Ire of Texas: Sark sorry for skipping out on song
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian opened his Monday news conference following the Longhorns’ 41-34 loss to Oklahoma State by apologizing for not singing “The Eyes of Texas,” the school song, before leaving the field.
“As you know, I owe an apology to Longhorn Nation,” Sarkisian said. “I made a mistake at the end of the game in not singing ‘The Eyes of Texas’ when the game was done. That was not anything intentional. That was not anything that had to do with our players. I think our players just followed me up the ramp into the locker room, obviously upset by the way the game ended.”
The song has been the subject of a controversy over the past few years as the school has reckoned with its origins in a minstrel show sung by performers in blackface. Former head coach Tom Herman was criticized for letting players choose whether they wanted to sing it or not.
At Sarkisian’s introductory news conference in January 2021, he made a strong statement that it will not be a question going forward.
“I know this much, ‘The Eyes of Texas’ is our school song,” he said. “We’re going to sing that song. We’re going to sing that proudly.”
But on Saturday, after the loss, only a few players remained on the field in Stillwater for the song.
Sarkisian said. “I apologize to everybody for that. That’ll never happen again. But again, it was not intentional. It was not premeditated by any means. That was just a mistake on my part. Nothing to do with the players. They had followed my lead on that. So that won’t happen again.”
Sarkisian addressed the Longhorns’ loss to the Cowboys, in which they had 14 penalties, their most since 2015, and lost a 14-point lead they had in the second quarter. It was Sarkisian’s fifth loss in which the Longhorns blew a double-digit lead since he was hired in 2021, the most in the FBS in that span. It was also the Longhorns’ fifth straight road loss, their second-longest road losing streak in the past 80 years.
Sarkisian said he still sees improvement and is not concerned about the trend.
“It’s easy to look at the record,” said Sarkisian, who is 10-10 with Texas. “We’ve come a long way as a program. I feel very good about where we’ve come. I love our style of play. I think we play hard, we play tough. Like a lot of programs, I think we’re a work in progress. You know, a couple balls bounce a certain way and our record is different. I wouldn’t change how I feel about our program and the direction that we’re going in.”
And he addressed Saturday’s struggles by quarterback Quinn Ewers, who went 19-of-49 for 319 yards, with two touchdowns to three interceptions. His 15 overthrows were the most in the FBS in the past three seasons.
“Would I have liked more precision in the passing game, does some of that responsibility fall on him? Yes,” Sarkisian said. “Some of that responsibility falls on me. Some of it falls on the receivers, some that falls on the O-line, the running backs, everybody has to assume their own responsibility in that. There’s definitely room for growth.”
Sarkisian said he never seriously considered benching Ewers for Hudson Card.
“I think Quinn is wired the right way,” Sarkisian said. “I think he’ll be the first one to tell you he would love to play better than he did.”
Texas has a bye week before traveling to Kansas State on Nov. 5.
CHICAGO — Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has made the Chicago Blackhawks, agreeing to a $1 million, one-year contract with the team.
Chicago announced the deal on Sunday. Grzelcyk had been with the team in training camp on a personal tryout agreement.
The Blackhawks visit the Florida Panthers for their season opener Tuesday.
The 31-year-old Grzelcyk had one goal and a career-high 39 assists in 82 games for Pittsburgh last season. He also set a career high with a team-leading 101 blocked shots.
Grzelcyk, a Massachusetts native, was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft. He had 25 goals and 110 assists in 445 games for the Bruins over eight seasons.
PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers rid themselves of defenseman Ryan Ellis‘ contract in a trade with the Sharks, ending his tenure at four games played in four seasons.
Ellis and a conditional sixth-round draft pick were traded to San Jose on Sunday for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev. The condition on the sixth-round pick is that San Jose shall receive the earlier of two picks Philadelphia currently owns in the 2026 sixth round, its own and Columbus‘.
The Flyers now have five picks in the 2026 draft. They own one pick in each of the first three rounds, one in the sixth and one in the seventh round.
Philadelphia thought it acquired one of the NHL’s best defensemen when it landed Ellis from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2021 season. Ellis was selected by Nashville with the No. 11 pick in the 2009 draft and helped the Predators win the Stanley Cup in 2017. He had 270 points in 562 career games at the time of the trade.
Ellis played four games in 2021 until he suffered a pelvis injury believed to be career-threatening.
The Sharks likely will place Ellis on long-term injured reserve. He has two seasons left on an eight-year, $50 million contract that carries an annual cap hit of $6.25 million through 2027.
Grundstrom scored nine points in 56 games with San Jose last season.
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