What Steve Sarkisian learned from post-spring exit meetings

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has a busy calendar. Between recruiting, game-planning, and doing everything associated with being head coach of the Longhorns, it’s a packed schedule. That calendar loosened up this week at least a little bit with the Longhorns on the other side of 15 spring practices and critical exit meetings with each player.

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“I was looking at the calendar and going through everything,” Sarkisian said Tuesday on the Craig Way Show on 1300 The Zone in Austin. “I looked at my calendar this week and I said ‘this is the quietest week of the year, right now.’ I’m on with you. I had a meeting this morning. This is my time in the office where I’ve got this list of junk I’ve been writing down for the last month that I need to do. I need to get it done here by Friday because it cranks back up next week. I’ve got a lot of other things going on.”

Those exit meetings were similar to the ones Sarkisian holds with every member of his team after every spring.

“One thing I like to do and that I know the players appreciate around here is I do a player exit meeting with every player on our team coming out of spring practice,” Sarkisian said. “They meet with their position coach first. It takes me about a week to get through all 100 or so guys. We go through their strengths, their weaknesses, where they need to improve this summer. Coach (Torre) Becton and the strength staff, they fill out the form and talk about what they need to focus on this summer. We talk academics and where they are academically. Training room, any injuries that we need to make sure they’re aware of and we need to do.”

Sarkisian continued, “then we talk about their plan for May. I really love that week because it gives me a chance with each individual player, to visit with them, let them know where I view them and where they stand in the program right now. Then, what the goals should be as we head into summer to get ready for fall.”

Honesty in those meetings is critical, and Sarkisian saw the lack of a spring transfer portal window as something that boosted his ability to be open with members of his team considering there is no current option available to players to leave after spring football.

“The vibe is they want honesty,” Sarkisian said. “Coach, how am I doing and what do I need to do to get better? What do I need to do to improve? What do I need to do to help the team. This year’s exit meetings were a lot more enjoyable for me because I wasn’t having to deal with the spring transfer portal. There was never a talk of transferring this year. There was never a talk of ‘I want more money.’ Or, ‘so and so is offering me more money and I really want to stay, but how can I stay if they’re offering me more?’ None of that was going on.

“It was really getting down to the nuts and bolts and actually looking under their hood to say ‘here’s where I’m doing well. Here’s maybe where I’m not doing so well.’ Whether that’s on the field, in the classroom, their personal life, whatever that looks like. Then, okay, what’s the plan to try to get that rectified? How do I improve upon that? That part’s been great for me. We’ve already formed our leadership committee for this upcoming season with the guys that have done a great job so far.”

Names Sarkisian mentioned included Colin Simmons, Arch Manning, Ryan Wingo, Trevor Goosby, and Hero Kanu. He also praised a few transfers that have developed into leaders like Cam Coleman, Hollywood Smothers, Raleek Brown, Rasheem Biles, and Bo Mascoe.

“I got a chance to meet with those guys, and I’ll say the vibe coming out of there, and really I think is the same sentiment I’ve been saying, is the really high competitive spirit,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve really enjoyed a lot of the competition work we did this spring. It was very competitive. I think they know they’ve still got a bad taste in their mouth that they didn’t get a chance to make the playoffs. They said ‘okay, we’ve got to get back to work coach.'”

Missing the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2022 is a motivating factor for members of the team, and Sarkisian made sure to note one more important aspect he’s learned from those meetings.

His players are enjoying being motivated.

“The beauty of it is everybody is committed to the common goal, and they’re working like it,” Sarkisian said. “What I love about this group is they have a lot of fun together.”