Speaker 1: Let's welcome Saints all time sacks leader and the coach
Speaker 1: who's on a mission to bring Texas Longhorns a title.
Speaker 1: Here's Cam Jordan and Steve Sarkisian.
Speaker 2: How y'all doing today?
Speaker 3: Love it, love it love going live? Can't mess this up? No,
Speaker 3: we can't, Coach Steve Sarkisian, Coach Sark, I've heard a
Speaker 3: lot of different terms. What do you prefer to be called?
Speaker 2: Coach Sart? Okay, all right, Coach Sart. Appreciate you for
Speaker 2: tuning in too.
Speaker 3: Off the edge of the podcast live here in Austin,
Speaker 3: via south by Southwest. I'm super excited with Sportico being
Speaker 3: here enabling us to do something like this. It's rare
Speaker 3: to be, like I said, just live with actual audiences.
Speaker 3: Normally I'm in here talking on a screen.
Speaker 2: We do whatever.
Speaker 3: But I heard it was your birthday. It was you know,
Speaker 3: I'm not going to put a number out there. Fifty person,
Speaker 3: can you dude, I don't feel fifty one. You don't
Speaker 3: look fifty one. Feel fifty one when I think fifty
Speaker 3: one either way? You know, I'm thinking like that's like
Speaker 3: the Bill Belichick's like they look fifty one, but Bill's
Speaker 3: is probably what seventy seventy three.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't have a good game. I don't know
Speaker 4: if I'm going to be coaching at seventy three. Man,
Speaker 4: he Pete Carroll, I don't know seventy three years old.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. The love of the game is
Speaker 2: always in you, though, I mean, it's what got you
Speaker 2: the ut. True.
Speaker 3: But you know, so along with happy birthday, you guys
Speaker 3: want to join in on me, I'm gonna say happy
Speaker 3: birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, dear coach.
Speaker 2: Sarkisian, Sure, happy birthday to you. Great.
Speaker 4: Did you hear the longhorns? We're singing a little louder.
Speaker 4: We have a longhorns here today. Gosh, a lot of
Speaker 4: longhorns here today.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. My manager's longhorse. She's a long horn forever.
Speaker 2: Whatever that is. It's go beers my way.
Speaker 3: You know, as a coach, it's got to be awesome
Speaker 3: to have a head coach position like this one. I mean,
Speaker 3: you've got you've worked for the pack when we face
Speaker 3: each other, but now you know you're here.
Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about that experience. It's been.
Speaker 2: It's been an amazing experience, you know, I am.
Speaker 4: I've been a head coach three times now at three
Speaker 4: really pretty incredible places. University of Washington, USC, and then
Speaker 4: to get this opportunity to be at Texas, which in
Speaker 4: my opinion is the best job of the country that
Speaker 4: you know, hands down, from not only the history and
Speaker 4: tradition the University of Texas, the education, the school, but to.
Speaker 2: Be in Austin.
Speaker 4: All right, we're two million people, no pro sports, so
Speaker 4: all this stuff that's happening and it's still about UT
Speaker 4: is still.
Speaker 2: About what we're doing on the forty acres. Absolutely. I
Speaker 2: was like, Saturday is the day to share down the city.
Speaker 2: It's about UT burnt orange, yes, white? Is there gray
Speaker 2: in there? No? I just not at a crag and white.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: And you just signed an extension through twenty thirty one,
Speaker 3: so you're going to be here for the foreseeable future,
Speaker 3: hopefully to bring a championship to that's the plan.
Speaker 2: Love that.
Speaker 3: I mean twenty thirty one. I will not be playing
Speaker 3: by the n No, I'm a year fifteen, but uh no, shot.
Speaker 2: Year fifteen, so real quick. So if those that don't.
Speaker 4: Know, I was offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in
Speaker 4: twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen, and I had to try
Speaker 4: to like game plan around this guy, right, game plan
Speaker 4: around you. And I'll never forget a couple really critical plays.
Speaker 4: We have a fourth and goal in the dome and
Speaker 4: we ran a one back power and Austin Hooper was
Speaker 4: trying to block you, and you were supposed to You're
Speaker 4: supposed to be on our right. This whole thing was
Speaker 4: set up to run it to our left, and you're
Speaker 4: ass lined up on our left and destroyed Austin Hooper.
Speaker 4: The play gets stopped, we lose the game, and y'all
Speaker 4: beat us. Man, I've got a pigeon fervor for destroying
Speaker 4: tight ends.
Speaker 2: It destroyed them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean my dad was a tight end, so
Speaker 3: you can imagine I grew up trying to destroy my dad. Oh,
Speaker 3: I take it out on every tight end I see.
Speaker 2: Is that? Okay?
Speaker 4: Going through your program, you're supposed to be interviewing me,
Speaker 4: but I want to ask you, so here we go. Okay,
Speaker 4: So did you that? Is that your favorite rivalry Saints Falcons.
Speaker 4: That's the only rivalry that matters. It's awesome, right, absolutely right.
Speaker 4: Everybody says that about the NFL that there's not rivalries
Speaker 4: like that. That is a real rivalry. Maneah, that thing
Speaker 4: is nasty, but it's fun too. I enjoyed AFC, like
Speaker 4: North or something.
