Stephen Sarkisian was born on March 8,1974 and is an American football coach and former player.
42 Facts About Steve Sarkisian
2.
Steve Sarkisian is the head football coach at the University of Texas at Austin, a position he has held since January 2021.
3.
Steve Sarkisian served as the head football coach at the University of Washington from 2009 to 2013, then at the University of Southern California from 2014 to 2015.
4.
Steve Sarkisian played college football as a quarterback at Brigham Young University and professionally with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.
5.
Steve Sarkisian served as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League from 2017 to 2018 and at the University of Alabama from 2019 to 2020.
6.
Steve Sarkisian began his collegiate athletic career in 1992 at the University of Southern California as a non-scholarship middle infielder on the Trojans baseball team.
7.
Steve Sarkisian struggled playing NCAA Division I baseball and transferred after a semester to El Camino College, a two-year community college adjacent to his hometown of Torrance, where he played shortstop.
8.
At the urging of El Camino head football coach John Featherstone, one of his instructors, Steve Sarkisian restarted his football career.
9.
Steve Sarkisian was recruited by DeWayne Walker, then an assistant coach for the BYU Cougars.
10.
Walsh left school a year early to enter the 1995 NFL Draft, creating a void in the depth chart; Steve Sarkisian accepted a scholarship with BYU in December 1994.
11.
At BYU, Steve Sarkisian was coached by offensive coordinator Norm Chow under head coach LaVell Edwards.
12.
Steve Sarkisian passed for 4,027 yards and 33 touchdowns during the regular season.
13.
Steve Sarkisian was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation's top passer, making him the seventh BYU quarterback to win the honor.
14.
Steve Sarkisian was featured on the cover of TV Guide in December 1996.
15.
Steve Sarkisian threw a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to lead the Cougars to a come-from-behind victory.
16.
Steve Sarkisian earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from BYU in 1997 after receiving his associate's degree in general studies from El Camino in 1994.
17.
Steve Sarkisian played professionally for three seasons, 1997 to 1999, for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League.
18.
Steve Sarkisian was a starter in the 1999 season, finishing with 16 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions.
19.
Steve Sarkisian's coaching career began in 2000 when he returned to El Camino College as its quarterbacks coach.
20.
Steve Sarkisian worked as an offensive assistant in 2001 and then as quarterbacks coach in 2002 and 2003.
21.
In 2004, Steve Sarkisian moved to the professional ranks as quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL.
22.
Steve Sarkisian returned to USC for the 2005 season with the title of assistant head coach added to his duties as quarterbacks coach.
23.
In January 2007, Steve Sarkisian interviewed with the Raiders for their vacant head coaching position, but pulled himself out of the running to stay at USC.
24.
Steve Sarkisian was named to replace Lane Kiffin as USC's offensive coordinator when Kiffin took the head coaching job with the Raiders.
25.
Steve Sarkisian signed a contract that paid him $1.75 million in 2009, with a salary increasing to $2.3 million by 2013.
26.
However, Steve Sarkisian expressed reservations about leaving Washington after one year, and decided not to pursue the position.
27.
Steve Sarkisian would go on to win eight games in 2013 before taking the head coaching job at USC prior to Washington's bowl game.
28.
On December 2,2013, Steve Sarkisian chose to return to USC, accepting the head coaching position.
29.
Steve Sarkisian's goal was to get USC back to its winning ways with NCAA sanctions finally ending.
30.
On October 11,2015, Haden announced Steve Sarkisian would take an indefinite leave of absence.
31.
ESPN later reported that Steve Sarkisian came to a pre-practice meeting, only to have his assistants tell him to go home when he appeared to be intoxicated.
32.
Steve Sarkisian subsequently revealed that he had tried to call Sarkisian to notify him personally, but by then Sarkisian was on his way to an out-of-state rehab facility and could not be reached.
33.
However, multiple reports said that Steve Sarkisian's assistants believed he was drunk during a game against Arizona State.
34.
Hours before Steve Sarkisian's firing, the Los Angeles Times reported that Steve Sarkisian had been involved in numerous alcohol-related incidents while at the University of Washington.
35.
Steve Sarkisian filed a $30 million wrongful termination lawsuit against USC, but later agreed to move it to private arbitration.
36.
Steve Sarkisian stepped into the role in the National Championship game against Clemson.
37.
On February 7,2017, Steve Sarkisian was hired as offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, taking over for the recently departed Kyle Shanahan who left to become the head coach of the 49ers.
38.
Steve Sarkisian won the Broyles Award, given to the nation's top coaching assistant, for his coaching during the 2020 season.
39.
Steve Sarkisian won the FootballScoop Offensive Coordinator of the Year award, voted on by previous winners of the award.
40.
On January 2,2021, Steve Sarkisian was named the 31st head football coach at University of Texas at Austin.
41.
Steve Sarkisian's father is an Armenian who was born and raised in Tehran, Iran before immigrating to the United States at the age of 18 to attend college.
42.
Steve Sarkisian has since married Loreal Smith, a former collegiate track star and coach.