Jeff Howe

I don’t believe so.

Much appreciated, Burnt Orange Horn!

Twelve different coaches have led the Texas football program since the launch of the weekly Associated Press poll in 1936. Of the 10 who lasted at least four seasons, none have more wins through their first four than Steve Sarkisian. With a 38-17 record, Sarkisian’s win total matches that of Mack Brown (1998-2001), who had a 38-13 mark heading into the 2002 season. Sarkisian is part of a group of Longhorn coaches in the AP Poll era — with Blair Cherry, Ed Price, Darrell Royal, Fred Akers, David McWilliams and John Mackovic — who won an outright conference championship within their first four seasons. Sarkisian and Cherry are the only coaches from that group to coach Texas to multiple AP top-five finishes by the end of their fourth season, with Sarkisian’s 2023 (No. 3) and 2024 (No. 4) final rankings counting toward the program’s 22 all-time top-five finishes. Although Sarkisian has accomplished a lot while improving the program’s win total from five (2021) to eight (2022) to 12 (2023) to 13 (2024), history suggests the best is yet to come. For the most accomplished coaches in school history (Royal, Akers and Brown), their fifth season is when business started to pick up. Brown achieved the first back-to-back 11-win seasons in school history, going 11-2 in 2002, a season the Longhorns punctuated by thumping LSU in the Cotton Bowl, 35-20 (the Tigers returned most of the 2002 roster for the 2003 season, which ended with Nick Saban’s first national championship). The program enjoyed nine consecutive seasons of 10 or wins under Brown, whose 2005 national championship-winning season came in his eighth as Texas coach; Brown coached Texas through a memorable six-season stretch (2004-09) in which it went 69-9 with two Big 12 titles, a Rose Bowl win over Michigan at the end of the 2004 season, a Fiesta Bowl victory over Ohio State to cap a 12-1 season in 2008 and a trip to the BCS title game during the 2009 season. A forgettable 42-11 loss to Arkansas, after vaulting No. 1 in the AP Poll, and a 14-14 tie against Houston kept Akers’ 1981 club from claiming a share of the national title, but a 14-12 win over Bear Bryant’s third-ranked Crimson Tide in the Cotton Bowl lifted Texas to a No. 2 final ranking. It was the program’s best finish since splitting the 1970 national title with Nebraska (a Cotton Bowl loss to Notre Dame dropped the Longhorns to No. 3 in the final poll, although the UPI declared the Longhorns No. 1 at the end of a 10-0 regular season). Over his fifth, sixth and seventh seasons running the program (1981-83), Akers coached Texas to a 30-5-1 record and an outright Southwest Conference title in the 1983 season, which ended with a brutal 10-9 loss in the Cotton Bowl to Georgia. When it comes to near misses at a national championship, Sarkisian has a lot in common with Akers. Seven years apart, Akers led the Longhorns into a Cotton Bowl played on Jan. 2 with the national championship hanging in the balance, only for his team’s title hopes to be dashed, with titles Texas could’ve claimed going, instead, to Notre Dame (1977) and Miami (1983). Sarkisian has led the Longhorns to the brink of the College Football Playoff National Championship in each of the last two seasons, a pair of opportunities all for naught, with Texas getting painfully close to college football’s top prize before succumbing to Washington and Ohio State, respectively. If the Longhorns went to battle with a healthy Jonathon Brooks in the Sugar Bowl two years ago, or if CJ Baxter’s knee injury didn't end his sophomore season before it started, Sarkisian might’ve already gotten Texas over the hump. The mission to win the school’s fifth national championship begins in 61 days, an appropriate number considering the link between Sarkisian, Royal and a running back injury muddying a title-winning picture. The 1961 season, Royal’s fifth at the helm, saw the Longhorns race out to an 8-0 start, climbing to No. 1 in the AP Poll for the first time since 1946. With Jimmy Saxton leading the offense, Texas won its first eight games by an average margin of 26.6 points; a 28-7 Red River rout of Oklahoma was the closest anybody came to nipping Royal’s bunch. Long before Marcell Dareus simultaneously launched Alabama’s dynasty under Saban and brought an abrupt end to a golden era of Texas football under Brown with an ill-timed blow to Colt McCoy’s shoulder, Saxton was on the receiving end of arguably the most controversial hit in school history. Whether Bobby Plummer’s knee intentionally connected with Saxton’s head at the end of a 45-yard gain is irrelevant; the shot forced Saxton to miss enough of the game to render the offense helpless in a 6-0 loss to the Horned Frogs, a defeat Royal reportedly said was the toughest he endured during his coaching career. The first consensus All-American running back in school history, Saxton was the third-place finisher for the Heisman Trophy and held the school’s single-season record for yards per carry (7.9), which stood for 59 years until Bijan Robinson’s 8.2 yards per rushing attempt in 2020 established a new program standard. A 25-0 win over Texas A&M and a 12-7 victory over Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl helped the 10-1 Longhorns end the season with a No. 3 ranking from the AP, but Royal wouldn’t claim his first of three national championships until two years later. Texas was arguably the best team in college football for four seasons in the middle of Royal’s 20-season tenure (1961-64), compiling a 40-3-1 record with three SWC titles, a national championship and four consecutive finishes in the top five of the AP Poll. If not for Saxton's injury and a one-point loss to Arkansas in 1964, Royal might've ended the 1960s with four outright national titles to his name. Until the Wishbone revived Royal’s career and led the Longhorns to 30 consecutive victories, the program’s run of success beginning with Royal’s fifth season could count as arguably the most prosperous Austin has ever experienced. Texas is 61 days from kicking off Sarkisian’s fifth season, which has a chance to be another campaign in what’s shaping up to be the next historic run of Longhorn football. View full news story

Martez Walker for men's hoops under Rick Barnes. He was only in the program for one season.

Winfield and Navarre have already been removed from the program's online roster.

Yes, the three question marks are expected to return. I would expect Harrison to be back in the Saturday role and Grubbs to be a versatile bullpen hand. We'll see if the staff can get Ruger back into the stopper role they had envisioned for him initially. Don't forget Burns, Walker, Bing and Saunier.

Rerick and Jason Flores are the two names we've heard most among the rising sophomores.

I gave you a Hook 'Em for a positive Mavs reference and your avatar. Love me some Bar Rescue!

Easton Winfield and Bryce Navarre entering the portal brings the total number of outgoing transfers from the 2025 team to 15.

LSU baseball is kinda like Miami football, if they hadn't hit bottom while Butch Davis was cleaning up the program and kept winning after 2001. LSU has little to no baseball history before Skip Bertman. It makes their program résumé more impressive when put in the proper context.

Everyone must show respect to the face mask made of Legos.

Cruz is coming along. He's very much viewed as a big piece for the future of the Texas offensive line. When he'd be used would depend on the situation. In a pinch, they'd probably go with Robertson since he has more experience, but we've heard nothing but positive reviews on Cruz.

It's updated in the OP, but here are the 14 outgoing transfers from the 2025 squad: C Oliver Service C/INF Cole Chamberlain INF Carson Luna INF/OF Sam Richardson INF Jaquae Stewart OF Tommy Farmer IV OF Will Gasparino OF Donovan Jordan OF Matt Scott OF Easton Winfield LHP Chance Covert II LHP Ace Whitehead RHP Aiden Moffett RHP Easton Tumis

If I was an LSU fan, I’d be enjoying my team winning a national title instead of trying to be the best internet troll I could be.