Speaker 3: They hate everybody then C North like Packers hate the Vikings,
Speaker 3: and Vikings hate the Packers, but they also hate Chicago
Speaker 3: and Detroit. It's a lot of hate. I'm singlarly focused here.
Speaker 3: If it's red and black, I just want to kick you.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not your fault, but I want to
Speaker 3: trip you and not help you out.
Speaker 2: You know. It's the one or two games a year
Speaker 2: that I'm like, screw you guys.
Speaker 4: Do you remember the one year Coach Peyton is talking
Speaker 4: talking trash to which which game is that?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: On you all sidelines to Freeman are running back and
Speaker 4: they get into it on your sidelines.
Speaker 2: I was like, dude, that's the head coach. I remember what.
Speaker 2: I'm like, Coach Payton is getting out. That's my look.
Speaker 2: Coach Payton is my guy.
Speaker 3: So the only time that really stuck out with him
Speaker 3: was it was a playoff game against Philadelphia and we're
Speaker 3: up but like three touchdowns and he looks at Malcolm Jenkins,
Speaker 3: who was a safety for US was a safety on
Speaker 3: the field of Duffy eagle side and like looked at him.
Speaker 2: Turns around, calls a bomb over Malcolm. It happens drops
Speaker 2: a touchdown, and he's right there talking it the whole time.
Speaker 3: I'm like, and I'm sitting behind him. That's my coach.
Speaker 3: You gotta love the passion that it happens. I mean,
Speaker 3: but even before you were at Atlanta, you were at
Speaker 3: you dub when we played Yeah, you know, in my last,
Speaker 3: my last game of my senior year, we lost to
Speaker 3: you guys, eliminated from boeligibility for the first time in
Speaker 3: my college career. It's not like I had a bad game, though,
Speaker 3: you know, I feel like if we roll Tate, can
Speaker 3: somebody roll this tape?
Speaker 2: There was there was a certain play.
Speaker 3: That I'm forever remember as the last game of my
Speaker 3: college career. You know, It's like, look at this old
Speaker 3: on the right side, number ninety seven, pre number ninety four,
Speaker 3: you know, speed of power, which would be a staple
Speaker 3: for the rest of my career. We go for the tuddy.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not a bad way into college career
Speaker 3: to lose but also score. It's very conflicting, very conflicting
Speaker 3: are we gonna show the last play of the.
Speaker 2: Game or not. I mean again, we're not for everybody
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we get the ball down to the two yard
Speaker 4: line and we're down by three, and we could kick
Speaker 4: a field goal to tie the game and go to overtime,
Speaker 4: and we decided to go goal last play of the game.
Speaker 4: We run the power play yep, and we score and
Speaker 4: we I think we'm on of storm Joss Field.
Speaker 2: It probably happened. I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't recall that one because you know, like I was,
Speaker 3: like I said, it was very conflicting. I scored, I
Speaker 3: was like, hurrah me, but also damn we lost. It
Speaker 3: was like overly like, hey, you know what I'll seem
Speaker 3: in the league.
Speaker 2: A ton of respect for you, man, I appreciate a
Speaker 2: ton of respect. It's a real, real, real ball player.
Speaker 3: We've we've had some good batts in college and in
Speaker 3: the league. I mean, yes, yeah, let's take to seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 3: You know when it's my favorite over Yeah, it's her way.
Speaker 3: But you know, I just want to, uh want to say,
Speaker 3: as we're sitting in Austin, what makes Austin so special?
Speaker 3: And if somebody says Terry blacks. That's not what I'm
Speaker 3: I'm not telling you.
Speaker 2: I get it. I get it. You know, I got
Speaker 2: to be text tech barbecue as elite, and I can't.
Speaker 4: I can't single out any barbecue spot because I can
Speaker 4: name off four or five and inevitably the fifth one
Speaker 4: is going to say and they're gonna get on me.
Speaker 2: Not from us. But the barbecue is good.
Speaker 4: You know what I love about this place is this
Speaker 4: like it's it's forever growing, right, how fast it's growing,
Speaker 4: how innovative it is. I think this is a really
Speaker 4: young city. You know, there's a lot of young people.
Speaker 4: It's vibrant, it's healthy, there's a lot of cool things
Speaker 4: about it. But at the same token, like we've got
Speaker 4: this campus right that's divided. There's a campus, and there's
Speaker 4: a downtown, and there's a capital the state of Texas
Speaker 4: right in Austin.
Speaker 2: That I think it just kind of makes it unique.
Speaker 4: Right, Here's this really conservative state, here's this really liberal city,
Speaker 4: probably the most liberal city in the state.
Speaker 2: Here's this campus, and we're all intertwined.
Speaker 4: That makes us all who we are, you know, and
Speaker 4: it makes Austin Austin Austin, n It's so unique and
Speaker 4: the fact that whether it's south By Southwest, whether it's
Speaker 4: acl where there's Formula one races, whether it's the music scene,
Speaker 4: whether it's the food scene, whether it's UT football on
Speaker 4: every Saturday, there's so much to do. And by the way,
Speaker 4: the weather's awesome. So it's like we got the best
Speaker 4: of a lot of world's going right now.
Speaker 2: It's probably why he said it's the best head coach
Speaker 2: job in the world. I get it. It's pretty good.
Speaker 2: I've literally been coming here.
