember sitting there thinking about I might have just been part of the greatest college football game ever with the with the amount of talent and the way the game went you know Michael Huff works for us now right and he's the guy that gave me the cements by the way just so you know Huff I'm giving you a plug but in the end it came down to Fourth and two and at that time Reggie had just won the Heisman but Lindell was the hot hand that night Lindell was running the ball and he was physical and he was tough and um coach Carroll was like you got to go for it because if we aren't going to stop him anyway so we got to try to win the game right here and um Michael Huff tackles Lindell white short and there goes Vince Young fourth and four scores and the the confetti the shot event scoring with the confetti it's like one of the most legendary pictures in in all of college football history we had Bijan on on the show and he would always talk about that was before last season he's like five and seven and then you guys start this year and you know one of your early games is Alabama and it's a it's a tight game it's a close game and you're speaking of players who could put on Superman capes you played against one as well and Bryce young yeah when you think about Quinn going out early in that game and he did have a hot hand when you look at this year's team coach what's to what has to be done for y'all to take that next step and be on that next level where when you are across from the goat on the other sideline Texas comes out on top we do we play them September 9th and everybody knows it you know we're going to Tuscaloosa this time around and I think the experience on our team matters this year at the end of the day to beat the Alabama's the Georges of the world you got to be good up front which I think we are you got to have Playmakers on the perimeter which I believe we have and you got to have a quarterback you know it's the most important position in sports for a reason and we're fortunate to have more than one and I think that that's what it takes we learned that in that game last year because you never know when that guy could get could get injured and who's going to come in next and that lends itself to recruiting and you know we've we've we're starting to stack recruiting classes on top of one another like you're supposed to do to to build that talent but in the end I think it's going to be our composure and our experience late in games to go finish those tight ball games that we learned kind of how to do last year and now we really got to take that next step this year and Coach Nick Saban like you said extended at Olive Branch to get you back in and he drafted me so he honestly changed both of our Lives yes yeah he's changed a lot of lives and people don't know that about him he sees a lot of lives man he is he and Miss Terry they do a lot they they're some of the most compassionate people I've I've ever met yeah and I showed him my appreciation by bringing a stripper into him for the rookie show so you know I [Laughter] it's funny when you said because I called I played for him he could gated he cusses you out talk to you like a child you know how it is you don't have to co-sign but coaches get it too you know okay okay but you recognize as great as you recognize him as a defensive guy he's a defensive mind he would call plays and tell you they're throwing the backside of trips they're gonna throw a screen this is how you say it they're gonna throw a skin to your guy they don't think you can tackle so he's coming to you damn coach why can't you just tell me play the back time but he he would talk crazy but you respect his football mind the man's a genius now you're going back to play the guy that brought you up are you going into a game against Nick Saban's defense are you whistling through the graveyard I got him oh no no no big deal is there respect there because you can't respect him too much because you got to go after his neck but you still can't act like he's not an Xavier no no there's definitely a high level of respect because I know the work that he puts in I know the work that he has his staff put in I know the way they practice I know the way they prepare but that's what motivates you too right myself like I've been on that staff right and I know I know what it looks like and so you're always trying to find that edge as a coach and shoot I felt like last year we had our chances and that we created some opportunities for ourselves and that's what it's going to take and then the key to the drill is when you get your Ops you gotta you gotta make them you got to make them come to life and so there's definitely a great deal of respect for their program the history and tradition of Alabama coach Saban but in the end you know we're the University of Texas too yeah and we got pretty good players too and we got pretty good coaches too in the end you got to go play the game and and who can make those plays who can call the right calls at the right time and have your players prepared in the most critical moments that's that's ultimately what football comes down to you know there's that eight to ten plays that ultimately Define a game and can you make those plays in those moments stand with Bama you've been around some really good young quarterbacks and Mac Jones and uh tour right you have a a second ago I mentioned the young guy coming here losing his ID Arch Manning yeah does he wear the Manning name well first of all he lost his ID