Steve Sarkisian’s team was able to steal a win against the No. 1 Ohio State, but their night ended with controversy rather than celebration. While Sarkisian should have been giving speeches on his Ohio win, he publicly addressed the controversy involving quarterback Arch Manning and ESPN reporter Holly Rowe.
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Sarkisian acknowledged his fault while giving his statement: “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,” Sarkisian said while addressing the media on September 16. “If hindsight were 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.”
After Texas’s thrilling 24-23 comeback victory over Ohio State, ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe tried to conduct a live, on-field interview with Sarkisian. However, Sarkisian was exploding with happiness and was visibly eager to celebrate with his team. In excitement Sarkisian shouted, “Texas Fight, Hook ’em!” into the microphone and abruptly walked away, leaving Rowe stranded on live television. As the adrenaline rush came down, he understood that he was a bit blinded by the celebrations.
Things went south when the internet quickly turned the awkward interaction into a meme. A fan created a highly realistic, AI video that altered the footage to depict Sarkisian backhanding and slapping Rowe across the face, sending her crashing to the turf.
“We could have definitely handled that situation better with a little bit more patience in the moment. But that obviously led to the situation with Arch (Manning) and his press conference as it pertained to the AI video, and obviously Arch recognises he made a mistake, and it’s an unfortunate one. Nowhere do we condone domestic violence or violence against women.”
While things could have ended here, Arch Manning’s press conference triggered a domino effect of backlash for the Longhorns. During a press conference on Monday, a reporter asked Arch Manning if he had seen the social media buzz surrounding the victory. Manning admitted to seeing the deepfake. But he laughed about it and told reporters, “Of him slapping Holly Rowe? That’s hilarious.” As these words left his mouth, Manning became the centre of immediate nationwide backlash. They heavily criticised the quarterback and the media for treating violence against women as a punchline.
On Tuesday, Manning issued a public statement on his Instagram story expressing deep regret. He noted there is “nothing funny about it” and reached out to Rowe privately. Rowe accepted the apology on social media. Although she kept their conversation private, she still appreciated Manning is coming forward to apologise. “Thank you, Arch… Apology accepted. We move forward with respect and kindness for one another.”
However, as the head coach, Sarkisian also had to come forward to defend his player while maintaining a zero-tolerance stance on violence.
“Nothing in our program says that, nor Arch individually. I think if he could take it back, he would. But he has since apologised 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 we all know that he is and what he represents. So those are the two house cleaning things I wanted to make sure I address with all of you on this call and then get into the football side of things.”
With that, the focus has now shifted back to football. Texas, with a strong 2-0 lead, is preparing to play UTSA this weekend. After this hiccup, the media focus is now on-field logistics, depth charts, and game strategies.