College football is evolving past its amateur genesis. It’s now got flash and money adjacent to pro leagues across the country and beyond. But it’s never quite going to be the top entity in the football food chain. The NFL is, across the board, a touch above. The gap has shrunk, though, at least financially. CFB coaches at the biggest programs are raking in more green than most of their big-league counterparts. However, the tryst with plying your craft among the very best athletes the sport has to offer creates a conundrum. Stay put, or take the leap upwards? Texas HC Steve Sarkisian was reportedly faced with this conundrum this off-season. He chose the former and has finally broken his silence on affairs.
According to Adam Schefter, Sark either did or was imminently going to receive offers to take the helm at NFL franchises. Before he shunned them off. Coaches make the move all the time. Success breeds interest, and that knock is difficult to turn a deaf ear to. The likes of Chip Kelly and Al Golden switched their coordinator jobs in CFB for ones in the league this offseason. However, it must be said luring head coaches has become a challenge. They’re building and nurturing these college programs like their own kids. While being paid handsomely for their loyalty and efforts. Steve Sarkisian is no different.
Let’s suspend disbelief and consider that Steve Sarkisian was indeed prepared to leave Texas and move to the NFL if the chance arrived. Sark is the 4th highest-paid coach in CFB. He’s making $10.3 million annually and rising year by year. For context, merely 7 out of 32 NFL coaches make more. All 7 of these coaches have either been to multiple Super Bowls, i.e., Kyle Shanahan, or won the Lombardi outright. Sark will need to take a hefty pay cut to move up an echelon. An unproven coach on the NFL level was never getting top-of-the-line money. His Texas contract, worth a gaudy $80 million, is difficult to replicate outside of Austin. This and more was likely baked into why Sarkisian held firm. He has now verbalized the reasons himself, too.
“I was very clear in my opening press conference. I’ve been very clear along the way. I came here to win championships, and we’ve got a lot of unfinished business,” said Steve Sarkisian during his spring presser. “So I wasn’t entertaining anything that was beyond making sure I had a really good job here.” The reporter, Joshua Newman, confronted Sark about the interest from the NFL. Which he neither confirmed nor denied. Opting to move diplomatically while projecting a laser-focused aim at being successful in the burnt orange. “The mission is not complete,” he added.
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