twice the first of it not once but twice but the beauty of it is this he's he's a kid he's a college kid like I think so many times you see the Manning name and you think he's this perfect in a box like nothing's wrong with him I'm not saying there's anything wrong but he's still a kid I love that about him but what he does have that I think is is somewhere in the Manning DNA this guy loves football he works at football all we practice in the morning that evening he wants to already be up here watching every one of his plays he works at his craft he wants to be great there's no doubt about it and I think that's why he came here you know and we've had a pretty good track record of developing quarterbacks over the last 20 years we really have going back to Carson Palmer or Matt leiner Matt Castle Jake Locker I mean we've we've had a pretty good run and I think their family handled recruiting really well he's got two great parents I will say this I never talked to Peyton or Eli one time as much as people think they are involved in this whole thing and talk to them their family went through the recruiting process they visited they got to know L'Oreal and I they got to know our staff they got to know the players we were recruiting they got to know the City of Austin and ultimately art said that's where I want to go to school who else do you want me to recruit and he started talking to said Baxter he started talking to Anthony Hill he started talking to jonte cook and we ended up with one of the the top recruiting classes in the country but he's spearheaded that like a really good quarterback should yeah right they're the leaders of that class and and where this program can go well fellas it's not I'm anymore it's time for the hoopers but it is time for DraftKings Sportsbook and any new customer using the promo code pivot you make a five dollar bet and you get a hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets a hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets you know what I'm doing with mine same here you go lays multiple bets on the same game it multiplies your chance of winning even more money but the same game parlays aren't everywhere but I do know one thing Chan if you take your little mobile device and download DraftKings daily fantasy you still can get some action that's what I do and that's what I'm gonna do and I'm gonna win listen Fred don't have his phone out but I'll take mine out download the draftking Sportsbook app any new customer using the promo code pivot a five dollar wager if you hit you get a hundred and fifty dollars and phone is back man y'all we already love sports but with DraftKings it makes it so much more fun you're watching your teams win and you're winning money you can't beat it and stay tuned to the end of the show we got some picks Coming For You DraftKings Sportsbook download the app know coach you've been in the game so long and you had that stack team at USC and now having an opportunity like you said to stack recruiting classes to build the team in your image the way that you want them to look with nil and all the things that are different now to transfer transfer portal how has that changed the way you guys go about recruiting and do you think it's positive as well it goes both ways for me you know part of me is a little bit of a traditionalist when it comes to college football like I still love bowl games man like they were there was something special about it but now we're going to a 12-team playoff here in the future you know what is that going to look like for the team that's number 13 and 14 and 15. the transfer portal definitely has changed the game in the fact that you know we've got young men on our team who are four and five star kids that we're recruiting and everybody wants instant gratification well you know what there's a thing called development still there's a thing called perseverance that that is that is a trait that we can we can work on and get better at but everybody's got somebody at home telling them man you should be playing more let's go over here let's take your ball and go over here and so that's where I think the relationship piece is so important as a coach we really got to develop great relationships with our with our players so that they feel they can trust us man and trust is something you earn over time with consistency you don't get it overnight so we have to keep working at it but then all of a sudden there's nil so now all of a sudden you're talking about well I love it here coach but if I go over here they're going to pay me X Y or Z what can we do here I'll say this we're fortunate the University of Texas man we've got great support at this University so I think we can keep the players that we have but also recruit the right players that fit I will say this about recruiting that I think maybe we're different than others I don't know nil is the last thing I talk about to recruits about it's good I sell the University of Texas we've got an unbelievable product the University of Texas the history and tradition the facilities the world-class education the City of Austin is on fire it's fastest growing city in the United States no Pro Sports to compete with we got no NFL no MBA no major league baseball at the end I talk about nil because I want to I want to suck them all the way in toward man they want to come to Texas so bad right then we'll talk about nil if I put it if I put the cart before the horse and talk about nil first they're coming for the wrong