Looking back at history, there’s a trend that remains common amongst the greatest head coaches. Nick Saban had his process laid out for all his players, and he paid close attention to everything. Dabo Swinney at Clemson did the same through his ‘family-like’ atmosphere and by creating his version of Band of Brothers. Texas HC Steve Sarkisian needs to learn just that to succeed with Arch Manning.

“I’m looking at Steve Sarkisian, and I thought last year there was plenty of slippage going around,” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on his July 24 podcast. “Again, he was a bit preoccupied because the headlines and the storylines got to him just as much as we expected them to potentially get to Arch Manning. That can’t happen. And if you got 47 new players and 22 new transfers, I’m wondering whether or not you’re going to be able to handle that.”

Everyone saw Arch Manning’s struggles throughout the first half of the 2025 season. He lacked efficiency against Ohio State, and his performances didn’t improve against UTEP and Florida. The pre-season Heisman hype got doused, and he was the center of intense scrutiny. Although some of his woes were undoubtedly linked to his shortcomings, not everything was his fault. It was because Sarkisian didn’t show enough faith in Manning or even his 2025 team.

“If you believe that much in Arch Manning, then don’t baby him. Don’t pacify him,” Stephen A. Smith said. “Have faith that he can get the job done. Have faith in the people around you. Not only the subordinates that you delegate responsibility to, but his family as well, and his inner circle. Have faith that he’ll be able to do the job and focus on everybody else. Rather than going the extra mile just to protect somebody who’s already insulated to the nth degree.”

After the intense criticism Arch faced, Steve Sarkisian shielded his QB1 from the outside noise. He called out the preseason Heisman hype, saying Arch “wasn’t going around posting on social media” that he was going to win the award. Instead, he relayed that he worked hard throughout the offseason and even said that his QB1 was capable of taking criticism that “90% of people” won’t be able to endure. Most importantly, Sarkisian’s handling of new players hurt Texas.

Before the 2025 season, Sarkisian had a total of 36 new players on his roster and needed to closely integrate them into the team. Among them, 11 players came from the portal. Sarkisian himself acknowledged some of his flaws in 2025 during his recent SEC Media Days interview.

According to the Longhorns’ head coach, his team didn’t have the “culture” needed to win big in 2025. Because of that, the head coach immediately began pushing “culture-building activities” early this year and says he “learned his lesson.” On Wednesday, for instance, Texas players participated in a scavenger hunt together in Austin despite scorching heat. It’s even more important this year, since Texas now has a whopping 47 new players on its roster.