Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has agreed to a contract extension with the school, which adds a year to his current deal and provides a raise from the $10.4 million salary he was scheduled to make in 2025, a source briefed on the deal confirmed to The Athletic.
Sarkisian, who is 38-17 in four years at Texas, led the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff semifinals for the second year in a row before they were knocked out by Ohio State. Texas went 13-3 in 2024, its first season in the SEC, and made the conference championship game, where it lost to Georgia. Action Network, which first reported the news of Sarkisian’s extension, said that Sarkisian declined interview requests from two NFL teams.
After Sarkisian led Texas to the Playoff and a Big 12 championship in the 2023 season, school leadership awarded him a contract extension through the 2030 season and more than doubled his salary from $5.6 million to $10.3 million in the first year of the deal. The extension fully guaranteed him $74.2 million over the life of the seven-year deal. The new contract runs through the 2031 season, keeping Sarkisian tied to the school for seven years, but his new salary has not yet been publicly disclosed.
On Dec. 30, two days before Texas’ win over Arizona State in the Peach Bowl quarterfinal, Sarkisian was asked whether he had any interest in the NFL but deflected the question, telling reporters, “I have an interest in winning on Jan. 1. That’s what I have interest in.”
Keeping Sarkisian in Austin is a win for the Longhorns, who have enjoyed their most successful stretch of football in 15 years. After a 5-7 debut in 2021, Texas has increased its win total each of the following years, going 8-5 in ’22 and 12-2 in ’23 before notching 13 wins in ’24. The Longhorns, historically one of the most well-resourced programs in college football, have also recruited at an elite level, regularly signing top-five classes. Their 2025 signing class currently ranks No. 1 in the nation, according to 247Sports.
The program is also churning out NFL talent at a higher clip. After having no players chosen in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Longhorns had five players chosen in ’23 and 11 selected in ’24. They could have double-digit players taken again in this April’s draft. The most recent mock draft from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler projected five Longhorns to go in the first two rounds.
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