Speaker 3: I've had teammates go to UT from Kenny Vacaro, Alex Okaford,
Speaker 3: Lil Jordan Humphreys, Malcolm Roach, the most current one Jalen Ford,
Speaker 3: and they're always great guys.
Speaker 2: I just appreciate a school that puts out good people. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, like you don't have to worry about is
Speaker 2: he pretentious? Is he a knucklehead? Like? Oh, he's actually
Speaker 2: like Noe who I've already known. They're good people. Big
Speaker 2: Sean Rodgers would be my first UT guy.
Speaker 3: If you guys remember that name, Big Baby Rogers six
Speaker 3: for five, three hundred. I'm gonna be polite and say
Speaker 3: forty pounds yeah, yeah, but I mean UT makes quality products.
Speaker 3: You know, we've got an Arizona Arizona kid, but John Robinson,
Speaker 3: that's right.
Speaker 2: Sadly he's in red and black. But like I won't
Speaker 2: hold that, I will, I will.
Speaker 3: It's trash but burnt orange and why Bjeon was a
Speaker 3: problem and love to hear it. I mean, just to
Speaker 3: think about I guess the new face which our connection
Speaker 3: would be would be Arch Manning and the Mannings from
Speaker 3: new work that you know, it's I can't say new
Speaker 3: faces being there for what like three years, two years
Speaker 3: going into year three now yeah m hm, And you
Speaker 3: know in my mind he's a Manning, so he's going
Speaker 3: to do well.
Speaker 2: Just is what it is. But tell me what is
Speaker 2: Arch Manning, you know, being the new QB And like,
Speaker 2: what does what does that do for the face of
Speaker 2: the program. Well, I think we've grown, right.
Speaker 4: You come in year one, just like you take over
Speaker 4: any program, and you go through those growing pains of
Speaker 4: changing the culture, trying to bring in the players that
Speaker 4: fit you, your personality, your your team, your scheme, all the things.
Speaker 4: And ye're one was tough. We were five and seven
Speaker 4: football team. And you go into year two and you're like, okay,
Speaker 4: we're fighting scratching Klwan. Bijeon's like the one guy we got.
Speaker 4: We had Roshan Johnson made like a two headed monster.
Speaker 4: And we go eight and five. After year when we
Speaker 4: had no players drafted, I said, two guys to the combine.
Speaker 4: Year two, we get five guys drafted. Bijon goes in
Speaker 4: the first round, top ten picks. Everything's great, and I
Speaker 4: think a credit to the Manning family and really to
Speaker 4: this day, I haven't talked to Peyton or Eli about
Speaker 4: about Arch. This was about Cooper and Ellen and obviously
Speaker 4: Grandpa Grandpa Goto.
Speaker 2: Of course, you know he's gonna get of course he
Speaker 2: was at the end of she get involved with Arch.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, they handled it so
Speaker 4: well and they can see the vision of where we
Speaker 4: were headed. Granted, the next two years we go to
Speaker 4: the college Football Playoff, we're in the semi finals. We've
Speaker 4: set twenty five guys to the NFL Combine, and now
Speaker 4: we've got a really good football team. We're very talented,
Speaker 4: we're really young. But I think part of that is
Speaker 4: some of those recruits three years ago. Wait, Arch is
Speaker 4: going to Texas too. Let's get on board, and I
Speaker 4: think this thing is continue to grow and not to
Speaker 4: put too much on him because, as you know, man,
Speaker 4: you win as a team in football. This is the
Speaker 4: ultimate team sport. It's not about one guy. But you
Speaker 4: always got to have a quarterback, and if you don't
Speaker 4: have one, it's really hard. I don't care if it's
Speaker 4: little league or in the league you're in in the NFL,
Speaker 4: and it's really hard.
Speaker 2: It would be the perfect example.
Speaker 4: Yes, And so I think we've got a quarterback in
Speaker 4: Arch and I think we've got a great leader who
Speaker 4: does things the right way. But I think he's also
Speaker 4: surrounded by a really talented football team.
Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens. Man. You know, the expectations
Speaker 2: are high in Austin. I can tell you that. I
Speaker 2: mean the nil was high. When I saw numbers, I say,
Speaker 2: good to god, he's making NFL money now.
Speaker 3: But I think, you know, with his background, his temperament,
Speaker 3: the way that he comes from, the Mannings, you know,
Speaker 3: it's sort of like he's unfazed by it all.
Speaker 2: I mean, it looks to me like he's well poised.
Speaker 2: He is. He's just a normal guy.
Speaker 4: Like I always say, if you took the name off
Speaker 4: the back of his jersey and just let him go
Speaker 4: live life. He wouldn't have to change. He would be
Speaker 4: who he is. He's a great teammate. He works harder
Speaker 4: at anybody, like the best guys do. He's supportive, he
Speaker 4: cares about the little people. He cares about the big
Speaker 4: name people. It doesn't matter to him. It's who you
Speaker 4: are as a person.
Speaker 2: And in the end that I.
Speaker 4: Think that that's kind of just his approach to life.
Speaker 4: And so I don't think it's about the money necessarily
Speaker 4: as it is. Hey, I just want to be a
Speaker 4: really good player. If I can be the quarterback of
Speaker 4: the team at Texas, that that win brings another national
Speaker 4: championship back here to him, I think that's way more
Speaker 4: important than any of the other nil deals or revenue.
