Steve Sarkisian
The numbers
$11,050,000
Contract Year 6 (January 1 - December 31, 2026)
USA TODAY reports $10.80M (FY2025). That is $250K less than the contract's figure for this period.
Prior deal: the superseded Texas — Steve Sarkisian terms, UT System 2024 consent agenda printed $6,200,000 for pre-2024-amendment Contract Year 6 (January 1 - December 31, 2026) (page 43).
Prior deal: the superseded Texas — Steve Sarkisian terms, UT System 2024 consent agenda printed $10,500,000 for Contract Year 6 (January 1 - December 31, 2026) (page 44).
What the document says
“To: Guaranteed compensation (Increase of 3.85%): Annual Salary and payment to Fourth and Short, Inc.: Contract Year 5 (January 1 - December 31, 2025): $10,800,000; Contract Year 6 (January 1 - December 31, 2026): $11,050,000; Contract Year 7 (January 1 - December 31, 2027): $11,300,000; Contract Year 9 (January 1 - December 31, 2028): $11,550,000; Contract Year 10 (January 1 - December 31, 2029): $11,800,000; Contract Year 11 (January 1 - December 31, 2030): $12,050,000; Contract Year 12 (January 1 - December 31, 2031): $12,300,000”2025 consent agenda item 11 — 'To:' guaranteed compensation · Texas — Steve Sarkisian terms, UT System 2025 consent agenda · Page 31
$60.31M
USA TODAY salary database, FY2025. The documents in this corpus state no termination or buyout terms for Steve Sarkisian, so this figure is not read off a contract page.
Through December 31, 2031
full term (2025 amendment)
Running from January 1, 2025.
What the document says
“Period: January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2031”February 19-20, 2025 UT System Board of Regents consent agenda, item 11 · Texas — Steve Sarkisian terms, UT System 2025 consent agenda · Page 31
Figures on these cards are read off the cited document at the cited page. USA TODAY's row is reported alongside as a cross-check, not merged into them: a contract states scheduled pay for a contract year, USA TODAY reports one fiscal year of pay to whoever held the job, and the two are expected to differ. USA TODAY also lists a maximum bonus of $1.85M. Source ↗
The fine print
20 hours of private flight time a year for personal use, with no carryover.
“Private Airplane Use: University to provide 20 hours of private aircraft flight time for personal use each year and unused hours will not carryover”Texas — Steve Sarkisian terms, UT System 2025 consent agenda · Page 29View the document →
The 2024 board packet carried the identical 20-hour, no-carryover term.
“Private Airplane Use: University to provide 20 hours of private aircraft flight time for personal use each year and unused hours will not carryover”Texas — Steve Sarkisian terms, UT System 2024 consent agenda · Page 43View the document →
Two dealer cars.
“Automobile: Two dealer cars”Texas — Steve Sarkisian terms, UT System 2025 consent agenda · Page 29View the document →
Every clause here is quoted from the document it cites. A clause that cannot be re-checked against the scan is not published.
Read the contract
The flights
Contract grants 20 personal flight hours a year → Published reporting on Texas Longhorns aircraft during this tenure:
A jet clause is eligibility; a tracked flight is evidence; the join is presented as contract-next-to-reporting, never as proof the coach was aboard.
How this page is sourced
Where a contract for this coach is in the corpus, the headline figures are read off that document at the page each card cites, and USA TODAY's figure runs alongside as a cross-check. Where no contract is held, the figures are school-reported contract terms from USA TODAY's coaches salary database for the most recent fiscal year on file. Neither is W-2 compensation, and neither is comparable to Form 990 totals for private schools.
Clause text is transcribed verbatim from the cited document at the cited page. Where a term is attributed to published reporting rather than a document we hold, the card says so explicitly.
Flight reports linked here are attributed to the program and the date, not to a passenger. Nothing on this page claims a coach exercised a clause or was aboard an aircraft.