UT Football 2021 season

Football was the only UT sport not to make it to the post season. Not only that, all of the other sports either won a tournament game or advanced beyond regionals based on team points. At least the football team funded those other sports.

 

Color me optimistic Sark will at least begin to turn the football program around this season .... and this will pay dividends for future seasons.

 

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times? Four??
Five??
More???

 

If we win that Learfield directors cup again (best program), we need to admit until proven false that our football program (like Stanford) exists to fund our great sports program and that winning in football is secondary to the overall goal.

I will say with Sark’s hire we appear to want to win in football but hard to separate the illusion from reality.

 

We are hopefully coming out of an extraordinary period in time.
Beginning with Covid shutdowns and social unrest that exploded during this period from BLM to armed protests about mask mandates. (not trying to get too political here)
I honestly believe much of this unrest would not have been as pronounced if people had jobs to go to at the time.
It seemed like a perfect storm.
And it definitely affected our program.
I also think Sark had to come in and stomp out the remaining coals of the fire.

Anyway, I think and hope much of that is behind us.
I love what I hear from Sark.
I love what I hear from the players.
The last recruiting class was excellent.
Of course on the field progress is what needs to follow.
I guess I always feel positive around this time of year.
But I think there's a different feel in the wind.
By no means do I predict any championship of any kind any time soon.
But I feel good about the direction of the program.
I think we will see progress in the win-loss column this coming season.

 

I agree, Worster. Look at the guys that transferred out or are still in the portal. After the season several immediately hit the portal following Sark's meeting with them. The reason perhaps is they are incapable of producing the results the coaches, and fans want to see. Sark only had 1 guy on the 2021 team that he recruited. So, I wasn't pleased with the results last year, but it was a throwaway season for the new HC and staff. It's his team and his scheme. He had a solid class this year, ranked #5 as I recall. This coming season, I expect a better result. I also expect to see a lot of true frosh on the field this year, so I my expectations are in the "ok but not great" range. But, show improvement on the field this year and consistently recruit and bring in top five talent, we will have solid good and even great future results. This is college football, nothing is guaranteed and nothing is a sure thing.

 

We have all said here that the OL and DL line should be the priority for years.
Sark and The Pancake Factory took care of that.
This offense will be epic. Hopefully another year with Pete K will help.

 

Respectfully disagree - to me there is little about Sark or his history that suggests a commitment to winning - and I want to be wrong about that!
It feels to me like he was just the next guy available with a recognizable name and some association with a recent winner (Bama)
I also confess to being somewhat pessimistic given the last decade of football which makes me want to vomit

 

After the last couple of weeks I like our chances with the Directors Cup!

 

Texas can win the Big 12 with the offense Sark has built.

Texas cannot compete in the SEC with the Defense Peter K had last season.

Si or No?

 

sorry if you've said this, but who did you think was the better winning football hire instead of sark?

 

My guess is someone who was never on the market but a "dream" hypothetical that would have taken the gig for $12MM/year.

 

I don't have anyone in mind so maybe nobody was going to feel like a splash, to me anyway - probably due to a weak market for available talent, idk
I'm not an Urban fan and didn't expect him

 

i think we have to look at the candidates and, if he's the best of that group, maybe we shouldn't label him as being hired for other reasons. maybe he was just the best of the options we had at the time.

 

I was not happy with 2021, especially on defense and lack of adjustments on both sides of the ball. That said, I don’t think there was better hire to be made at the time and I give Kudos to Del Conte. I think Sark should have have a short leash as he has been mediocre his whole career at USC, Washington and Texas.
The fact he didn’t get rid of the DC was troubling. I opine DelConte was being a “helper” getting Patterson on board as a defensive consultant and will be ready ala the Diaz debacle.
I do hope Sark does gets it done, but past performance is a good indicator of future results.

 

We have a coach with experience at top tier programs.
Granted, his personal issues derailed his career at that time.
He seems to have overcome those issues.
He spent time as an OC in the NFL.
I think it matters to recruits that he has connections there and knowledge of how the NFL works.
While not the head coach, he was the OC on championship teams and groomed a number of championship and Heisman winning QBs that have gone on to some success in the NFL.
I don't know who could've been a better pick at the time.
While he may not yet be a proven commodity, I believe he has great potential and upside.
Sort of like a 5 star recruit.
He still has to prove it on the field.

 

I can say this as recovering alcoholic. (36 years clean now)
The Sark you are dealing with now is not the Sark of the past.
Sober Sark has led a Bama offense to championships and placed a couple of QBs in the NFL as high draft picks.
Yea, last year sucked but I'm giving him a mulligan being his first year and dealing with Herman's team.
He needs to add a few W's next year.
And if that is accomplished then I will give hime a few more recruiting classes.

 

It was year one in which Sark took over a program immersed in the culture war crap that Herman fueled. Since the season ended it has come out that there was a pretty good piece of the team that never got over that and those guys emotionally quit when the poop hit the fan last year. That's why we have such a huge amount of turnover.

I have no idea how his career will turn out, but other than the D-coordinator move not happening the guy seems to be full throttle doing what's necessary to get the tools we need to be successful.

 

Maybe Sark was more aware of what PK had to work with than any of us.

 

Could be.

 

Sure, if Sark hasn't grown both personally and professionally since his comeuppance at USC. I believe he has.