Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian credited Nick Saban with saving his career during a recent interview on the “Pivot Podcast.”
Sarkisian was on Alabama football’s coaching staff during two different stints. The first was as an analyst at a time when Sarkisian admitted he could not get an interview for a job.
“In 2015, as I came out of that and had got fired at USC, gone to recovery, started working on me personally and then coming out of that, not being able to get a job,” Sarkisian said. “Somewhere in there, somebody’s got an extended olive branch to you. In 2016 I was ready to go do t.v. I couldn’t get an interview for a job. Nick Saban saved my career. He offered me an analyst job, and I was willing to do it for free, but he said, I got to pay you $30,000, so you can get benefits. I said, okay. I’ll do that. I’m forever indebted to him because at that time somebody in life has got to give all of us a second chance. It totally changed my perspective. It changed my perspective on how I coach, how I deal with our players because everybody’s going through stuff, right? Everybody’s got stuff. Whatever what your stuff is, you just try to get through it and if I can be that guy that can extend that olive branch to our players as we go through this journey, I always lean back to that time because here’s the greatest coach of all time in our era. For whatever reason, he saw something in me to give me a chance to give me a shot. From there, he actually makes me the offensive coordinator for the National Championship game against Clemson. I was an analyst. I wasn’t even a coach. I call that game. It was an amazing game. Jalen Hurt scrambles and scores. Deshaun Watson goes down, wins the game. Coming out of that game, Dan Quinn offers me the offensive coordinator job at the Atlanta Falcons. I’m thinking, Kyle Shanahan just goes to the 49ers. I’m going to go to the Atlanta Falcons and I go do it for two years.”
"Nick Saban saved my career."
Steve Sarkisian again gives Nick Saban props for resurrecting his career after a fall from grace.
(đĽ via @thepivot) pic.twitter.com/0FMOvUknyD
— Touchdown Alabama (@TDAlabamaMag) April 11, 2023
Sarkisian returned to Alabama as its offensive coordinator in 2019 and helped the Crimson Tide win the CFP National Championship in 2020. Texas hired him away from the Crimson Tide at the conclusion of the season.
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Justin Smith is the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via @Jdsmith31Smith