Speaker 2: Sharing, any of the other stuff that goes on.
Speaker 3: I say, it's been a minute. It's been since Vince Young,
Speaker 3: Vince young Man, Vince Young. I remember that he was
Speaker 3: the second best player on the field that day. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: it's Reggie Reggie Bush. Hey, It's just I can't. I
Speaker 3: would say he was the best, but it was Reggie Bush.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to lie to He was the most
Speaker 2: electric college football player of all times. To me, that day.
Speaker 2: But on that night then let me tell you.
Speaker 4: Listen, but listen, you got to remember something I was
Speaker 4: calling plays at USC at that time, right, Vince Young
Speaker 4: was Superman that day, no doubt.
Speaker 2: We could not get him on the ground. We couldn't.
Speaker 4: All the way he scored the last touchdown on fourth
Speaker 4: and four, we couldn't get him on the ground. Oh,
Speaker 4: I remember a childhood.
Speaker 3: He was like, everybody wants to be like Reggie Bush
Speaker 3: in college, you know, like and then yeah, gripes of
Speaker 3: a West Coaster clearly from Arizona, And I was like,
Speaker 3: how do we lose a Texas? It wasn't a wee thing.
Speaker 3: I'm from Arizona. I had nothing to do with that.
Speaker 3: I went to cal Berkeley, not USC. Anyways, the idea
Speaker 3: of bringing a championship to Austin, what would that mean?
Speaker 4: It'd be amazing, you know, it's been a long time coming,
Speaker 4: an incredible run that Mac Brown had here right in
Speaker 4: the two thousands, how many games they won, and the
Speaker 4: great players he had, and got back to the National
Speaker 4: Championship game and Cole gets hurt. They losed Alabama and
Speaker 4: then literally the program just started to just I don't
Speaker 4: know even know how to describe it, just kind of
Speaker 4: got stale.
Speaker 2: Let's leave it at stale.
Speaker 4: And it was like ten years of mediocrity and I
Speaker 4: was part of those ten years.
Speaker 2: My first year he was not very good.
Speaker 4: And so the fact now that we've we've kind of
Speaker 4: swung the pendulum back that we're one of those teams
Speaker 4: that you know that if you want to talk about
Speaker 4: college football, one of the first teams that come out
Speaker 4: of your mouth would be kind of the the the
Speaker 4: icing on the cake. Right if we can finally get
Speaker 4: over the hump and we've been inside the ten yard
Speaker 4: done in the last two years to go play for
Speaker 4: a national championship and have been able to get it done,
Speaker 4: and to go watch our guys work out this morning
Speaker 4: and see how hungry they are to be the team
Speaker 4: that can do it. Yeah, you know, I know Longhorn
Speaker 4: Nation would obviously go crazy for that, but but also
Speaker 4: the journey that we've been on now going into year
Speaker 4: five to build this thing back to get to that point.
Speaker 2: You know, you always you always.
Speaker 4: You know, as coach Saban notoriously says, right, focus on
Speaker 4: the process, not the result. But at some point we
Speaker 4: want a pretty good result, right, We all we all
Speaker 4: want that result to We all want to be perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 4: we all want to be a super Bowl champ or
Speaker 4: a national champ. We all want those things. That's what
Speaker 4: it works so hard for. So it'd be amazing if
Speaker 4: we can get it done.
Speaker 3: I mean that that alone. I mean, you you sort
Speaker 3: of know what it's like. You've been in the greatness,
Speaker 3: you said Nick Saban earlier. I mean you've worked with
Speaker 3: Pete Carroll so USC Alabama, you w you know, you
Speaker 3: worked with Dan Quinn over in Atlanta, which you guys
Speaker 3: would super Bowl the year before, year before, Yeah, which
Speaker 3: I mean, so you've been around coaches that know how
Speaker 3: to coach the greatness, and you've coached great players. Janda
Speaker 3: Hurts who just won a Super Bowl, I mean, Matt
Speaker 3: Ryan Quinn who just left your arts coming up?
Speaker 2: I think, what, like, what would it take?
Speaker 3: You know, what, what would you say is the most
Speaker 3: important traits let's say the most three most important traits
Speaker 3: necessary to achieve sustained greatness in an organization consistency.
Speaker 4: I think that's really critical. You know, one, you gotta
Speaker 4: let's go back. You got to set a solid foundation.
Speaker 2: What do you believe in?
Speaker 4: Right? And then once you set your beliefs, can you
Speaker 4: consistently strive towards them and and focus on that right
Speaker 4: and whatever those are being disciplined enough to remain consistent.
Speaker 4: So you got to have a foundation. Then you got
Speaker 4: to remain consistent through the good and the bad. Like
Speaker 4: college football has become a lot more like the NFL. Now,
Speaker 4: we just played sixteen games last season, and it would
Speaker 4: have taken seventeen to win a national championship. And as
Speaker 4: you know, in the NFL, there's one team ever that's
Speaker 4: won every single game. And so how you bounce back
Speaker 4: from the tough loss, not get too high from the
Speaker 4: big win, and remaining consistent I think is critical. And
Speaker 4: then are you at your best when your best is needed?
Speaker 4: And I think that's what the great teams have, That's
Speaker 4: what the great players have. They set a solid foundation
Speaker 4: for who they are, They know who they are, they
Speaker 4: remain consistent with who they are, and then they're at
Speaker 4: their best when their best is needed.
