Steve Sarkisian and the University of Texas is close to hiring another South Carolina team to complete its plans for 2021 and beyond, reports Football Scoop. South Carolina players’ personnel director for players Drew Hughes is expected to leave the Gamecocks for the Longhorns this week.
Derek Chang, the former Longhorns player team director, announced over the weekend on Twitter that he was not signed by Sarkisian after spending four seasons with Tom Herman in Austin.
Hughes’ departure continues the mass exodus of assistant staff or coaches since Shane Beamer accepted the job with Gamecocks. He lost three assistants to Auburn this month and Hughes has worked as a personnel director for South Carolina since February 2020.
Sarkisian is taking the SEC angle with most of his hires so far, getting several Alabama assistants with others from across the conference in the mix of vacant positions. Hughes Hughes worked as a recruitment specialist for Nick Saban from 2007-11 in Alabama and is considered one of the best in his trade.
Sarkisian’s coaching changes since taking over earlier this month with the Longhorns have caught the eye of 247Sports national analyst Josh Pate, who recently said that the former Alabama offensive coordinator is making an immediate impact.
“For all intents and purposes, when it comes to Texas, you might as well not even look at Sark’s head coaching record, because they don’t see themselves as hiring that guy – that guy had problems off the field, that guy had a lot to learn – they’re hiring the Alabama version, “said Pate in Thursday’s episode of 247Sports’ The Late Kick with Josh Pate. “They are hiring Steve Sarkisian’s version, who worked for Nick Saban (Alabama head coach) and, hopefully, collected many new types of intangible structural leadership from Nick Saban. That’s what they hope for. If that’s the case. or not, it remains to be seen. But the belief is that they got the new and improved version of Steve Sarkisian.
“He obviously adhered to that philosophy too, because that’s why he wants a lot of people who have been in his life for the past five years and who have been close to that Alabama machine too, so that he doesn’t go in the door trying to explain it to everyone. in that organization how it should work and be a foreign language for everyone. “
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After an Alabama 52-24 victory over Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game, Sarkisian started working as a head coach in Texas. The Longhorns reached a compromise earlier this month with Lewisville (Texas) 2022 four-star wide receiver Armani Winfield, and Sarkisian hired Alabama special teams coordinator Jeff Banks two days later.