University of Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian was named to the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award Watch List on Tuesday, joining twenty-five other coaches receiving attention from the committee for their midseason performances. The No. 8 Longhorns are 5-1 this season under Sarkisian, and have been ranked in the Associated Press Top-10 for six consecutive polls. This is the longest stretch of Top-10 rankings for the Longhorns since the 2009 season in which they played for a national championship.
The Bryant Award, voted on by the National Sports Media Association, the Bryant Awards’ Executive Leadership and the Bryant Family, will be announced on Wednesday, January 10th at the Post Oak Hotel in Houston.
The 2023 Bear Bryant Watch List Honorees (by Conference)
Atlantic Coast Conference
- Jeff Brohm – University of Louisville
- Mack Brown – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Mike Elko – Duke University
- Mike Norvell – Florida State University
Big Ten Conference
- Ryan Day – Ohio State University
- James Franklin – Pennsylvania State University
- Jim Harbaugh – University of Michigan
- Mike Locksley – University of Maryland
Big 12 Conference
- Lance Leipold – University of Kansas
- Steve Sarkisian – University of Texas at Austin
- Brent Venables – University of Oklahoma
Group of Five Conferences
- Troy Calhoun – United States Air Force Academy – Mountain West Conference
- Curt Cignetti – James Madison University – Sun Belt Conference
- Jamey Chadwell – Liberty University – Conference USA
- Willie Fritz – Tulane University – American Athletic Conference
- G.J. Kinne – Texas State University – Sun Belt Conference
Pac-12 Conference
- Kalen DeBoer – University of Washington
- Dan Lanning – University of Oregon
- Lincoln Riley – University of Southern California
- Deion Sanders – University of Colorado
- Jonathan Smith – Oregon State University
Southeastern Conference
- Eliah Drinkwitz – University of Missouri
- Lane Kiffin – University of Mississippi
- Nick Saban – University of Alabama
- Kirby Smart – University of Georgia
- Mark Stoops – University of Kentucky
