Texas Head Football Coach Sarkisian Says Players Will ‘Proudly’ Sing ‘Eyes of Texas’

University of Texas new head coach hire Steve Sarkisian should be concentrating on a win against Oklahoma, or a potential game with Texas A&M. However, in typical “woke student-athlete” fashion, Sarkisian is having to speak on the school song. “I know this much, The Eyes of Texas is our school song. We’re going to sing that song, we’re going to sing that proudly,” Sarkisian told reporters at his introductory press conference on Tuesday.

“I can’t wait to see what you do,” Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said of Sarkisian. “If there is any indication (from) what happened last night, come on,” Del Conte continued, referencing the game where Sarkisian assisted former team Alabama in winning its sixth national championship in 12 seasons. Sarkisian was offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons from 2017 to 2018 and then for the University of Alabama from 2019 to 2020, before officially accepting the head coach position at UT on January 2.

When asked by reporters about the school song, Sarkisian replied, “That’s our song and we’re fired up to sing it.”

Sark: "I know this much, The Eyes of Texas is our school song. We’re going to sing that song, we’re going to sing that proudly." Says that he knows there are tough discussions that need to happen. But, "That's our song and we're fired up to sing it."

— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) January 12, 2021

The controversy over the school song comes from a statement from the university in June, where student-athletes complained of what they said is the country’s systemic racism, and also “racism that has historically plagued our campus.” The young men and women demanded the changing of certain building names on campus, the change of name of a portion of the stadium, and replacing the school song, “The Eyes of Texas” with a new song “without racist undertones”:

✊🏾 “What starts here changes the world” #WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/pimHqdhFSs

— (@_BrennanEagles_) June 12, 2020

Complaints on Sarkisian’s support of the school song have already come from media liberals such as Ryan Phillips of The Big Lead, who threatened, “The fact that Sarkisian said his team is going to ‘sing that proudly’ is disturbing, especially given the racist history of the song. It won’t be long before he wishes he could take those words back.”

Sarkisian is Texas’ fourth head coach since 2009.