Speaker 3: How does that happen? At eighteen, nineteen and twenty years old?
Speaker 3: The kid that I was in college could not be
Speaker 3: the player that I am today. I mean, just the
Speaker 3: idea that you're growing into a man and to be
Speaker 3: at a program like this where you demand excell excellence,
Speaker 3: where you demand consistency.
Speaker 2: How does that happen? Is that coaching? Is that player?
Speaker 2: Is that? Well? I think one is the culture that
Speaker 2: you have. Right.
Speaker 4: So when you come in as a freshman and you're
Speaker 4: looking up to the junior or the senior who ends
Speaker 4: up being that high draft pick who ends up being
Speaker 4: a Thorpe Award winner, a Dope Walker Award winner, or
Speaker 4: you know, Buck Kiss Award winner, and you'll be like,
Speaker 4: I want to be like that, Right, I'd love those
Speaker 4: same accolades.
Speaker 2: What did he do to get that done? That that
Speaker 2: cycle of success? Right? Of what are his habits? You know?
Speaker 4: Is he go out five nights a week or does
Speaker 4: he go out one night a week. I'm not I'm
Speaker 4: not going to be.
Speaker 2: A naive and stick my head in the sand think our.
Speaker 4: Players aren't going to go out, no doubt, but doing
Speaker 4: it in moderation and understanding what's important.
Speaker 2: Why are you here?
Speaker 4: Is he one of the first guys in the in
Speaker 4: the in the training room in the morning, or is
Speaker 4: he the last guy coming in right before the team
Speaker 4: meeting starts. So we try to point to and celebrate
Speaker 4: those guys that do things the right way and give
Speaker 4: them kind of a platform for the other players to
Speaker 4: be like I want to be like him. And that's
Speaker 4: been the cycle of success that we're in now. That
Speaker 4: wasn't always that way, Right, I had like two of
Speaker 4: those guys, right, I had be Jean Robinson and Roshawn Johnson.
Speaker 2: Was like, be like these be like these two. You know,
Speaker 2: and sometimes you like, coach, I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't really care if you want it or not.
Speaker 4: They need to know what it looks like and they
Speaker 4: need to know how you do it. And then you
Speaker 4: start to recruit to people that have that mindset, not
Speaker 4: only the physical attributes, but the mindset to that can
Speaker 4: think that way and that understand it and want that.
Speaker 4: If you're coming here and one of your first questions
Speaker 4: when when I sit down with you my office is
Speaker 4: how much you're gonna pay me through nil This isn't
Speaker 4: the place for you.
Speaker 2: That's not what we're about.
Speaker 4: Or when you get here and the next morning we're
Speaker 4: supposed to go to breakfast and you're hungover because you're
Speaker 4: out all night, this probably isn't the place for it.
Speaker 4: You're telling me who you're going to be when I get.
Speaker 2: You a coaches. But some of it's a test.
Speaker 3: Year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we all know about six I camera set up
Speaker 4: up and down six streets.
Speaker 2: I know everything that goes on. Huh, it's a good time.
Speaker 2: That's a good time. And again I m to it.
Speaker 2: I don't say, don't have a good time in moderation. Yea, right,
Speaker 2: And I think all those things are critical because it's
Speaker 2: about what's important to you, right, what do you believe in?
Speaker 2: What's important to you?
Speaker 4: And they tell you who they are, and then it's
Speaker 4: there's a ton of great players in the country. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but not all the great players have the right mindset,
Speaker 4: the right work ethic, the right discipline that it takes
Speaker 4: to play fifteen years in the NFL. You're joking about yourself,
Speaker 4: but you wouldn't have been playing fifteen years if you
Speaker 4: didn't have the discipline right that you put forth, the
Speaker 4: work ethic, the drive, being the teammate that you've been,
Speaker 4: the leader that you've been all those years.
Speaker 2: With the Saints.
Speaker 3: And that says a lot because that was the growth
Speaker 3: that happened in college. So the fact that you've turned
Speaker 3: a program that may have had two or three guys
Speaker 3: in your first year to twenty five says a lot
Speaker 3: about the coaching staff. As a player, you can be
Speaker 3: individually great, but it's the foundation, the coaching staff, the
Speaker 3: guys that really grow you, your friends, your teammates, the
Speaker 3: people that you surround yourself with that help propel you
Speaker 3: into a professional no question.
Speaker 2: Like it's a real simple thing, right.
Speaker 4: Team's success is what promotes individual accolades, awards, and honors.
Speaker 4: I've never seen an NFL MVP come from a team
Speaker 4: that didn't make the playoffs. Right, you don't see Heisman
Speaker 4: Trophy winners when the Heisman Trophy from teams that aren't
Speaker 4: in the top you know, seven or eight teams in
Speaker 4: the country. And so the same with the draft. We
Speaker 4: went five and seven our first year. How many guys
Speaker 4: I say got drafted zero The last two years were
Speaker 4: in the college football Playoff. I've had twenty five guys
Speaker 4: go to the NFL Combine. So it's and we've won
Speaker 4: the Dope Walker Award the last two years, we've won
Speaker 4: the Thorpe Award, We've won the Outland Trophy, won the
Speaker 4: Buckets Award.
Speaker 2: So all of a sudden, when the.
