With Nick Saban retired, Texas HC Steve Sarkisian ‘feels like the right time to be joining the SEC’

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has spoken multiple times about his immense respect for Nick Saban and the high level of football played in the SEC.

But Wednesday, he admitted that with Saban retired, now might be a good time for Texas to join the SEC and start a new chapter in the nation’s most high-profile college football conference.

Asked on his first SEC coaches conference call if he’s been hazed by the veteran coaches, Sarkisian joked and said, “They know I’ve got a ton of respect for them and their programs.

“Probably might be a little different if Coach Saban was still in the league, what that would be like and look like,” Sarkisian added. “But again, a lot of the guys in that I know in the conference, whether it be Lane (Kiffin) or Kirby (Smart) or coach (Mark) Stoops or Billy (Napier) and a lot of great guys. Coach (Kalen) DeBoer, I have known now for some time with the time he spent at Washington. So, ton of respect for everybody.

“And it just kind of feels like the right time to be joining the SEC a little bit with Coach Saban kind of retiring, and us coming into the league, we know it’s going to be great challenge.”

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Sarkisian then pivoted to his belief that No. 4 Texas won’t exactly be a pushover in its rookie SEC season.

“But in the same token here at the University of Texas, the standard is a standard, and our job is to compete for championships year in and year out, regardless of the conference,” Sarkisian said. “So yes, it's a new conference, but the standard hasn't changed.”

Texas is likely to be favored in almost every game this season except for Georgia. So how does Sarkisian breathe confidence into his players without letting it turn into cockiness?

Sarkisian has the benefit of being around experienced coaches like Pete Carroll and Saban and saw up close how to build a championship mentality. Respect everyone, fear no one.

Sarkisian said the No. 1 attribute to keeping players hungry was that Carroll and Saban always had competitive practices — first-team offense vs. first-team defense. You can’t pound on the scout teamers every day and think your team is good.

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“Coach Saban says it the best, the worst thing can can happen to you is play bad and win,” Sarkisian said. “Most people are result oriented, and they see we won and so it was good enough.

“I think the mark of a really good coach is able to identify areas where we need to improve as we continue to grow as a program, and that’s on a daily basis, on the practice field, but that’s also throughout the season,” Sarkisian said. “We have to continue to get better over the next five, six months. We just didn't practice up until this point, and then, okay, this is as good as we can be. We have to continually find areas to improve.”