reasons and in the end I'm going to have disgruntled employees right I'm gonna have disgruntled players that man I'm not a coach that just hurt my soul that you had to say about college athletes you're going to have disgruntled employees yeah because like I when I went to school it wasn't a choice if I wanted to leave LSU I had to go to Southern nothing's wrong with HBCU but I knew the difference in playing in front of at that time 92 000 and playing in front of 10. you know I knew the opportunities I had there the facilities but now you know kids clear I redshirted it as a freshman I just played nickel and special teams yeah and then by the time I earned it I was so I was so grateful for it and I loved being at that school and earning earning my way when you do have to have that conversation with a kid says coach look I ain't playing and this school says I'm gonna get this nio money here I want to go there is it a situation where you're working to keep them or you feel to you feel like well if you've already gotten to this point in your process this isn't the school for you I think it goes both ways I feel for our players because I do think it's not just them a lot of times they're hearing it from outside sources High School coaches trainers right family members uncles whatever it is right social media right every everything's out there now that they're trying to figure out who they are but for us that's where I think the relationship piece is so critical so that I can be honest I don't ever feel like I have to tell somebody something that isn't true and when I can be really honest with a young man and say hey you're probably a year away but that's okay here's what we're going to work on with you to get you to that point so when your time comes I don't want to throw you out on that field in front of 105 000 people and you don't know what to do or you get beat or you can't make that tackle or you can't cover that guy or you can't run that route when I put you out on that field I want you to play great right because in the end that's going to help you go fulfill your real dream of playing in the NFL and I think our players really understand it I do but everything we do in our program now is totally transparent and totally up front I wasn't always that way as a coach you know 10 years ago 15 years ago whatever it was but now because I've had I've had to change I've had to become vulnerable I've become vulnerable with our players and I think they appreciate it and I can start closing the gap on earning their trust quicker and then I can have those conversation stations that are that are really just upfront and honest about where they're at in their development stage of their career the nios the kids because you'd bring up you know early 2000s when you couldn't do it yeah and then you coaching all those great players but I'm looking at Bijon Robinson didn't he drive a Lamborghini like you have a running back that has a Lamborghini he's a child there's Georgia UGA I saw a video of them dudes coming at back to back to back hellcats like I don't know they locked me up three times and I didn't have a million dollars but you seeing pre-nil and now you've seen nil I don't know if the the drive will be the same I don't know if the studying will be the you know would they work harder or work less with all this money I don't know from a coaching perspective you've seen both sides how how is it different when a kid is driving a Lamborghini and no he got seven figures in the bank well I think I think it's a couple things one you gotta in recruiting you gotta really start to dig into the character of the kid yeah you got to know the kid man it's not just what's on the tape you really got to dig into the character of the kid who is he what's he made of what's he about and that doesn't even if he's not perfect that doesn't mean he can't get to where we need him to get to but if what's his intents you know what's what what is he intentional with what he's trying to get done that's why we talk about nil last but the point is like I wanna I wanna hit on Bijon because this is important that had nothing to do with the University of Texas Bijan got that Lamborghini because of Bijan Robinson because of who he was as a person we had already touched on it he is a better human being than he is football player and at first when he got the car I actually thought he was almost embarrassed to drive it he did not want to be out there like that he's such a good person that way now we had other guys that were chomping at the bitten again Lamborghini and I told him don't give him one he'll probably wreck it and that's not good for your insurance and B he won't be able to handle it and so we try to help that help a lot of some of those bigger nil deals with people of who's mature enough to handle those things as they work their way through it that's more stress on you now to his point though you wouldn't have gotten one who wouldn't that's what he's saying hey coach hey you better not have been watching SEC when they would have came to him and said you earned it he said no I don't think Shannon gonna be able to handle it All-American baby I could eat a Lamborghini I don't think it's as much the actual nil and Coach you can correct me if I'm wrong give me your opinion on it I think having the nil and the transfer portal as it stands now I don't think they could really coexist as it stands now because kids are using the portal as leverage to say hey I'm going to leave I