Speaker 4: Team does well, you know, you know, I know some
Speaker 4: of the stuff's in the air, so I'm recruiting here too, right.
Speaker 3: Absolutely mentioned now just how you've achieved greatness yourself, I
Speaker 3: mean and for you know, your your former players. That
Speaker 3: being said, you know we have a former you know,
Speaker 3: one of your former players, not from ut but you
Speaker 3: know we'll talk about it, but roll that tape from
Speaker 3: you know, how you've achieved greatness over the years.
Speaker 2: Perfect.
Speaker 5: Intensity each and every day, whether we're in the leading rooms,
Speaker 5: on practice field, on game day. He always can't prepared.
Speaker 5: And he also had you prepared as a player. And
Speaker 5: that's the thing that you always respect most about coaches
Speaker 5: is when they're willing to teach the material a van
Speaker 5: to make sure that there's no corners unturned. And he
Speaker 5: had such a passion. He was a tremendous player himself,
Speaker 5: but that understanding of the locker room, the player dynamics,
Speaker 5: and also what it takes to be successful at a
Speaker 5: really high level.
Speaker 2: He understaid all those things. And so the.
Speaker 5: Success that he's had to day doesn't surprise me. He's
Speaker 5: one of the best coaches out there.
Speaker 2: Then will continue to be because I look.
Speaker 3: Type of manians look that was from what USC times
Speaker 3: as mancastles the quarterback.
Speaker 4: Check this out about Matt Castle never started a college
Speaker 4: football game, never never started one, and got.
Speaker 2: Drafted in the seventh round.
Speaker 4: The US hand then gets a crack in the door
Speaker 4: when when Tom Brady gets hurt for a c in
Speaker 4: in New England, lights it up and just gets absolutely
Speaker 4: paid by the Chiefs. And that the guy's been, you know,
Speaker 4: in the league. He was in the league for shoot,
Speaker 4: almost twenty years.
Speaker 2: I'll say he was. He was in there forever, forever, forever.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I was like, he didn't even
Speaker 2: start in college. That was that was my sugar in
Speaker 2: of not going to a USC. I was like, oh that.
Speaker 3: I was like, I was like, it's the USC effect
Speaker 3: at the time. It's like what will be in a
Speaker 3: couple of years for Texas. So you go to Texas.
Speaker 3: You know you're going to be a quality football player.
Speaker 3: It just is what it is. And I mean that
Speaker 3: starts at the top. The butt stops here. Steve sarkisian
Speaker 3: of course, kis as Matt Castle.
Speaker 2: Said, or coach sark It's a lot easier. Mah.
Speaker 3: I mean, just talk about you know, man, was that
Speaker 3: is that a twenty year college coaching career.
Speaker 2: That's that's wow. Yeah, a couple of stints in the NFL.
Speaker 4: So I went to the NFL in UH two thousand
Speaker 4: and three and with North Turner and the Oakland Raiders.
Speaker 4: And I was there with like Warren Sap, Charles Woodson.
Speaker 4: I mean it was Jesus, and.
Speaker 2: We were not very good and they were captal.
Speaker 4: Names like Warren Sapp and I didn't say not. Rich
Speaker 4: Gannon was the quarterback. He gets hurt carry calling steps in.
Speaker 4: I mean it was wild. We we cut Tim Brown
Speaker 4: in training camp this almost like a kid. We just
Speaker 4: cut Tim Brown.
Speaker 2: Serious.
Speaker 4: Jerry Rice, we break his streak that season, he doesn't
Speaker 4: catch the ball. They end up cutting Jerry Rice. He
Speaker 4: was wild and we weren't even very good. But we
Speaker 4: had all these Hall of famers on that team. It
Speaker 4: was fascinating. Then went back to college and then obviously
Speaker 4: went to the Falcons as seventeen and eighteen.
Speaker 2: So I've had a couple of cups.
Speaker 3: Fifteen plus years plus in the collegiate level. I mean,
Speaker 3: just assess your growth. What was what was coach sark
Speaker 3: like year one versus dude ut coach Sark year one, Like,
Speaker 3: I became the head coach at Washington. I think I was.
Speaker 3: I was thirty three when I took the job. I
Speaker 3: was thirty four, like first game, and I remember our
Speaker 3: first game. We were Washington was terrible at that time.
Speaker 3: They were zero to twelve the year before we got there.
Speaker 3: I think they had won like two games the season
Speaker 3: before that. And We're opening with l you at home
Speaker 3: in two thousand and nine, and this is like Patrick Peterson,
Speaker 3: this is like they're loaded, and I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 3: we just got.
Speaker 4: Be fifty to nothing in pregame warm ups. We got
Speaker 4: no chance, and we played the game kind of close.
Speaker 4: Actually we played the game kind of close. But early
Speaker 4: on in my career was super emotional. I was like
Speaker 4: riding this emotional roller coaster. When things were good, I
Speaker 4: was like, I'm the greatest coach ever.
Speaker 2: We're the greatest team ever. When we lose, I was
Speaker 2: the worst coach.
Speaker 4: Ever, and I'd be on the I'd be on the
Speaker 4: internet and on the blogs and reading about how great
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 2: Then I'd be reading.
Speaker 4: About how terrible I was. Fast forward to twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: I really don't give what people think about me. I
Speaker 4: remained really consistent with what I do yeah, and then
Speaker 4: I think that that carries over to my messaging to
Speaker 4: the team absolutely.
