Steve Sarkisian has devised a straightforward strategy to combat sign theft.
It all comes down to coach-to-player communication.
For the last month, the sign-stealing scandal surrounding the Michigan Wolverines has dominated the college football world, resulting in the termination of staffer Connor Stalions and the suspension of head coach Jim Harbaugh. It’s difficult to escape, with broadcasts regularly discussing the scandal even Michigan isn’t playing.
And Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has a solution, and he wants to get the word out about it.
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The bottom line is that Sarkisian doesn’t buy any of the excuses for why college football can’t adopt technology the NFL began using in 1994 and that Sarkisian employed during his two seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.
“It all just makes, it all makes sense to me and there’s no shortage of money in college football clearly, so the idea that it is a competitive disadvantage for those who can’t do it or that stadiums aren’t equipped to have that kind of technology, I don’t buy it and I don’t understand it,” said Sarkisian. “Anytime I turn on college football late at night, if it’s not the first topic, it’s the second topic that’s brought up is sign stealing. Our game is way too good and there are too many great stories to have that be at the forefront.”
Just as importantly, Sarkisian wants the focus to be on the actual on-field product.
“It should be at the forefront because I believe what was going on was wrong, but at the end of the day, there are too many good stories and positive things around college football, too many great players and too many great teams playing great football for us to be talking about this. Let’s just fix the problem. It’s not that hard, let’s get player-to-coach communication and let’s move forward,” said Sarkisian.
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