Texas coach Steve Sarkisian should have been somewhat happy on Saturday after his team beat Mississippi State in overtime, 45-38. He was not.
Sure, his team is 6-2 and currently ranked No. 22 in the nation. The season, however, has been disappointing. His quarterback, Arch Manning, has struggled to fulfill the massive hype that accompanied his ascension to the starter role. And the Longhorns arguably should have won more easily against an unranked team that had been 0-3 in the conference.
(Then again, Texas was favored by seven, and as is often the case, the sportsbooks nailed the spread.)
Sarkisian’s saltiness after the game, however, came from something that happened before it.
On Saturday morning, Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com reported that “representatives for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian have let NFL decision makers know that he would be interested in potential head coaching openings, including the Titans.”
We didn’t post an item on it. During the day, Sarkisian’s agents issued a statement calling the report “patently false and wildly inaccurate.” We didn’t post an item on that either, mainly because we hadn’t posted an item on the original report.
Given Sarkisian’s post-game press conference, it was time to start typing.
He said: “CAA, Jimmy Sexton, Ed Marynowitz have never done that. But I had to do it to protect my locker room and my team, and I thought it was absolutely ridiculous.
“I thought it was completely unprofessional of that person to put that report out, and the fact that everybody ran with it [editor’s note: we didn’t] is borderline embarrassing for the media. And I respect what you guys do—I really do—and everybody else. But the fact that everyone ran with that as truth [editor’s note: we didn’t] is really embarrassing.
“OK, so I’ve got a small circle when I make decisions on what I do and what I don’t do, and nobody would ever speak on my behalf without me knowing. So, where that report came from, I’d love to talk to that person, because it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
While it’s regarded as bad form in “#scooptown” to publicly speculate on other reporters’ processes, we don’t doubt that Russini heard from someone that Sarkisian may be interested in making a move to the NFL. That doesn’t mean he is.
The rumor mill is often off. Idle chatter can take on a life of its own. Maybe he’s one of the names that the Titans have on a broad list of possibilities, and it went from there. Maybe the Titans simply want to make their job seem desirable, especially after Titans legend and current Bowling Green coach Eddie George said recent turmoil has sent the franchise back “at least a decade and maybe more.”
Was the report accurate? It’s possible that it was.
It’s also possible that someone heard something from someone who heard something from someone who heard something from someone—and along the way, the truth fell to the curb.
It’s also possible that someone with a specific motivation to get the word out did so without regard to what the reaction would be.
From Sarkisian’s perspective, a decision had to be made. Ignore it? Address it with a simple denial? Go off on the reporter and everyone else who aggregated or amplified the report?
Regardless, his reaction was sufficiently significant to get us to finally address the situation.
And, obviously, everyone will now be paying close attention to whether Sarkisian’s name emerges in the looming NFL coaching carousel—including the Texas players and recruits.
Which explains his ultimate reaction to the report.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/steve-sarkisian-lashes-out-at-report-of-his-interest-in-nfl