Speaker 2: Plus there wasn't you know Twitter and Instagram back then.
Speaker 4: Twitter was just started. Oh I checked my account there.
Speaker 4: Somebody asked me, when did you join Twitter? I joined
Speaker 4: in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3: Jeez, I think I joined like senior year. So I was, ay,
Speaker 3: it's been a long time.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I was like in that tenure there, of course,
Speaker 3: you being under one of the greatest college coaches of
Speaker 3: all time, Nick Saban, was there anything that he told
Speaker 3: you that you keep to this day.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he told me directly, you know.
Speaker 4: I mean, there was a ton of nuggets with this guy, right,
Speaker 4: but at the end of the day, we're like, yeah,
Speaker 4: there's a million of them. But there was one thing
Speaker 4: that stood out to me about him, this level of
Speaker 4: like he talks about discipline all the time and then
Speaker 4: being a disciplined team on the field and off the field.
Speaker 2: That discipline started with him.
Speaker 4: I swear this guy like picked out the five things
Speaker 4: he was going to wear Monday through Friday, and they
Speaker 4: just were the same. He didn't even think about what
Speaker 4: he was going to wear at three o'clock on Tuesday,
Speaker 4: he was watching third downs like that was it. And
Speaker 4: I don't care what was going on outside. There could
Speaker 4: have been a fire in the building. That guy was
Speaker 4: going to watch third downs like his routine. His discipline
Speaker 4: to do what he was going to do every day
Speaker 4: is what resonated throughout the building. And if you weren't
Speaker 4: that way, it was like a shock to him that
Speaker 4: you weren't doing what you were supposed to be doing
Speaker 4: when you were supposed to be doing it at the
Speaker 4: highest level.
Speaker 2: I wasn't just do it. It was at the highest level.
Speaker 4: And so I don't know if it was like one
Speaker 4: nugget that he said, but if you just watched the behavior,
Speaker 4: it wasn't about what he said. It was about what
Speaker 4: he did, because what he did was back up what
Speaker 4: he said.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think I've long said it. The best mentors are
Speaker 3: the ones that they don't know that their mentors, because
Speaker 3: it's the way they walk, the way they hold themselves,
Speaker 3: the way they cure themselves.
Speaker 2: It's infectious. You know, you sit there, you're like, that's
Speaker 2: a and that's a leader.
Speaker 3: And if you want to be like a leader, you
Speaker 3: want to be like for me, it was like you
Speaker 3: know Ben Watson or Drew Brees. You know, when you
Speaker 3: look at consummate pros, you're like, oh, that's how you
Speaker 3: be a pro.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: If all that, we got to be the first one in,
Speaker 3: the last one out. And then I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I don't have to be the first one in now.
Speaker 2: Yeah you do, Yeah, you do. That's what you go
Speaker 2: back to, all right.
Speaker 5: Cool.
Speaker 3: I was like Ben Watson at like year fourteen, was
Speaker 3: out there bench pressing his squad and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh man, he's in. He's in the gym. First of all,
Speaker 3: he looks like Adonnis himself. I was like, all right,
Speaker 3: you got to be in the gym. And then you
Speaker 3: sort of find your way when you're kid, when you
Speaker 3: look up to somebody who you feel is on the
Speaker 3: right path and you start following him, you end up
Speaker 3: on the right path.
Speaker 4: Yeah for me, and check this out. I mean, I
Speaker 4: got seven years with Pete Carroll and I thought, man,
Speaker 4: I got it.
Speaker 2: Man, I've got all the secret sauce. And that was
Speaker 2: a hell of a run we had at se I'm like,
Speaker 2: I got it all.
Speaker 4: And then you realize you don't have it all, and
Speaker 4: then you get to get with literally if Belichick and
Speaker 4: Coach Carroll weren't the best in our era, Coach Saban
Speaker 4: was the best. I get three years with him. I
Speaker 4: get one as an analyst, and I come back for
Speaker 4: two more as an assistant coach. It was like just soak
Speaker 4: up the information, soak up the knowledge. Soak up again.
Speaker 4: Not what they say all the time, but how he
Speaker 4: lived and the way he went about a player that
Speaker 4: was in trouble, or a player that said the wrong thing,
Speaker 4: or a player that you know wasn't doing right on
Speaker 4: the field or off. It was all the things that
Speaker 4: It's just how he interacted with people was probably the
Speaker 4: most stuff that I took from him.
Speaker 2: Those interpersonal connections are amazing. I think at this point,
Speaker 2: because we're in a live crowd this, it's just frere
Speaker 2: to be able to do this. I'm going to open
Speaker 2: up if it's okay with him, get a little little
Speaker 2: crowd action in here, like anybody have a question for coach.
Speaker 2: We're going We're going for one. I need one. Come on,
Speaker 2: I feel like this is coming from the internet. I
Speaker 2: have one Twitter. He's been firing both of them up.
Speaker 2: What they got, Oh, I'm live. I'm going to her
Speaker 2: we're going to figure this out. You take this back.
Speaker 4: This is from my brother Zach, and he says, how
Speaker 4: Cedric bent Baxter looking.
Speaker 2: And will he be completely healthy for Ohio State? Got it?
Speaker 2: So Cedric's doing great.
