Sarkisian admits he briefly considered Alabama job

After the retirement of Nick Saban, the Alabama coaching search was one of the wildest two-day sequences that this state, or the college football world in general, has ever seen.

Names were being thrown around left and right, from Dan Lanning to Dabo Swinney to Lane Kiffin, with conflicting reports galore.

But by all accounts, when it really came down to it, there were only three real candidates for the job: Kalen DeBoer, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, and Texas’ Steve Sarkisian.

Though it’s unclear exactly who, if anyone, was offered the job before DeBoer, Sarkisian, who coached at Alabama as Saban’s offensive coordinator before taking the Texas job, said he at least briefly considered if he would want to take over for his former boss.

Steve Sarkisian briefly thought about Alabama, but he's focused on what's building in Texas 🤘

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“Naturally, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it,” Sarkisian told ESPN’s Chris Low. “But it took me all of about 60 seconds to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not doing that.’ I had an awesome two years at Alabama and loved my time under Coach Saban, but ultimately you want to reap what you sow.”

“We’ve poured a ton into this program for three years, and we’re on the cusp, I think, of going on a run that will be epic. I believe that. Our staff does, and our players do, too, just the support we have and the culture we’ve created here. Why leave something like that?”

Sarkisian did not explicitly say he was offered the job, but confirmed he at least thought about the prospect of what he would do in that scenario.

In his own words, Sarkisian believes he is building something special in Austin that he hopes will rival Kalen DeBoer and the rest of the SEC for years to come.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP