Some college football coaches are opening up on NIL to help justify poor performance, whereas others merely discuss how complex the landscape is to navigate. Steve Sarkisian falls into the latter camp, and as the head of such a prominent program, he has fascinating insight.
Sark was a game away from leading his group to the national title game, but expectations continue to rise as the Longhorn faithful yearn to get back to championship glory. That requires having an elite roster.
On a recent appearance on The Herd, Sark fielded a question about how he was able to balance buy-in when paying players different amounts of money, and he gave a blunt, but honest, response.
“I’m very upfront and honest with our guys,” Sarkisian said. “I understand not everyone gets paid the same on our roster, but what you get paid does not dictate how much you play in our organization. It’s not about how much you get paid through NIL; it’s ultimately about who gives us the best opportunity to be successful as a team. I make that very clear to our players.”
With the amount of money pumped into the Texas pipeline, navigating egos and dollar figures is likely just as much of a chore as prepping schematics for Saturdays.
Sark has the most wins in FBS across the last two campaigns, so he’s doing something right. If he can continue to handle the NIL universe masterfully, a trophy will be in Austin very shortly.