Texas football sets GPA record as Sark's academic push pays off

While the Texas Longhorns are preparing for, what is hopefully, a banner season on the football field, off the field, the Longhorns have reached new heights in the classroom. The team posted a 3.36 composite GPA this spring, a program record.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has stressed the importance of academics and its link to athletic success. Sark believes it shows personal discipline that transfers to the gridiron, saying, “Who you are some of the time is who you are all of the time!”

“When I got hired in January of 2021, the team GPA was 2.33,” Sarkisian said last season. “We were a 5-7 football team that fall and had zero NFL draft picks. Now, we’re seeing the results both on the field and in the classroom."

The team posted a 3.31 GPA during the spring 2025 semester, setting a new program record at the time. That topped the 3.27 GPA from fall of 2024.

Sark uses the University of Texas' vaulted academic reputation in his recruiting pitch. UT is a Public Ivy and one of the best public schools in the world.

On an episode of the 3rd & Longhorn Podcast, Sarkisian laid out how he sells it all to elite recruits.

"I think we've got the best product in the US," he told the podcast hosts. "All the while that's occurring at a Top 5 Public Institution in the United States. Name another school who's getting compared to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, but on the flip side is getting compared to Georgia, Ohio State, and Alabama on the football field," Sarkisian said.