Steve Sarkisian Seems Set on Players Singing 'The Eyes of Texas' After Games
Steve Sarkisian joined Tiki and Tierney on Friday to discuss taking over as the head coach at Texas. It was an interesting interview, but Sarkisian may have stepped in it again over his stance on the song "The Eyes of Texas."
The song is divisive among players given its racist history and during his introductory press conference, Sarkisian boldly said the team would be standing on the field and singing it after games. That can't have sat well with the Longhorns' roster after Texas' student athletes took a stand against the tune last summer.
Brandon Tierney asked Sarkisian about his defense of the song, and how he thought it would sit with players:
"We’ll have a lot of candid conversations with our players... about why it’s important to sing that song"@TexasFootball HC @CoachSark on decisoin to sign #EyesofTexashttps://t.co/a2hXzPxFTg pic.twitter.com/4uhsmozN5A
— TikiAndTierney (@TikiAndTierney) January 15, 2021
It sounds like Sarkisian is going to push to sing the song regardless of what the players want. That's not a great stance to be taking early in his tenure. The players didn't want to do it in 2020, and when they were forced to, they didn't look happy about it.
If Sarkisian wanted to divide his program in his first weeks on the job, mission accomplished.
The entire interview with Sarkisian is below: