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Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian spoke in Atlanta at the 2025 SEC Media Days as the Longhorns look ahead to the upcoming season. He touched on NIL while at the podium.
In doing so, Sarkisian attempted to downplay the role it plays in his program’s recruiting success. That commentary landed immediate criticism from college football viewers.
“We only have so much money to go around,” he was heard saying while addressing the room of press members. Most offered a correction to that statement after the fact.
Texas has the most money to go around.
The Longhorns are reportedly spending upwards of $40 million on its 2025 football roster. They ranked second in spending ($20m+) in 2024. Not many others in the sport have that type of cash on hand.
Revenue sharing can help bridge the gap for some programs, but Texas’s payroll typically ranks near the top.
Steve Sarkisian values relationships over NIL.
That is the case for the majority of SEC coaches. With the revolving door that is the transfer portal, no one wants to re-recruit their roster each and every season.
Downplaying the importance of NIL in the recruiting message seemed disingenuous, though. Especially, from a program that flaunts its wealth by parking rows of Lamborghinis on its football field for recruiting visits.
“We don’t talk about NIL, or revenue sharing, or publicity rights until the very end, and that may hurt us on some kids,” he said in Atlanta. “But if the kid is coming to Texas for that reason, we don’t want him anyway… I can’t offer every player the most money that he might get offered from another school. It just doesn’t work like that.”
Sarkisian’s spoken on this NIL outlook in the past. It seemed contradictory then, and it continues to now.
“If you lead with NIL to get a young man to come to your school, then a year from now, what’s he going to ask about first?” he asked Joel Klatt in an interview last year. “NIL doesn’t come up. That should be the last reason you choose a school.”
That may be the case. Relationships and loyalty are important. Still, Texas is spending more than most to be successful on the football field. NIL is making more of an impact than Sarkisian is leading on.