Lot to learn from Sarkisian meeting with Super Bowl winning coach Sean McVay
AUSTIN, Texas — Let’s try to get inside the mind of Texas Football head coach Steve Sarkisian.
For the first time before the start of the 2022 Texas Longhorns football season, coach Steve Sarkisian met with the media. Our first question to Sarkisian was about his meeting during the first part of June with the Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl winning head coach Sean McVay. Sarkisian’s response gives us a window into what is on his mind and his focus.
Our question:
“Coach, good afternoon. Last season I asked you about how the greats use fine brush strokes in what they do. At the beginning of the summer, you met with Sean McVay, the Los Angeles Rams coach.
Can you talk about what you learned from that meeting with him?”
Imagine for a moment that in your profession you wanted to get better at what you do; Operate with a finer brush stroke. So, you meet with the person who is at the very top of your profession and you spend a day with them. This is what Sarkisian did.
Sarkisian response, interestingly, gives us a window into what is important to him. Thinking back on some of Sarkisian's past conferences, it now makes sense that he went to a coaches mini camp over the summer.
Sarkisian’s response:
"Yeah, I mean, I had a great opportunity to really just kind of spend a day with them and watch them practice and watch how he interacted with his players. and I think one thing that Coach McVay does a fantastic job is he's got a great, he's got a brilliant mind. I mean, this guy is a very forward-thinker from an offensive perspective, but yet he's very in tune with defense, and in the special teams.
And he's got really good rapport with the players and the staff in his organization, and I don't know necessarily that I learned anything like new, but what I did, I think for me is kind of reinforced a lot of the things that I believe in. I'm a relationship driven guy. I like to have a great relationship with the people I interact with on a daily basis, and there's some coaches that don't operate that way.
They operate more in the Eiffel Tower. They're almost untouchable. But that's not me, and all of a sudden, a record can tell you your way doesn't work anymore. And then you go see the Super Bowl champs and you watch all that head coach interacting with the people in his organization. It just kind of reinforced to me, Hey, my way can work too.
It fits my personality. We just have to stay the course and continue to build the way that we're building."
Sarkisian and his staff of “coaching juggernauts” have created a culture where players are always in a constant state of improvement.
Three takeaways that are important to Sarkisian as would/should be with anybody who leads a team and is responsible for their development.
- Forward-thinking offensive perspective
- In tune with defense and special teams
- Rapport with players and staff
This makes for interesting insight to the words Texas’ wide receiver coach Brennan Marion responded to us when we ask him a question on Twitter
Here is the entire Sarkisian press conference.
