Not many coaches in the profession can say they’ve coached in multiple iconic rivalry games. Steve Sarkisian is one, though.
The Texas coach has been part of multiple big games: The Iron Bowl (Alabama vs. Auburn), the Red River rivalry (Oklahoma vs. Texas), the Apple Cup (Washington vs. Washington State) and Southern Cal vs UCLA. He’s been a head coach and an assistant coach in these games.
How do the rivalry games stack up?
“(The Red River rivalry) is the most unique game for sure that I’ve ever been a part of,” Sarkisian said. “When you pull into the State Fair and you start smelling those corn dogs and turkey legs and there’s fans from both teams and then you get in those locker rooms and the locker rooms literally are 20 feet apart and you’re staring at each team, and one goes first, the next one goes next, and it can get a little contentious in there, but that’s okay.”
Sarkisian spoke at SEC Media Days on Wednesday now that Texas has officially joined the SEC and he was asked what about the Red River rivalry makes it a bigger game than the Iron Bowl and other SEC rivalry games. A reporter referenced the comments from Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte who said at SEC spring meetings that the Iron Bowl and other rivalry games are “nothing like this game at the state fair.”
“As we come out, when we come out of that tunnel -- and that’s OU’s tunnel -- and we’re staring at a sea of burnt orange, you just want to get there,” Sarkisian said. “It’s a unique game because half of the game is a home game. The other half of the game is a road game. I had to learn that the hard way in year one. We got stuck in OU’s end, and we were false starting. We couldn’t do anything right. So you have to play to that style of game. But it being split right down the 50, it’s the who’s who on the sidelines, and I’ll tell you this about both teams. Both teams play as hard as they possibly can play in that game, and again, that’s to take nothing away from any other great game that I’ve been part of, but this one is uniquely special.”
Sarkisian was an assistant coach at Alabama who coached against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, and he even filled in as a head coach when Nick Saban had to miss the game because of COVID-19 in 2020. Sarkisian experienced the other big rivalry games while he was the head coach at Washington and Southern Cal.