Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian has been named to the 2024 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award watch list. The award, presented each January by the American Heart Association, honors a college football coach for contributions that benefit athletes and fans by exemplifying grit, integrity, and excellence on and off the field.
Sarkisian and the top-ranked Longhorns are off to a 6-0 start for the first time since 2009. They moved to No. 1 in the AP Poll on September 15, their first time at the top since October 26, 2008. Texas has held the No. 1 spot in both the AP Poll and AFCA Coaches Poll for the past two weeks and has been in the top spot of at least one of these polls for five consecutive weeks, the longest streak since 1977.
Under Sarkisian, Texas’ offense is averaging 495.7 yards per game and 7.2 yards per play, approaching the school’s single-season records. They are also nearing a record for passing yards per game. Defensively, Texas has a point differential of +221 through six games, their best since 1915. They lead the nation in several defensive categories and have allowed only 38 points this season, the fewest since 1964. The Longhorns have been ranked in the Top 10 for 22 weeks in a row and have a record of 18-2 since the start of the 2023 season.
In their first season as a member of the SEC, Texas is the first conference team to score over 250 points and allow fewer than 40 through the first six games of a season.
