Less than two weeks after remarks in a interview that drew national attention, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters Thursday he did not mean to insult another school and was speaking about broader transfer inequalities in college football.
In the interview earlier this month Sarkisian said, "At Texas, we will only take 50 percent of a player’s academic credit hours." He added, "But at Ole Miss, they can take you. All you have to do is take basket weaving, and you can get an Ole Miss degree." Those two lines have become the focal point of the debate over transfer admissions and academic standards.
Sarkisian addressed the comments before an event at the Touchdown Club of Houston on Thursday, saying he spoke in a larger sense about inequalities in college football. "That statement — but when you do a sit-down, one-on-one print article, it’s easier to pull out excerpts, to say, ‘Oh, coach Sark said you can go get a basket weaving degree at Ole Miss,’" he told reporters. "That’s not what I was implying, and I apologize if they took it that way."
He repeated that he was not attacking the institution: "Ole Miss is a fine institution, they’ve got the great degrees, all the things there, but there is an inequality when it comes to transfers of who can transfer to us — or to Vanderbilt for that matter — and who can transfer to an Ole Miss." He added a personal note on why the school came up: "The only reason the Ole Miss thing came up is because two of my best friends were there in Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding."
The episode has prompted at least one public report suggesting further consequences. Burnt Orange Nation reported that On3 said Sarkisian might be fined for his negative comments against Ole Miss football’s academic standards. The report cites SEC bylaws 10.2.3 and 10.5.2, which tell coaches and staff to "avoid making any derogatory statements" about another member institution’s athletics program, facilities or educational opportunities and to "refrain from public criticism of other member institutions, their staffs or players." The Ole Miss complaint is based on those SEC bylaw provisions.
Sarkisian sought to walk back the most incendiary language while restating his original point about transfer credit. "At a school like Ole Miss — I’ll reference them that way — they can take one class (after transferring) and get a degree (from Ole Miss)," he said, and later acknowledged, "I probably shouldn’t have used basket weaving as my example for the class, OK?" He also said simply, "I did not," when pressed about implying anything about Ole Miss degrees.
His explanation mixed apology and emphasis. "That’s not what I was implying, and I apologize if they took it that way," he said, and added a personal aside: "I was a sociology major, though." The clarification underscores the tension between an attempt to call attention to perceived policy inequalities and comments that some viewed as dismissive of a peer institution.
What happens next is now the central question. A complaint tied explicitly to SEC bylaws 10.2.3 and 10.5.2 has been reported, and On3 suggested a fine is possible. The decision rests with conference authorities to determine whether Sarkisian’s words crossed the lines those rules set out, and whether any disciplinary action is warranted.
