The Texas Longhorns are at a pivotal moment. Under head coach Steve Sarkisian, the program has shown flashes of brilliance, raising hopes of a return to college football’s elite.
Still, a recent episode of the “George Wrighster’s College Football Podcast,” featuring analysts George Wrighster and Brooks Austin, cast a spotlight on a potential Achilles’ heel: Sarkisian’s insistence on calling plays himself.
Wrighster and Austin zeroed in on the broader trend of head coaches juggling play-calling duties, questioning its effectiveness at the highest levels. They pointed to Sarkisian’s role as both strategist and sideline general, suggesting it could dilute his focus and hinder the Longhorns’ pursuit of a title.
The Risks of Steve Sarkisian Calling Plays
When a head coach takes on play-calling, the job becomes a high-wire act. Wrighster and Austin emphasized this during their podcast, arguing that the dual role splits attention at a time when focus is non-negotiable.
“It’s two separate jobs,” Wrighster said. “There are people who are better head coaches than coordinators, and just because you’re a coordinator doesn’t mean you should be a head coach.” The point is clear: excelling in one area doesn’t guarantee success in both.”
Let’s see how history backed this up: Nick Saban, who won seven national titles at LSU and Alabama, never called plays himself.
Instead, he leaned on coordinators like Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin, freeing him to oversee the bigger picture. Smart, now at Georgia, has followed the exact blueprint, securing two national championships since 2021 without scripting a single snap.
Dabo Swinney at Clemson also delegates, relying on offensive minds like Tony Elliott and Garrett Riley throughout his head coaching tenure to fuel the Tigers’ success that includes a title in 2018. These examples above show a trend among the sport’s giants: the best head coaches prioritize leadership over the playbook.
For Sarkisian, the concern isn’t his play-calling ability. His track record as an offensive coordinator at Alabama and USC speaks for itself, with high-powered attacks that often lit up scoreboards.
But the podcast hosts worry that the demands of head coaching, recruiting, player development, and game management could suffer when he’s buried in the details of every offensive series.
In a conference like the SEC, where Texas now competes after its 2024 move from the Big 12, any lapse in oversight could prove fatal against juggernauts like Georgia or Alabama.
Delegation Proves Essential for Coaching Greatness
Wrighster and Austin underscored this by contrasting coaches who offload play-calling with those who cling to it. Ryan Day at Ohio State offers a telling case study. In 2022, Day handed offensive duties to Kevin Wilson, allowing him to step back and address a defense that had faltered in key moments.
This resulted in a more balanced Buckeyes squad within a field goal of the national title game.
“He had so much of run at Ohio State, and so much freedom to get his hands involved in other things that he ran a defensive coordinator off,” Austin noted, crediting Day’s shift for Ohio State’s cohesion that year.
The flip side of it is less rosy. Lincoln Riley at USC has stuck with play-calling since arriving in 2022, and while his offenses remain prolific, averaging 41.8 points per game in 2023, per USC, the Trojans’ defense has lagged, surrendering 34.4 points per contest.
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Critics argue that his focus on the offense leaves little room to fix other units, a vulnerability exposed in losses to Utah and Notre Dame last season.
Sarkisian isn’t blind to this. At Texas, offensive line coach Kyle Flood carries a significant role in game planning, often seen as a co-architect of the Longhorns’ attack. still, Austin questioned why Sarkisian still holds the reins on gameday.
“Why are you still on the sideline with the Waffle House card, buddy?” Austin said.
The analogy paints a vivid picture: a head coach juggling menus when he should be running the restaurant. Delegation could unlock Sarkisian’s full potential, letting him steer Texas with a broader lens.
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