Speaker 4: So you know, seg Baxter is a running back of
Speaker 4: ours that towards a c L early in training camp
Speaker 4: last year and was, you know, set to I think
Speaker 4: have a great season. But his rehabs going fantastic. He
Speaker 4: looks really good. He's in really good spirits. Obviously, we
Speaker 4: have time, right so for him, essentially it's got to
Speaker 4: be a twelve month recovery, which is a great amount
Speaker 4: of time coming off of an aco. So we feel
Speaker 4: very confident that he will be but again time will tell. Right,
Speaker 4: we're in March, and we got plenty of time until
Speaker 4: uh what is that July August thirtieth when we play,
Speaker 4: So we got we got plenty of time till then.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I love it. I'll say we're catching
Speaker 2: real insider information. All right, we're perfect. Let's let's do
Speaker 2: it quick trivia game. Oh girl, I'm terrible at these.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, come on, that's why we're awesome.
Speaker 3: We're asking the crowd here, I'll ask a couple of fun,
Speaker 3: fat questions about coach. You know, so you guys ready,
Speaker 3: I told you I was gonna get you involved. I
Speaker 3: want to know, do you guys know how many games
Speaker 3: has coached won at Texas?
Speaker 2: Anybody? Somebody? No one, come on, think about it? Been
Speaker 2: here four years heading the year five. Think about that.
Speaker 2: He said there are sixteen games times two at least
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. Everybody want to be forty eight. Oh
Speaker 2: that's a lot.
Speaker 3: All right, well that's close, But no, cigar, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: say it was thirty eight and seventeen overall, twenty five
Speaker 3: and five in the last two seasons, twenty five and five.
Speaker 4: You ever to come to cow you call me thirty
Speaker 4: thirty games in two years in college?
Speaker 3: That's crazy. I mean, yeah, that's that's absurd. The college
Speaker 3: playoffs are still expanding over whatever. I'm looking at college landscape.
Speaker 3: I'm like, geez, these kids, these kids are going through
Speaker 3: the ringer in terms of games played.
Speaker 2: Like you still have to be as too, an athlete.
Speaker 2: But that's what we're talking about. Springball. Why spring ball
Speaker 2: is a justice Peter Off. Yeah.
Speaker 3: As a old head, I'm like, how do they not
Speaker 3: play spring game, and I'm like, actually, what does that proof?
Speaker 2: You know, like you can't get a win loss column
Speaker 2: in a spring game and I get it now, fifteen
Speaker 2: sixteen seventeen to win a championship. That's scary. Anyways. All right,
Speaker 2: let's see who's coach's favorite NBA team? And no, it's
Speaker 2: not the Suns. That's my favorite team. That's right. Wow, Wow,
Speaker 2: off the bat. I'm a Laker hater by nature. Are
Speaker 2: you serious? I just said I was a Suns fan.
Speaker 2: So think about my child.
Speaker 3: I was destroyed, just trouted Steve Nash, we.
Speaker 2: Ripped all whole Kobe Kobe rip Yell's hearts out. I grew.
Speaker 3: I grew up like Twin Towers guy, and this Antonio
Speaker 3: beat the Suns.
Speaker 2: I was like, screw you guys.
Speaker 3: And then the Lakers beat us in the semi conference finals,
Speaker 3: and I was like, I become a lakerhater.
Speaker 2: So you know, it just says what it is.
Speaker 4: Your Laker guy, Luka, Doncic guy dot Nam.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm like, go all the way back.
Speaker 4: I'm like Magic green Worthy and I've been riding that.
Speaker 2: I've been riding showtime ever since. Dang. Yeah, all right, Well,
Speaker 2: that's fine.
Speaker 3: I guess bad loss to the nets. I still run
Speaker 3: my son's shack jersey. You know, we gotta hold on
Speaker 3: some big guys. All right, crowd, this is the last question.
Speaker 3: Who gets the most credit for coaches swaggy fashion sense?
Speaker 3: This is a nice little burger shure.
Speaker 2: I just I didn't know. He said, yeah, I hurt wifey.
Speaker 2: So that was that was a pluggin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, I'm not evenna let you answer that.
Speaker 3: That's got to be it.
Speaker 2: That's it. I appreciate you tapping in with with off
Speaker 2: the airge of the podcast guys has been real.
Speaker 3: Have a live audience has been amazing. Coach Start, You've
Speaker 3: been amazing. Much respect. I always love from being the
Speaker 3: opposite side of you. One day, hopefully, you know, I'll
Speaker 3: intern for you one day. Moved to Austin, man this
Speaker 3: one day.
Speaker 4: One day we'll see you like it here?
Speaker 3: I love it here, I said, I've been to Flugerville.
Speaker 3: I've been to you know, I've been in and out.
Speaker 2: I've been called the Ville. I'm gonna call it the flu.
Speaker 2: I don't care.
Speaker 3: Shout out to my guy Alex okafor of course. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, Malcolm Roach is what is one of my dogs.
Speaker 3: So I've been, I've been in and out of Austin.
Speaker 3: My manager lives here, so you know, my manager PR
Speaker 3: PR because this is one of the meccas for PR.
Speaker 3: But she she lives here, so I'm always I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: You're always welcome, man. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: But you guys have a blessed day. God bless and
Speaker 3: appreciate you'all. Tapping it off the edge the pod