Jamaal Charles sends clear message on Steve Sarkisian-BYU rumor

Jamaal Charles sends clear message on Steve Sarkisian-BYU rumor originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Ahead of a successful Red River Rivalry weekend for Steve Sarkisian, Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde floated the idea of Sark escaping the pressure of the Texas Longhorns job for his alma mater, the BYU Cougars, after Kalani Sitake gets hired by a bigger job.

I asked Jamaal Charles about the idea of Sarkisian not being able to handle the pressure in Austin this past Saturday at the Texas State Fair before his team handled business in a 23-6 win over the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl, and the former Longhorn dismissed it.

Charles acknowledged the politics associated with the Texas coaching job, but gave Sark credit for navigating it to two straight College Football Playoff appearances.

“(Sark’s) been been doing an awesome job, and I think that some of that is not true. We ought to recruit. Texas made (the CFP). Yes, a lot of politics are involved with having this job. It's not easy, a lot of coaches have failed under pressure before. Coach Sark just came here. I don't understand why we’d push him away. I know the job is a lot of pressure. But I feel like any job he gets there will be pressure,” Charles said.

Forde’s scenario ultimately resulted in BYU spending big to steal away the Longhorns’ headman and Lane Kiffin replacing him at Texas. Kiffin’s connection to Arch Manning was one of Forde’s major talking points.

“Sark is an alum who may be feeling the weight of the Texas job weighing on him if this season continues trending negatively for the Longhorns. Wealthy BYU alums have shown real vigor in the NIL market, in both football and basketball, which could be an additional attraction for a coach looking to get away and into something different,” Forde wrote.

“In response, Texas does what comes naturally: hires Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss. Replacing one offensive savant with perhaps a better one, Kiffin is viewed as the quarterback whisperer who can unlock Arch Manning. (This also saves Kiffin the trouble of trying to talk Manning into entering the transfer portal and following familial footsteps to Ole Miss.)”

One Longhorn great isn’t interested in Sark leaving, especially after a signature win over OU in Dallas. Many probably feel the same way after Texas was motivated and successful on both sides of the ball.