Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is among the few in college football who still keeps his offensive play sheet in their hands. At a Texas High School Coaches Association event, he spoke about the tough balance of being a head coach while also calling plays. It is a job many have tried, and not all have found it easy. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is one recent example.

For Sarkisian, keeping play‑calling duties helps him stay close to his players. But it also means he must trust his defensive staff to do their job while he focuses on offense.

“I think one of the advantages for me is I definitely have a real connection with our players because I’m in and around them every single day,” Sarkisian said at the THSCA event. “I think one of the areas where it can be difficult is trusting those guys on defense. If I’m trying to make adjustments on the offensive side of the ball between series, it’s having trust in the defensive coaches that they’ve got a good grasp of what we’re doing, and if a timeout is needed, why, what that situation looks like, things of that nature.”

Because he builds the offense all week, Sarkisian feels the game in real time. He knows when to push, when to slow down, and when to take a risk. That closeness helps, but it also makes trusting others on defense even harder.

It’s a challenge that Ryan Day knows all too well. He called plays in his first five seasons at Ohio State. Before the 2024 season, he gave that job to Chip Kelly to focus on leading the whole team. After Kelly left for the Raiders, Brian Hartline became offensive coordinator and took over play-calling.

That didn’t last long, though. After Hartline accepted a head coaching job at South Florida, Day temporarily took back play-calling duties for Ohio State’s playoff game against Miami in December last year. Ryan Day had a tough time managing the game, not because he wasn’t capable, but because everything started to pile up at once. The Buckeyes lost that game, showing once again how difficult it is to call plays while also managing the entire team.

Sarkisian believes the only way to solve such a problem is by having the right people around him. That is why he has built a coaching staff he fully trusts. One of the biggest reasons he feels comfortable continuing to call plays is having former SEC head coach Will Muschamp leading the defense. With Muschamp handling that side of the ball, Sarkisian can focus on the offense without worrying about every detail on defense.

In the end, Sarkisian keeps calling plays because it is how he has always coached; he learned from the best. He saw Pete Carroll run USC while leading the defense. He worked under Norv Turner with the Raiders, who balanced head coaching and play calling. Still, Sarkisian knows it can be difficult.