Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian explains abrupt postgame interview with Holly Rowe

AUSTIN – Texas coach Steve Sarkisian explained the two separate ESPN interviews that went awry during the Longhorns’ 24-23 upset of No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday.

The first occurred at halftime, when technical difficulties from ESPN forced Sarkisian to wait to be interviewed by sideline reporter Laura Rutledge before he eventually gave up and ran off to address his team in the locker room, while trailing 20-3.

It was the postgame interview however that has drawn more attention when he appeared to brush off ESPN reporter Holly Rowe, saying, “Let’s talk Texas fight, hook ’em” before walking away to join his players in celebration. On Thursday, Sarkisian said there was a delay while he waited to be interviewed in that moment as well and was eager to celebrate with his team.

“If hindsight’s 20/20, if I could do it all over again,” he said, “I would have exhibited more patience in that moment and sat through and waited for the interview with Holly. Obviously, we have a ton of respect for ESPN and Holly. Holly and I go way back even to my days of playing at BYU and we’ve got a great relationship. ESPN is a great partner of ours and we know we’re going to have more opportunities with that crew covering us and we’re looking forward to those opportunities. So we could have definitely handled that situation better with a little bit more patience in the moment.”

Sark wilding out lol pic.twitter.com/JxvXXFj6Ur

– Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) September 13, 2026

When explaining the halftime interview situation, Sarkisian said, “ESPN was having technical difficulties, and I had to make a had to make an in-moment decision to say wait on the interview or try to get with our team and try to make the proper adjustments to come out and play as good as we could in the second half. I let Laura know that, and I think she said that on air. And then I had an opportunity to visit with Laura when we came back out of the locker room to let her know where our thoughts were as a team and what we needed to do in the second half of that game.”

Sarkisian walking away from Rowe after the game is what gained a lot of traction online and Arch Manning was drawn into the situation Monday when he laughed about a fake AI video depicting Sarkisian slapping Rowe and the quarterback called it “hilarious.” Manning apologized for his comments Wednesday.

“Obviously Arch recognizes he made a mistake, and it’s an unfortunate one,” Sarkisian said. “Nowhere do we condone domestic violence or violence against women. Nothing in our program says that, nor Arch individually. I think if he could take it back, he would. He has since apologized to Holly and he’s made a public apology. Our goal  is that we can move forward and him be the guy that we all know that he is and what he represents.” 

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This article originally published at Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian explains abrupt postgame interview with Holly Rowe.