Golden: Sarkisian well aware of Saban's success against former assistants

Steve Sarkisian had a great reply Sunday night when asked at halftime of the LSU-Florida State game about Nick Saban’s 28-2 record against his former assistants: “What’s the record of all the guys who aren’t former assistants of Nick Saban?”

Well played.

At Monday’s presser, Sarkisian smartly kept the focus on his own team and didn’t go too deep into the weeds in talking about the Alabama mystique or the genius of his former boss. I did ask him about the importance of Saban’s mentorship, developing assistants, and how it has influenced how he deals with his own staff.

“I grew in my time at Alabama,” Sarkisian said. “I became a better coach. I became a better leader. I became a better communicator. I became a better organizer. That’s a real tribute to Coach Saban, directly and indirectly."

Sarkisian said being a human sponge and watching a legend go about his business was a great aid in his development, along with those invaluable conversations with two of the best to ever do it.

It’s a pipeline of sorts. Saban coached for Bill Belichick, who coached for Bill Parcells, who was a basketball assistant to Bob Knight at Army. Sarkisian, who also had a great mentor in Pete Carroll at USC, is using those lessons to help his own assistants in their development.

“If you really go into those situations that you have as an assistant coach and you’re really willing to learn and you’re really willing to evolve and you’re willing to make necessary adjustments to your coaching style, you can grow,” he said.

If Sarkisian has his way, his assistants will one day talk about the year the staff went in and knocked off the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. That would constitute some growth, and not just in the coaching development department.

Golden: Texas' Quinn Ewers did what he had to do, but he's far from a finished product

No time to panic on Texas volleyball

Lots of Texas volleyball left: I wouldn’t hit the panic button on Texas volleyball after No. 2 Stanford ruined the home opener with a 25-23, 25-20, 25-15 nationally televised spanking of the defending national champions.

The Cardinal are on the short list of preseason national title favorites, having returned three AVCA All-Americans from last season’s team that finished 27-5 and made it to the Elite Eight.

Back in the day, Texas baseball coaching legend Augie Garrido would always schedule an early-season weekend series against Stanford because he viewed coach Mark Marquess’ teams as a nice test to see what areas needed to be addressed.

More: Stanford spoils home opener, championship banner celebration for Texas volleyball

Coach Jerritt Elliott has plenty of time to figure things out. Logan Eggleston doesn’t live here anymore, but he still has some proven veteran talent in Asjia O’Neal, Madisen Skinner and Molly Phillips. It’s a challenge, but it’s what he signed up for. Championship coaches are no strangers to problem solving.

The Longhorns will be fine.

Bohls: Texas' defense answered all questions but one — will it travel to Tuscaloosa, too?

A splashy debut for Deion

It's Prime Time in Colorado, but not in the press box: Deion Sanders was the biggest story of the first full weekend of the season, but the Colorado head coach doesn’t know the first thing about journalism, despite spending the past two decades working in the media.

More: Ranked rumble with No. 4 Alabama awaits No. 11 Texas after season-opening win over Rice

Asking media members “Do you believe now?” was a bad look, even if he reserves the right to call out those who have disagreed with how he handled taking over the program.

It seems that Sanders believes the media is either with him or against him, which leaves out thousands of the real journalists who never had a dog in his fight. Social media has blurred the lines between traditional journalism and a lot of the stuff where fans have obtained journalism degrees and really believe they’re part of the team they cover.

It doesn’t work that way for real journalists. When Vince Young led the 2005 Longhorns to the national championship, the university didn’t send any of the state or national media a VY bonus for our extensive coverage. Reason being, we don’t work for the athletic department.

Texas notebook: RB Jonathon Brooks shines after CJ Baxter leaves game with injury

As for Colorado, Sanders has worked wonders over there. He’s obviously a tremendous coach, but he shouldn’t confuse coverage with cheerleading. The real ones among us don’t use pompoms even though we love a good story like this one.

We're the deliverers of stories, not participants in them.

We do believe.

In good journalism.

Americans on the rebound

Real hope for American men's tennis: As the U.S. Open surges into the second week, three men — Francis Tiafoe, Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz — could snap the 20-year drought since an American won a major.

It’s been quite a few rallies since Andy Roddick toppled Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets in his breakthrough 2003 season in which he grabbed the No. 1 ranking at the tender age of 21.

While Coco Gauff keeps the women’s hopes burning brightly — Texas ex Peyton Stearns had a nice fourth-round run before losing Monday — the American men are guaranteed a semifinalist since Tiafoe and Shelton are playing each other in the quarters. Fritz will have the toughest task as he faces Novak Djokovic — owner of 23 majors — in his quarter.

If anything, these three — ages 25, 20 and 25 — give us some real hope of a breakthrough. The retiring Jack Sock and Jon Isner represented the country well, but we never thought they would win a major, did we?

This new crew feels different.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football, Sarkisian a touchdown underdog against Alabama