As Texas prepares for its Oct. 10 matchup with Oklahoma, Steve Sarkisian’s wife, Loreal, is making sure fans remember how the Longhorns coach got here.
Loreal Sarkisian, who is known as “The First Lady of Texas Longhorns Football,” was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this week for the premiere of ESPN Originals’ “SABAN.” Steve Sarkisian wanted to be there with her, but Week 6 game prep kept him away.
During a behind-the-scenes video from the event, Loreal spoke about the role Nick Saban and Terry Saban have played in her husband’s path back to the top.
“He and Miss Terry have been so instrumental in our lives,” she said. “I'm very grateful for Miss T and Coach Saban.
“They took us at at time in Steve’s career where it was low and not seeming promising. He adored him and loved on him and supported him and the rest is history really.”
She also joked about how close she feels to Saban personally.
“Personally, I think me and Coach Saban are best friends, like me and him are closer than him and Steve. Don’t nobody really know that. . don’t nobody really know that.”
Saban brought Sarkisian aboard as an offensive analyst in 2016 after a difficult stretch in his career. USC had fired Sarkisian five games into the 2015 season, during a period when he was battling alcoholism and a pain killer addiction.
Sarkisian has been open about how much that chance mattered. In 2022, he told ESPN, “I've said this numerous times, but I would not be the head coach at Texas if it weren't for Nick Saban,”
“He gave me a chance when I had a hard time getting an interview, never mind a job. There were days that I thought, 'Man, I'm never going to be a head coach again.
I'm never going to be an offensive coordinator again. I'm never going to get another job.'.
He added that Saban is the man who “saved my career,”
Saban, though, has always pushed the credit back to Sarkisian. “Sark is the one who did the work,” Saban told ESPN.
“We supported him and made sure there were the right resources and people in place to help him, as we have with many others. But, listen, he saved his own career by doing a great job for us and rehabbing himself professionally, and I'm not just talking about personally, but professionally in a really, really positive way that impacted our program greatly and helped us be successful here.”
In Other News...
Texas Opens Red River With Early Drama Beyond The Score
The Red River Rivalry opened with the kind of first-quarter buzz that always seems to follow Texas into the Cotton Bowl. Arch Manning found Cam Coleman for a touchdown to get the Longhorns on the board early, and the game immediately settled into the familiar mix of emotion, urgency and big-game tension that defines this matchup. Even before the score line had much time to breathe, the opening stretch had already delivered the sort of energy Texas fans expect when Oklahoma is on the other sideline.
Beyond the touchdown, the early going carried plenty of its own storylines, from pregame warmups to the injury notes and key plays that shaped the first quarter. Those details mattered in a game like this because every snap can shift the tone, and Texas had to navigate all of it while trying to keep control of the moment. The scoreboard gave the Longhorns an early edge, but the first quarter made clear this one was going to be about much more than one drive. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Looked Vulnerable In Dallas For One Frustrating Reason
Texas left Dallas with a bitter 27-24 loss to Oklahoma, and the frustration had less to do with one isolated mistake than with how the game unraveled after halftime. The Longhorns offense stalled repeatedly in the second half, stringing together multiple three-and-outs before Arch Manning was picked off late, while special teams problems kept adding pressure to a team trying to stay afloat in a tight rivalry game.
The blocked punt and missed field goals only deepened the sense that Texas kept finding new ways to make the path harder on itself. In a game where every possession mattered, the Longhorns never quite settled into rhythm, and the combination of offensive inconsistency, coaching choices, and special teams breakdowns left them vulnerable in a way that should linger well beyond one afternoon in Dallas. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Just Got A Troubling Warning About Arch And Sarkisian
Arch Mannings NFL future is already being framed in lofty terms, but the recent Red River matchup offered a reminder that the path from prized prospect to sure thing is still a long one. Scouts see enough in the Texas quarterback to talk about him as a potential top-10 pick in the 2027 NFL draft, and the Manning name will keep the spotlight fixed on him no matter what happens next.
Against Oklahoma, though, the fourth quarter turned into the kind of stretch Texas would rather leave behind, with Manning throwing two interceptions in a loss that underscored the offenses recent unevenness. Steve Sarkisian has stood by his play-calling despite the struggles, but as the Longhorns try to steady things, the bigger concern is how quickly the offense can find cleaner answers around its young quarterback. [Read more 🡒]