ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge was forced to apologize to Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian before he faced criticism for his “classless” treatment of her colleague, Holly Rowe, following the Longhorns’ dramatic victory over Ohio State.
Texas erased a 20-3 deficit by scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, with Arch Manning leading the comeback in a stunning 24-23 win over the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes in Austin.
The result triggered jubilant scenes inside Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. Amid the celebrations, Sarkisian was briefly pulled away from his players by ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
However, when Rowe attempted to ask the Texas coach about the victory, Sarkisian repeatedly shouted over her: “Texas fight. That’s called Texas fight. Hook ’Em!”
He then raised the Longhorns’ signature hand gesture toward the camera with his left hand before walking away from Rowe and returning to the celebrations. Sarkisian did not offer any analysis of the game or respond to her questions.
Rowe, a veteran reporter widely respected across the industry, appeared visibly frustrated as the coach left. Viewers on social media were quick to criticize Sarkisian’s conduct during the postgame interview.
Steve Sarkisian flashed a “Hook ’Em” sign as Holly Rowe attempted to ask him about Texas’ win
Sarkisian walked away from the ESPN interview without answering any of Rowe’s questions
Sarkisian was branded “classless” online, with one fan noting that his quarterback, Arch Manning, had willingly completed a postgame interview.
“Manning took the time to talk. But Shark couldn’t? Classless,” one person wrote. Another added: “I like Steve Sarkisian. But yeah, I can’t defend that behavior.”
The exchange followed an awkward moment at halftime involving Sarkisian and the ESPN broadcast, adding further questions about the network’s nationally televised coverage of one of Week 2’s marquee matchups.
Rutledge, Rowe’s fellow sideline reporter, had been waiting to speak with Sarkisian during the interval, with Texas trailing 20-3. However, the camera turned toward her just as the coach ran down the tunnel toward the locker room.
‘Alright, we actually just lost Sark because he had to go,’ Rutledge explained. ‘I’m sorry about that, you guys. He waited for a long time. Credit to him for waiting. We’ll try to get him on the way out of the half.’
Rutledge was unable to speak to Sarkisian as he made his way back out for the second half, but later assured that he had ‘been very patient’ and ‘apologized’ despite the fact she said ESPN owed him the apology.
She explained: ‘I do want to make sure we clear something up. [Steve Sarkisian] did decline the interview at the half.
‘He had waited a long time, been very patient with some technical issues that we had. He apologized to us. We should be apologizing to him, which we did.’
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Is it ever acceptable for coaches to snub post-game interviews after a dramatic victory?
Sarkisian celebrated a memorable win after a dramatic fourth quarter comeback in Austin
Sarkisian’s Longhorns scored 21 unanswered points to beat Ohio State in a massive victory
Many fans slammed ESPN for the situation and suggested it contributed to Sarkisian’s short interaction with Rowe after the game.
One fan wrote: ‘Maybe ESPN shouldn’t have made him stand around at half time waiting to come to him before kissing Ryan Days ass. Tell the whole story. Sorry Holly took the brunt of it but after that win and the snub at half time he wanted to be with his team not ESPN.’
Another theorized: ‘I think there was some bad blood because they were supposed to interview him at the end of the first half and they blew him off. I think he was still a little sore about it. Evidently he waited before going into the locker room before the first half and then never spoke to him.’
Rutledge spoke to Manning while Rowe was getting snubbed by Sarkisian, with the Texas quarterback explaining how he was fueled by last year’s loss to the same opponent.
‘We couldn’t lose to them again,’ Manning said. ‘I had nightmares about that game last year. It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to win.’
When Sarkisian finally talked in depth about the game in his post-game press conference, he offered a powerful statement on his team’s mindset.
He said: ‘We talk a lot about this in here as a team: you know, life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you react to it, and we just hammered that on everybody.
‘Focus on the 90%. Leave the 10% at the first half. Let’s focus on the 90%. What are we going to do about it in the second half?’.
