Sarkisian: Culture beats talent, but culture and talent together is a powerful force

No word gets used more in the coaching profession than culture.

It's also probably the toughest word to define among coaches.

As Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns prepare to take on Texas Tech this weekend with the taste of a Big 12 title and College Football Playoff berth within their grasp sitting at 10-1 currently, the leader of the Longhorns was asked about how he talks about their culture in Austin being behind their success this season.

Sark smirked before offering a great perspective on what culture is to him.

"The first thing about culture is that culture is organic. It is not a sign up in your building. It is not a t-shirt you wear. It's not breaking the team down and saying 'culture on three.'"

"Culture is organic. It manifests itself with the relationships that you build."

Sark - who in year three has taken the Longhorns from 5 wins, to 8 wins, and now has them in position to get to 11 wins  - goes on to share the a few things they talk about within their culture that are of the upmost importance. He identifies a few of those things as; commitment, discipline, accountability, mental and physical toughness, love, vulnerability and transparency.

Speaking of those last two, Longhorns players have opened about how much it has meant to hear directly from Sark about some of his mistakes in the past, as he has allowed himself to be both vulnerable and transparent about mistakes earlier in his life.

"We have to live those things, and then we have to have teachable moments along the way to a) celebrate the guys that are doing those things, b) point out maybe when we are not, and how we can fix it, and then how can we correlate that because who you are some of the time is who you are all of the time."

"So if you want to be a disciplined football team when you take the field each weekend, you have to be disciplined when you are off the field. How are we in school? How are we in community service? All of it all adds up to that becomes your culture because that is who you are and that is how we go about every day life."

To illustrate that point, Sark shares a story about how upon his initial arrival at Texas there were a few players that stayed after each team meeting to make sure things were cleaned up. That evolved into the running back room taking it on the next year, and now they're at a place where everyone is taking an active role in leaving places better than they found it because their mindset has successfully shifted.

"I know those sound like little things, but in the end those are really big things to me because that means that's the way we're thinking all of the time. If we're doing those small things, those actions, and that behavior leads to the big victories. They lead to first-and-goal on the five and your defense has to get four stops. It leads to 3rd and 12, backed up, on the road, and you convert a first down. I think it leads to those guys counting on one another, relying on one another because they're doing the right things on am daily basis."

"I think culture beats talent, if your culture is really strong. Culture and talent together, is a pretty powerful force, and that is something that we have tried to create here."

Hear more from Sark in the clip.