After the Big 12 commissioner expressed support in August for Texas Tech’s victory over Texas, Sarkisian just wants him to be proud of how the Longhorns represent the conference.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark probably still won’t have Thanksgiving dinner with No. 7 Texas Longhorns ahead of Friday’s regular-season finale against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, as head coach Steve Sarkisian guessed in August.
Sargsyan’s cheeky comment arrived a few days after Yormark made some surprisingly partisan comments about the post-Thanksgiving game during an appearance at a Red Raider Launch Club luncheon.
“Coach, I’m not going to pressure you, but I’ll be in Austin for Thanksgiving, okay? And you better mind your business like you did here in Lubbock last year,” Yormark told Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire in front of a cheering crowd.
During Sarkisian’s press conference Monday, the topic resurfaced, with the Texas head coach saying there was nothing to address when he saw Yormark in Ames Saturday as the Longhorns beat the Cyclones , 26-16. Instead, Sargsyan shifted the focus back to his players, who don’t make conference roster decisions.
“For me, we’ve been on this kick here for months now. This whole situation with us leaving the Big 12, our players didn’t choose to leave the Big 12. They chose to play for the University of Texas. Whatever conference we attend, they just choose to put on the burnt orange and white and run out of the tunnel,” Sargsyan said.
“Whether or not the commissioner opposes our players or whether we’re in the SEC or the Big 12, at the end of the day our guys just want to play good football and they want to win.”
Sarkisian advocates consistency with his team as a way to build trust and the message to his team has remained the same throughout the “Embrace the Hate” tour during road games against future former conference opponents and in the quest to win a title. conference title for the first time since 2009 and is in the College Football Playoff for the first time ever.
“We tried to consume ourselves with what we have to do. As you have heard me say, we have to be in love with ourselves and that is something we have done. That’s been our goal and I think that’s why our players have been so calm and so calm, even on the road, as we’ve gone down the road and the success that we’ve had there since we didn’t not get caught up in what is happening outside. . We really tried to keep the noise down. We’ve really tried to stay focused on each other and how we can continue to support each other,” Sarkisian said.
With the Big 12 logo still behind Sarkisian and still on Texas uniforms and still on Campbell-Williams field, Sarkisian struck a defiant tone as he concluded his comments on the situation.
“He’ll be here on Friday and I hope we put on a hell of a show for him – that’s what I want.” He’s the commissioner of our conference and I hope when he watches us play he’s proud of the way we play and represent the Big 12 because that’s the conference we’re in right now.
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