Texas HC Steve Sarkisian would be wise to not throw rocks at glass houses with his comments on Ole Miss

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Oct 25, 2025; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian walks out of the lockerroom prior to the game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Tyler Forness

Tue, May 12, 2026 at 10:40 PM UTC ·

3 min read

Steve Sarkisian had some harsh comments about academics at Ole Miss, but his past should prevent those from being spoken.

The future of college football is at the heart of nearly every discussion about the sport. From the possible expansion of the college football playoff to 24 teams and how NIL and revenue sharing are impacting the sport, it’s constant and from every angle.

The other is the transfer portal. Combining that with players making money for attending schools, the focus on academics feels like it’s being pushed further into the background. Your mileage will vary about the importance of that in college football, but it’s noteworthy, especially when coaches fire shots at each other .

Steve Sarkisian should be careful about making comments about academics

During an interview with USA Today’s Matt Hayes, Texas Longhorns head coach S teve Sarkisian took a shot at the Ole Miss Rebels about their transfer portal process.

"At Texas, we will only take 50% of a player's academic credit hours," Hayes quotes Sarkisian as saying. "You may be a semester from graduating, but you're going all the way back to 50% if you play here and want a degree. But at Ole Miss, they can take you. All you have to do is take basket weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree. It's like we've forgotten about academics, yet less than 5% of these guys will play in the NFL."

Texas Longhorns HC Steve Sarkisian

Now, if that is all true, there’s nothing wrong with saying so. However, you need to be careful when taking shots at other programs, because it’s often the case that programs do some of the same things.

In fact, one of Sarkisian’s best players when he was at USC, quarterback Matt Leinart, took a ballroom dancing class to finish his degree.

“School’s done for me — I’m here to concentrate on football,” he said. Leinart will complete his schooling by taking a class in ballroom dancing with Cameron, a sophomore from Thousand Oaks who plays on USC’s women’s basketball team. “We both kind of figured, ‘Let’s take that.’ We’ll practice our tango or whatever the heck they do — the 1-2 step,” Leinart said, smiling.

Associated Press Article

Now, is ballroom dancing the same as basket weaving? You can be the judge on that, but when your former superstar quarterback did nearly the same thing, it would be wise to be careful with the commentary.