can get more over here from this school and now you're stuck you've you know spent all these man hours in recruiting and now this kid's gonna just up and and leave because of instant gratification entitlement that other thing so I don't think it's nil per section I think it's more so the portal in them having an out when they don't get what they want just the changing of it back when we were we got recruited you go to your school you as a freshman a red shirt you have some old some old guy four years older he's going to play over you you might sneak in halfway through the season like it was a set way now these kids are get like you're saying they're trying to put on things I think I have to keep them happy emotionally happy and now I got to keep them financially happy take your ass to class that's exactly what we say that's exactly what and ask any one of our players that's exactly what we say yeah but see them both sides though of it could every coach adjust to what's going on now because obviously you have I don't know I mean I think time will tell right time's gonna tell but I will I will take this and I give Coach Saban a lot of credit for this he he used a saying and it wasn't about this it was something about totally different but I've held on to the same ever since and I will forever adapt or die there's a reason dinosaurs are on the earth anymore you have we have to adapt this this is the time of college football right now we've got nil and transfer portal like this is it healthy for our sport I don't know but at the end of the day what are we doing how are we adapting to it and I hey I'm not saying this is secret sauce or not there is one thing we do here that I think has helped the moment you go in the transfer portal at the University of Texas you're no longer coming back um which I think a lot of schools do kids go and test the waters and try to come back we're not I'm not playing that game right if you want to go on the portal go on the portal good luck to you now we we have real candid conversations before that but in the end at some point there has to be something that we can hold on to to say hey man like this is a special place and they may you may get some more money over here or they're promising you playing time over there but we're promising you an amazing experience we're promising you development we're promising you growing as a man we're promising you here's a coach who's being vulnerable with you who's being candid with you who's being transparent with you I don't know if you're going to get that over there the grass might look Greener but when you get over there they might have sprayed it hey coach well Baltimore is letting Lamar Jackson test the transfer portal right now yeah and so you know I mean maybe everybody don't feel that way because I'm gonna kind of switch gears a little bit because uh I am just very interested in life yeah and I think that's one thing about our show uh you have three kids yeah and I think I looked at the pillow over there and that may be them and they've watched you persevere through so much where are you just right now in your life looking at everything that you've been through and all everything that you have man there was a time when I was going through it the relationship was was fragmented you know I was their dad who was on the ticker right I was their dad who at school you know kids will say things to them that are the most hurtful things in the in the world about their dad personally right and those kids are saying it because that that's what their parents they hear their parents saying right that's where they so in the end the fact that my own son is going to be coming here this fall to be on our team that this is what he wants to do is come play for his dad um that that's amazing you know my daughter's studying abroad she goes to NYU I'm like those those are the things now as a father that man I don't I'm not that I missed it back then but man I I put a wedge in that relationship a while ago that I've every day working to try to get back and you know I've I've got an unbelievable wife I've got three kids I've got a I've got an amazing team of 100 another 120 kids that I I feel like are we raise every day you know we're finding a way to raise them every day and the impact I can have on people around me like I don't take it lightly you know I really don't um I'm fortunate I'm so blessed to be where I'm at today that man I just that's why I have the pillow they gave me that as a Christmas gift by the way and I don't think anybody thought I was going to bring it in the office and put it in here but I was like that's that's the perfect thing because it's a great reminder of kind of how far I've come to the fact that there was a time when man that wasn't that way uh and Coach you bring up your wife and joking about how she dresses you and all that stuff coach you married a sister I'm putting it out there like you know black woman over there surprised but also being in Texas being coaching being around that stuff like is it do you does your wife feel a certain way did she ever get you know treated differently or what goes on there because I would say this relationship is not what I've seen in the past and I know a lot of coaches I played for a lot of coaches I actually coach in high school and stuff so the the interracial running the University of Texas athletic program pretty much is a head football coach and an interracial relationship and it's usually the other way around we're