The discourse surrounding the lack of in-game or post-game interview from Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian on Saturday when his team overcame a 21-point deficit to beat the then-No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes in Austin erupted into a full-fledged national controversy on Monday when quarterback Arch Manning called an AI video of Sarkisian slapping ESPN reporter Holly Rowe “hilarious.”
The controversy heightened over the 24 hours between Manning’s insensitive comment and his public apology issued
to Rowe, who quickly accepted it publicly following a private conversation with Manning.
During a Thursday Zoom interview with reporters, Sarkisian finally addressed both situations four and a half days after the game ended, first re-hashing the technical difficulties reporter Laura Rutledge addressed on the broadcast.
“I 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,” Sarkisian said. “And then I had an opportunity to visit with Laura when we came back out of the locker room to let her know where where our thoughts were as a team and what we needed to do in the second half of that game.”
After the game, Rowe was visibly annoyed when Sarkisian cut short her attempt at an interview by saying, “That’s Texas fight, hook ‘em,” and walking off to join his team to sing the school’s alma mater, leaving a school spokesperson to tell The Athletic that technical difficulties continued, forcing a fan site to scour the broadcast in an attempt to determine how long Sarkisian waited with Rowe before walking off.
“As it pertains to after the ball game, there was a delay after I greeted Coach [Ryan] Day in the middle of the field. There was a delay in the moment. Through that delay, I wanted to go celebrate with our team. 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 and and sat through and waited for the interview with Holly,” Sarkisian said.
“Obviously, we have a ton of respect for ESPN and Holly. Holly and I go way back to even to 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 Texas head coach then acknowledged that his handling of the post-game interview with Rowe resulted in the creation of the AI video that Manning saw and reacted to during his Monday press conference.
“That obviously led to the situation with Arch and his press conference as it pertained to the AI video, and 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. But he has since apologized to Holly. He’s made a public apology, and our goal is that we can move forward and him be the guy that that we all know that he is and what he represents.”
With the rapid advancement of technology enabling the creation of AI videos by anyone, Sarkisian spoke with his team about the need to be “more conscientious with our word choice.”
“Although we can think of something as kind of satire or fun, at the same token, that has a direct effect on other people. I’ve seen AI videos about me that that aren’t very welcoming. Some of them I laugh at, some are like, ‘Ooh, that that stings a little bit,’ but that’s the world we live in today. And so, just acknowledging that from a players and coaching staff perspective, and then our choice of words and how we acknowledge or don’t acknowledge those things, I think move forward is very important,” Sarkisian said.
For Manning, who has a multi-million dollar brand to protect and his family’s hard-earned reputation to uphold, it’s a moment from which he and the Longhorns are ready to learn from and move on from as they take the field for the first time this season as the nation’s top-ranked team.
“I think he obviously feels bad about the situation, but the same token, I don’t think it was a malicious statement by him. I think that was not the intent by any means, and so I think at his core he knows what he believes in and what he stands for. Like I said, he’s had a good week of work. I think he’s excited to get back on the field and play,” Sarkisian said.
“But also, I think it’s a good reminder of what we represent and the brand that we represent here at the University of Texas. The amount of coverage our program gets, more so than ever when you’re the No. 1 team in the country, we’re going to get scrutinized for all that we do. And so, being mindful of that, I think, is important for all of us.”
