Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has finally spoken out on his awkward postgame interaction with ESPN's Holly Rowe and the subsequent controversy over Arch Manning joking about a deeply problematic AI edit of said moment.
After Sarkisian basically ditched Rowe for the postgame interview after the team's comeback victory over Ohio State on Saturday in Austin, the Longhorns
coach explained his side of what happened."As as it pertains to after the ball game... there was a [second] delay after I greeted [Ohio State coach Ryan Day] in the middle of the field," Sarkisian said in his Thursday statement, via OnTexasFootball's CJ Vogel. "There was a delay in the moment, you know, 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 sat through and waited for the interview with Holly."
As for the Manning situation, one where the Texas quarterback laughed about a disturbing AI rendering of Sarkisian slapping Rowe during the postgame encounter, Sarkisian said the video didn't reflect the team or Manning's values.
"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 you know, 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."
Steve Sarkisian full statement on the post-game ESPN situation with Holly Rowe:
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) September 17, 2026
"I want to address is a couple of my in-game interviews last Saturday night at Ohio State ball game. The first at halftime, I had I was scheduled to have an interview with Laura Rutledge. ESPN was…
Manning has since apologized to Rowe for the ugly gaffe, which Rowe graciously accepted.
For such a great finish to Saturday's game, it's deeply unfortunate that these extremely avoidable controversies popped up as they did. Hopefully Sarkisian and Manning both can walk away having learned good lessons.
Who does Texas play Saturday?
The team will host UTSA at home at 8 p.m. ET.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Steve Sarkisian breaks silence over Holly Rowe/Arch Manning Texas controversies
