Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is facing backlash after declining to discipline pass rusher Colin Simmons following his controversial celebration on the field. While Sarkisian brushed the incident aside as a non-issue, fans and analysts weren’t as forgiving, with many questioning whether the coach’s leniency sends the wrong message to a talented but immature young player.

“Stay in the minors, Sark. You’ll never make it in the NFL,” Tony Grossi, NFL analyst for the Cleveland Browns, wrote in a post on X.

Up 10-3 in the second quarter, Simmons sacked Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon on what should’ve been an easy fourth down for the Vols. Instead of just walking away, Simmons decided to mime unzipping his pants and urinating on the field.

Predictably, the refs threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, handing Tennessee a free first down. The referee even had to explain on air that the penalty was for “simulating using the restroom.”

ESPN’s broadcast team wasn’t shy about calling it out either. Kirk Herbstreit called it “an absolute idiotic move,” and Chris Fowler agreed, adding that “it doesn’t get much more vulgar, either.”

To his credit, Simmons owned up to it afterward.

“I do want to say, I apologize for the celebration,” he said. “I was definitely in that mode, feeling myself, but you know, it happens.”

Had Simmons pulled this move in the NFL, he would have invited a steep fine. Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown got a $59,074 fine on four counts of unsportsmanlike conduct.

Sarkisian, though, seemed a lot less bothered by the whole thing.

“We had harped and talked about not getting emotional with the crowd, and that was the emotional play,” he said. “We had a couple others that were close, too. We had a real talk about it at halftime, about how we needed to play the second half, and we needed to celebrate with one another.

“We took him out, we addressed it, and put him back in,” he said after the game. “I’m not gonna give the guy the death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.”

However, he acknowledged that players cannot repeat this mistake. But it doesn’t make for a good look, as the Longhorns were the third-highest penalized team last season.

Then he took things in an unexpected direction, blaming the moment on social media culture.

“Unfortunately, in our society right now, we live in the ‘look at me’ society. All of you guys have your Twitter accounts, and as fast as you can type something because you want everyone to look at your account, and you get clicks. Well, that’s the world that we live in. So we’ve got to get to—it’s about the team and focus on the team, and not so much ‘look at me.’ So we’ll try to improve upon that, but five sacks was pretty cool today too.”

When reporters asked Simmons if his coaches addressed the penalty on the sideline, his answer was short.

“Next play mentality. Move on.”

Fans, though, weren’t ready to move on that easily.

“Why didn’t he j–k him out of the game? Take responsibility, Coach!” one wrote.

Another pushed back harder.

“You got it wrong Coach; this was calculated…a bad look on the kid, YOU & UofT…clean it up!”

Others questioned whether Sarkisian would ever hold his players accountable at all.

“Why? Because he is afraid to discipline his immature players. This player is too good to sit for a game, so nothing will happen,” one fan commented.

Another didn’t hold back.

“Oh, so the coach is a piece of s— too. Got it,” another comment read.

Another fan didn’t hold back on questioning Sarkisian’s leadership.

“If Shark was any kind of leader of young athletes, he’d hold the player (& himself) responsible for his reprehensible action. U of T will bear the stink of this day. Shameful.”

Whether Sarkisian likes it or not, this one isn’t going away quietly.