What Sark learned from Nick Saban and Pete Carroll

Sark tells Joel Klatt the biggest takeaways he learned from coaching under Nick Saban and Pete Carroll; two of the arguably best coaches of all time.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
It's the Craig Way Show with avoice of the Texas Longhorns and Hall of
Fame broadcast there, Craig Way,Okay, we're going to continue quickly.
Some more audio from Steve Sarkesan withhis conversation with Joel Clatt on Big Neon
Conversations Again. I check it outon YouTube. It's a great interview,

(00:27):
about forty minutes long. But Ithought Clatt did a great job with sark
and always loved hearing the insight fromSteve Sarksian. So we all know he
was at USC under Pete Carroll.He was on the sideline during that two
thousand and five Rolls Bowl victory forTexas. He went to Washington, then
USC, and then ended up atAlabama under Nick Saban before coaching with the

(00:52):
Atlanta Falcons. So Clade asked sarkwho was the biggest coaching influences in his
life. You obviously said Nick Sabanand Pete Carroll. Then Joel asked him
what he learned from from those twoguys. Crazy to think, like,
I'll say this, in our inmy era of coaching, the three greatest

(01:14):
of all time, right, ifyou put coach Saban, coach Carroll and
Bill Belichick, right, and thoseguys in their organizations that they were part
of the biggest thing I got fromthose two dramatically different personalities. Here's Pete
Carroll, he's bouncing around, he'stwo and gum, he's playing catch every
day, he's got his gloves on. He's creating an environment of energy and

(01:37):
that the guys are flying around.Here's Nick Saban. It's like the methodical
regiment, the discipline of this ishow we're going to go about our business,
and this is the approach. Okay, but in the end, they're
both striving for the exact same thing, which is being champions. They're both
highly competitive, two of the mostcompetitive humans I've ever been around, and
the both extremely successful. But whatI came to find out in my time

(02:02):
having been with Coach Carrol, thenI get back with Coach Saban and asking
those questions were if you look attheir careers, the second half of their
careers is when they really took off. Yeah, I would argue, way
more successful than the first not evenclose. Right, both of them right
around fifty and then the last twentytwenty two years or both seventy two have

(02:24):
been the greatest years of their careers. Well, why is that what happened?
And so I asked them both theexact same question and really got the
exact same answer. They figured outwho they were, and then they coached
who they were rather than trying tobe something that they're not. And because
when you try to be something you'renot, when adversity strikes, they're real

(02:47):
you comes out and then everybody aroundsyou like, who the hell's that guy?
Like that's not who he was yesterdayin the day before, but all
of a sudden, here's this guythat comes out. And I think that
for me was probably the biggest thing, because I remember I was thirty four
years old. I was like,hey, coach University Washington. I didn't
know what the heck was going onnow. I was one day I was
like this, and next day Iwas like this. I was at that

(03:09):
time, and I use this analogy. I was a thermometer. I was
walking into whatever the situation was,whatever the temperature was. That's how I
responded. And I've gotten to nowI'm a thermostat. I set that temperature
for how I want it to beevery day, and then others can either

(03:30):
buy into that temperature or not.And so if you figure out who you
are, and then you try toact in accord as to who you are
as consistently as possible, so everybodyknows what to expect. And I think
that's the beauty of having an opportunityto work for those two guys. They're
drastically different, but they figured outwho they were. Pete Carroll wasn't following
built Bart Parcels in New England anymore, trying to be how do I be

(03:53):
Bill Parcells but still be Pete Carroll. He didn't have to do that anymore,
right, Nick Saban figured out whohe was. I see so many
coaches now that left those trees ofthose two guys that tried to be Pete
Carroll tried to be Nick Saban andfailed miserably, Yes, because they weren't
trying to be themselves, but stillhold on to some of the premises of

(04:15):
the things that were really good inthat program. And like I said,
I feel like I've been fortunate towork for two amazing men in our sport
that have been tremendous in the life. Lessons I learned from them, well
beyond football that I've been able toapply but apply in a way that fits
me. So there's a consistency tothe approach that I give every day.
There's been a handful of coaches Andrewthat have been Belichick disciples or Saved disciples

(04:42):
and just hasn't worked out as ahead coach, and I wonder if that's
because they try to be like Sabanor Belichick too much and not be who
they are, like Sark just talkedabout. I cannot agree more. Man,
that exactly the thing happened to JoshMcDaniels and I think Matt Patricia,
both Belichick disciples who thought, oh, I'll just do what Belichick does.

(05:03):
There's only one of him. There'sonly one Bill Belichick. So I love
that Sark is from this lineage,but he's not trying to like be a
carbon copy. Like there's stuff thatyou take away from those guys for sure,
but you don't try to copy themverbatim. Yeah, that's a good

(05:24):
point. I'll throw a little moreat you, bell O'Brien. Right,
He's had success with both those guys, but as the head coach, it
just really hasn't worked out so far. At Texas. It has worked out
for Sark three years a college footballPlayoff appearance, first time in Texas football
history, twelve and two records lastyear, and now enter the first season

(05:44):
in the SEC this year. Again. If you want to hear more of
that conversation, we'll probably get toit next week, but also feel free
to listen to it on YouTube.Joel Klatt's Big New Conversation with Steve Sarkshan
Again one of the best interviews you'regoing to hear between Joel Klatt and any
four ball coach, just not SteveSarkeshan. Okay, we'll be back to
wrap up today's program here on SportsRadio AM thirteen hundred The Zone