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Friday, September 18, 2026

Texas Coach Says He Should Have Shown More Patience


Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday he should have shown more patience after cutting short a postgame interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe following the Longhorns’ 24-23 comeback win over No. 1 Ohio State.

After Texas erased a 23-3 deficit Saturday, ESPN cut to Rowe on the field with Sarkisian. As she started her first question, he interrupted.“Let’s go! Texas Fight! Hook ’em!” Sarkisian said, flashing a “Hook ’em” salute and walking toward his team. Rowe turned to the camera and walked off.


“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 told reporters Thursday. “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.”



Texas officials said Sarkisian declined the interview after technical problems delayed it. Sarkisian pointed to a delay after his handshake with Ohio State coach Ryan Day.

He also declined a halftime interview with ESPN’s Laura Rutledge. On air, as cameras showed him heading to the locker room, Rutledge said technical difficulties would have required him to wait while his team left the field.

“I had to make an in-the-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,” Sarkisian said. “I let Laura know that, and I think she said that on air. And then I had an opportunity to visit with Laura when we came back out of the locker room to let her know where our thoughts were as a team and what we needed to do in the second half of that game.”

The postgame exchange with Rowe immediately drew widespread discussion.
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