going to be totally honest and you perspective and it's a different thing than I've ever seen well might have out kicked my coverage a little bit Yeah so unless someone the Gunners better show up right um but in the end you know we say it all the time like we're here for a reason like God put us here for a reason at the University of Texas for something bigger than just winning football games and I think that um in the end the impact that we have not only on our team on the University and our community is a positive one I think we live life the right way um shoot we love one another you know and in the end I don't think we don't look at each other that way you know and I think all of a sudden now it's like it's okay you know it's okay and in a time when you know a couple years ago that civil unrest and things everything that was going on for us to be put at the University of Texas coming out of all that stuff hopefully we're setting a standard of man this is what America can be it doesn't have to be what it was this is what it can be and we can treat people with respect we can love one another and we can do it on a really high level I say it all the time if our society could be a football locker room it would be a better place because a football locker room is nobody cares if you're black white Samoan Hispanic nobody man we're on a team and we're all and we're all working towards a common goal right and and we all have a role to make that make that happen yeah right and everybody's job is different that's what makes football so beautiful right there's 22 guys on that field every snap and everybody's in a different stance got a different responsibility got a different key gotta play it differently and then you got to go do it again and again and again and again and so we're just living it on a daily life you know dude we love it you know and again I think we're impacting people in a positive way hey coach former football player track and field athlete if we put y'all both on the line right now to run the 40 who wins I got no chance I got no chance man because know how to be married yeah no Jack no you better mess up my house he's like remember you said I ain't going home with y'all there's palm walking in here um I peek behind your desk saw a few quotes back there I just wanted you going behind people's desks you can read man no you know there was like a funny when we walked in here look at your big ass sneaking around no but let's see they always beat me up like this but it's all love just a few quotes right and I want you to tell me which one resonates the most with you and then break it down for me a little bit today is most important day be a thermostat and not a thermometer and better never rest which one resonates the most with you they all do they all do but I would say be a thermostat not a thermometer and the reason is is because that plays into today's the most important day you know when you think about a thermostat that sets the temperature in the room a thermometer just gauges and tells you what the temperature is right so my idea is man everywhere I go and in my own life I want to set my own temperature right I want to I want and I try to try to really get that across to our players like you don't have to buy into what your circumstances are right or what a relationship you think what Society is telling you it's supposed to be or whatever that is how do you want to go live life right what type of energy do you want to provide who do you want to be every day and so I want to be a thermostat I don't want to oh it's supposed to be cold okay I'm gonna okay I'm supposed to be cold now or it's hot I'm supposed to be hot now shoot I go upstairs it's hot when I go where my wife is so I want to be back downstairs the temperatures where I want it to be right so you want to my opinion I think being a thermostat is is more important in you know obviously than being a thermometer but that lends itself to today is the most important day because it's all about being where your feet are man today is the most important day we I can't get tomorrow back tomorrow's not promised today is the most important day that leads me into it where the sayings like I play for circuit Florida Charlie Strong who was here in the past yeah and those guys don't have these sayings and all and as a kid I would be like oh yeah thermostat not thermometer but then when I got to the league like give me my check and I'll go ahead and make these tackles for you like the thought of it I want to ask you because Nick Saban we talked about earlier he drafted me two years and he was out of the NFL he's about 500. yeah um Urban Maya went over to Jacksonville and made a damn fool of himself um just great coaches college coaches trying to get to the league you've done both you've never really been ten toes down in the league you never put years and years in but you've been on both sides yeah why do Hall of Fame great national championship college coaches why can't they make it in the NFL um I don't know because I look at Pete Carroll mm-hmm yeah like I I think there's always you can always find one for the other right and I've seen plenty of NFL coaches try to come to college too and not do great you know so I think there's you have to know your environment and what you're in I mean shoot when I was in league in two years in Atlanta I loved my time I mean I was coaching Matt Ryan Julio Jones Muhammad Sanu Calvin Ridley Devonte Devonte Freeman you know I mean I had I had