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Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian went viral following his team’s miraculous 24-23 comeback against Ohio State this past Saturday after running off from a postgame interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
Sarkisian screamed, "That’s called Texas fight! That’s called Texas fight! Hook ‘em!" before running off back to the locker room to celebrate the victory with his team.
At the time, Rowe hadn’t even asked her first question to him postgame, and she seemed quite upset as she darted out of camera view after Sarkisian ran away.
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Sarkisian addressed the situation ahead of the team’s next scheduled contest against UTSA.
"As it pertains to after the ball game, again there was a delay after I greeted Coach Day in the middle of the field. There was a delay in the moment, you know, through that delay, I wanted to go celebrate with our team," he said, per On Texas Football. "We just had a 21-point fourth-quarter comeback against the No. 1 team in the country. If hindsight’s 20/20, if I could do it all over again, I would have exuded more patience in that moment and sat through and waited for the interview with Holly."
Sarkisian added that he has "a ton of respect for ESPN and Holly" and didn’t mean to let the moment get the better of him.
"Holly and I go way back to even my days of playing at BYU, and we’ve got a great relationship. ESPN is a great partner of ours. We know we’re going to have more opportunities with that crew covering us, and we’re looking forward to those opportunities. So, could have definitely handled that situation better with a little bit more patience in the moment."
The viral moment was one social media users ran with, creating AI versions in which Sarkisian was seen slapping Rowe before running off the field. And those AI-manipulated videos led quarterback Arch Manning to have to issue an apology to Rowe after describing those videos as hilarious during his Monday press conference.
Manning, who led the Longhorns back in the second half on Saturday night, apologized to Rowe on Tuesday following his Monday news conference, calling his comments "insensitive" and saying he will be "more thoughtful going forward." Rowe accepted his apology.
"Obviously Arch recognizes he made a mistake, and it’s an unfortunate one," Sarkisian added. "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."
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As for Sarkisian, there was also a moment after the first half that could’ve led to his reaction postgame, as ESPN’s Laura Rutledge and the crew had technical difficulties that irked the Texas head coach for having to wait to go back in the locker room and figure out how to come after Ohio State in the second half.
Rutledge was even spotted sprinting toward the tunnel in an attempt to reach Sarkisian, only to find he had already headed to the locker room. She acknowledged his patience during the delay, though that patience wore thin once ESPN's technical issues dragged on too long.
In the end, Sarkisian and Manning offered their apologies, and the Longhorns are now ready to move on as one of the AP poll’s top teams in the country after their victory.
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