I don't know about this cycle, although I doubt anything has changed, but Sarkisian absolutely deals directly with agents. He doesn't do it exclusively, but he's very involved. He's also very involved with working with the money side. It's almost like the program can go into the shitter when a head coach that hands on and that involved with all aspects of the program keeps over-indulging in everything a major urban area has to offer and then has to spend a key block of time somewhere out of pocket to pull his shit back together on the health and female side of his life. If anyone is actually looking for legitimate reasons for optimism this time around, it's that Sarkisian is apparently fully locked in again and is making moves accordingly. Maybe he'll even make Junior Day and be present for OVs from key transfer targets. This could be awesome! The beautiful thing about watching someone subject themselves to the open market of a competitive workforce is that we're all going to find out their actual worth. If he gets $1M from someone, cool, hope it was all worth it for him torching his relationship with Texas on the way out. You can dispute that, but he'll be persona non grata to the alumni base and likely the AD, and he made that choice because he listened to the wrong people, set unrealistic expectations, and got his feelings hurt. Not showing up or telling the staff of his plans and then announcing he was out was a super smart move. You keep alluding to the human side of all of this, but that is some of the fan calculus that has changed, as it should. The illusion that these guys play for a school because of some love for its story and tradition and to get a proper education, whatever vestiges of that still existed before pay for play, it's all now gone. Little kids, non-obsessive fans, and idealists like you will still get wrapped up in the whole "but he's a great person too!" side of it, but no one should expect to find it on a fan site. This dude is a man. Not a kid. A man in his 20's, making more money than damned near any other man his age on the fucking planet. No one gives a shit about his wittle feels getting hurt. He can go rub his numerous rope chains and then weigh them on his jewelry scale to make himself feel better. And then he can go be average somewhere else, likely disappointing any program idiotic enough to pay him RB1 P4 money. He had a great offer at Texas and he could have been a key part in a big year. Texas will have plenty of money every year, but what do you mean by "extra"? Texas just had one of the top 3 payrolls in the country. That's likely true again in 2026. What the fuck do you want beyond that? Also, how much will you help bring in to top it off? This guy is a player. I'd love to see Texas sign him. I doubt he costs anywhere close to whatever Coleman gets out of ATM or OU.