Steve Sarkisian is 48-20 at Texas after five seasons, with two College Football Playoff semifinal appearances and a 2023 Big 12 Championship to his name. He’s unquestionably the best Texas coach to walk the sidelines since Mack Brown retired, and has elevated the Longhorns to a spot in the college football world where championship contention is expected.

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He’s also set to enter his sixth season at Texas, something only six other coaches in the lengthy history of the program have been able to accomplish.

What has year six looked like in the past?

Final Record: 9-1-1
AP poll finish: No. 4
Bowl result: Cotton Bowl vs. LSU – L 13-0

Royal’s program entered the season ranked No. 2 and even rose to No. 1 late halfway through the year. But a 14-14 tie at Rice dropped Texas from No. 1 to No. 5 as the calendar turned to November. Texas won the Southwest Conference that year, but an undefeated USC team took home the national title.

The Longhorns would get over the hump the following season, Royal’s seventh, thanks to standouts like Duke Carlisle and Tommy Nobis.

Final Record: 10-3
AP poll finish: No. 12
Bowl result: Holiday Bowl vs. Washington State – L 28-20

A talented redshirt freshman named Vince Young saw his first action, but the presence of Chance Mock and some of Young’s own shortcomings at that stage in his career made passing a struggle. The same could not be said of the run game, where Cedric Benson logged 1360 yards and 21 touchdowns while Young had 998 yards and 11 scores.

Plus, Derrick Johnson, Michael Huff, and Nathan Vasher were patrolling the defensive backfield. An early loss to Arkansas, one of the most embarrassing Red River Shootout defeats in history, and a loss to No. 15 Washington State in the Holiday Bowl dropped the Longhorns out of the top 10. However, the starting quarterback role belonged to Young the following season and Texas lost only one game between 2004 and 2005.

Fred Akers: 1982

Final Record: 9-3
AP poll finish: No. 17
Bowl result: Sun Bowl vs. North Carolina – L 26-10

Texas finished No. 2 in the AP Poll in 1981 and had Robert Brewer back for 1982 after he saw a considerable amount of action in the previous year. But back to back losses in Dallas to unranked Oklahoma and No. 4 SMU knocked the Longhorns out of the AP Poll.

Texas then went on a 6-game winning streak, but finished second in the Southwest Conference to one of the best Pony Express SMU teams of the early 1980s. Akers would then put Texas within reach of a fourth national title in 1983.

Dana Bible: 1942

Final Record: 9-2
AP poll finish: No. 11
Bowl result: Cotton Bowl vs. Georgia Tech – W 14-7

1942 built on a strong 1941 season where Texas was at one point the No. 1 team in the country for the first time in program history. The Longhorns finished 1941 ranked No. 4. What 1942 accomplished that 1941 was unable to do was win a bowl. The Longhorns won the Cotton Bowl for the first time in program history, starting multi-year stretch during WWII where Texas finished ranked four times and won two Cotton Bowls.

Cylde Littlefield: 1932

Final Record: 8-2
AP poll finish: N/A
Bowl result: N/A

Stats for this era are limited to non-existent, but the Longhorns finished second to a TCU team that went undefeated in SWC play. During this time, Littlefield was also Texas’ track coach. He was head football coach for one more season in 1933 before he went back to being an assistant for the Horns starting with the 1936 season.

Final Record: 4-7
AP poll finish: N/A
Bowl result: N/A

At this point, the sixth season for these coaches ended up being the final season. After peaking in 1995 with a Sugar Bowl appearance and then making the most of 1996 to win the first Big 12 Championship, the Longhorns entered the season ranked No. 12 and with high expectations.

The Longhorns started strong with a 48-14 win over Rutgers.

Then Rout 66 happened.

Then Texas lost five of its last six games. Even with Ricky Williams on the roster, Texas mustered just 25.7 points per game and gave up an astounding 33.3 points per contest. Mackovic was fired and reassigned.

“Generally, we felt we needed a change in leadership,” athletic director DeLoss Dodds said at the time. “I think Texas can have a Top 10 program every year and contend for a national championship every once in a while.”

Edwin Price: 1956

Final Record: 1-9
AP poll finish: N/A
Bowl result: N/A

Undoubtedly the worst season in the history of Texas football, Price went from 7-3 in 1953, to 4-5-1 in 1954, to 5-5 in 1955. With 1956 obviously being a make or break year, Price’s squad broke.

The only win was a 7-6 victory over Tulane in New Orleans. Texas played four one-possession games and went 1-3 in those games. The Longhorns lost to No. 1 Oklahoma, 45-0, and No. 5 Texas A&M, 34-21. The Texas offense broke 20 points in only two games and were held to single digits six times.

Price never coached in college football again, staying on as an administrator for the university.

His replacement? Darrell Royal.