Austin Hooper we had a great team yeah we had Pros I mean and they were they were awesome to coach and they they wanted to be coach hard I think at the end of the day great players want to be coached they want it they want to make sure that they're getting put in position to be successful on Game Day right and are the coaches doing that and I think the higher you move yourself up the food chain and those players as you guys all were great players in the NFL you know if that coach is helping you hair yeah you know if that coach is putting you in position to be successful and if they're not or if you guys feel like they're faking it or they don't know what they're talking about you checked out man we're cooked man we got no shot like this whole idea like I I live by this this concept of credibility all right I think any time you speak to anybody whether it's in a room could be speaking at a at a function it could be this interview it could be talking to a team it could be in your position meeting every time somebody speaks everybody is asking themselves a few questions right hey do you know what you're talking about B have you ever coached anybody like me c have you ever done this before and if no no no no you might as well just reject everything the guy's saying already you might believe because you're going to reject it anyway right but if there's a yes in there you'll start to accept some of the messaging or the or the the fundamentals or the techniques or the schemes that start getting presented to you oh I know what they thought we was about to do they thought we was going to bring you something from our partners DraftKings about how they wanted to give you money but in truth I just want to talk about the picks who you got for MVP oh you know I'm going my man jokic he's balling triple doubles every night jokish is going to win his third in a row damn that's tough I like MB but I also like Jason Tatum I don't know y'all went the easy route y'all picked the MVP of course it's one of those two guys but Emmanuel quickly from New York that's my dude that's going to win the Sixth Man of the Year and our partners DraftKings wants you to be here for all of it you know coach they're going to be coaches that sit at their homes and watch this or coaches coaches who have watched you rebuild your career and many of those African-American coaches as well are going to say there's no way we could have made the decisions Steve sarkeesian made right and now be in this position and you've worked your way back to this point what do you go out and do or what are your actions and attempt to show how grateful you are for now being in this place it's really cool of you to ask this question because how can I touch as many of them as I can as many coaches as I can as many young coaches as I can I mean as a head coach I probably call more young coaches to check on them how are you doing what's going on are you trying to do this are you trying to do that because at the end of the day I am grateful this is not promised to me you know I just tried to work hard I try to connect with the right people I'm hopeful everybody gets a second chance and so here you know have I given a lot of guys Second Chances sure have people thought about I've coaches on our staff why are you giving that guy a second chance I mean this guy or a fourth or a fifth chance because I got those chances you know I got those chances now at some point if they're a detriment to the team we always got to make those tough choices right as coaches and as as humans but man I'm always trying to one more shot man one more chance because you never know that might turn the corner that might be the light switch to make that happen you know I wish everybody would get the chance that I got because let's look where I'm at man who would have thought this I I go back and I have to pinch myself sometimes in 2016 I couldn't get an interview I couldn't get an interview in 2021 I was the head coach of University of Texas yeah I'd want a national title I've been in the NFL playoffs it was an incredible journey you know but that wasn't outside of a the love and support for my wife and B working hard and and then just trusting who you are as a person man like I'm I'm a good dude I I've gotten to the point of man I know I'm a good dude and why do they like me Fred you asked me that earlier as I think I'm a good dude yeah I really do I think that I like people I get along with people I try to find the good in every person I talk to and I try to let them feel me of exactly who I am and then I just try to bust my butt and do the best job that I can do it whatever I'm doing I love the story I love the effort and I guess from us I just say failure only defines people who refuse to rewrite those definitions and so from the pivot man just keep writing I appreciate it man appreciate you coach appreciate you guys yes sir oh do you coach 49 dudes young man young man I'm still gonna be the best year in my life here I've been telling everybody this okay you know at the end of the first half when you get you get the ball back with like a minute and 30. you know the coaches use that term Lapham like we're gonna score at the end of the first half and get the ball and start the second half score again so it's I'm I got the ball 49. what's going to be the best year of my life and then 50 is going to be even better because we're going to laugh them that's the positivity [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] get me up