Intro I'm a big attitude guy and this whole idea that life is 10% what happens to me 90% how I react to it inevitably I think all the things that I've been through have been for a reason I wouldn't change it for the world every day when Texas coach Steve sarkeesian puts on his burnt orange and white he sees it the 12-in scar on his chest a reminder of a moment in the summer of 2020 when he was an Alabama assistant that nearly cost him everything so at Alabama it's a The summer of 2020 prerequisite every year that you go through an executive physical so every summer you go to Birmingham making sure your heart's okay I've done it for a long time because my dad passed when he was 46 so there was always a little concern concern there that maybe you need to make sure you're okay and then I wanted everybody to share that same sort of opportunity to make sure that they were healthy one of our physicians in Birmingham where the physical was done he called me and said we've got a problem never had we seen something this dire or this critical that had to be managed and managed The aneurysm immediately the physical revealed sarkeesian had an aneurysm in his heart the result of a leaky valve and while most people are born with three heart valves sarkeesian learned he was born with two he says he had no idea until the physical they said well what you have is the Widowmaker the medical world doesn't label something a Widowmaker if it's not very serious if you have an aneurysm they'll monitor it up to 3 cm if you hit three or above they want to go in and and repair it so by the time they they Di diagnosed mine and went in to look at it I was at 6 and2 cm he had a 5% chance to live had this The rupture rupture happen once it burst that was over it was lights out he would have dropped dead that's how serious it was it was just a matter of time of him just collapsing he was literally a ticking Time Bomb if we don't get this fixed this is going to be a major issue 4 days after his diagnosis sarkeesian had life-saving open heart surgery after the procedure he would Relearning to walk have to relearn how to walk and talk it's like rebooting your computer and I didn't want to go back to the office until I felt like I was really physically prepared to go do it my wife and I went on Plenty of walks together I got up early one morning and I went on about a two-mile walk and that was the first time I'd really walked by myself I had to go up a pretty good Hill in our neighborhood and I remember sitting down kind of on on the curb thinking well if you can't do this you can't coach like you're not going to be physically able to do it so I got up and I walked to the top of this hill and I turned around and walked back and I was drenched in sweat and I remember walking in the door and my wife looking at me like where the hell have you been I was Going back to work so upset but he was ready ready to get back to work he's trying to prove it to himself like I can go back I can coach I can stand on the sidelines I can be with the team football is is bread and butter like that is what makes him go sarkeesian returned to the Crimson Tide in time for training camp about 3 weeks after surgery as offensive coordinator he helped lead Alabama to its eight 18th national championship before leaving Tuscaloosa at the end of the season for the head coaching job at Texas anytime I talk about my journey my career where we're at today I would not be here without Nick Sav to have this executive physical he saved me he probably saved my life a few times by doing a great job while he was here so we we're kind of even I think so knows that's it Texas comes into Tuscaloosa and snaps a 21 game HomeField win streak I think this was a reboot at life in the best most positive way you can get over any hump even if it's looking deaf in the face the scar reminds me of we can overcome a lot and just because we hit a roadblock in our life we don't have to stay there right we can get on the other side of it and keep charging forward and so I'm a better coach today I'm a better man today because of [Music] that