Except for the Texas coach himself, no one knows why Steve Sarkisian didn’t even let ESPN’s Holly Rowe finish her sentence before walking off and shouting, “That’s called Texas fight! That’s called Texas fight! Hook ’em!”
The No. 4 ranked Texas Longhorn football team had just completed a stunning three-touchdown comeback against top-ranked Ohio State — having been down 23-3 with 14:20 left in the fourth quarter. The victory that some are calling the “most impressive in school history” launched the Arch Manning-led school into the No. 1 position in ESPN’s new power rankings.
But the postgame interview snub has been a topic of conversation in the wake of the come-from-behind victory. Sarkisian, a former BYU quarterback, has not made any further comment, and the vacuum is filling with a wide variety of opinions on how to make sense of the postgame interview that never was.
Was Sarkisian being rude or just caught up in the excitement of the moment? Was it a reaction to ESPN’s earlier technical difficulties, or a bigger reflection on eroding trust between reporters and coaches? Could it all be just an indictment of the postgame interview often derided as useless?
No one really knows. But everyone seems to have something to say. Here are six different takes making the rounds.
1. Not a big deal — tech wasn’t working
“Sarkisian wasn’t being rude — ESPN was having technical difficulties,” wrote Wescott Eberts at Burnt Orange Nation, a Texas-affiliated website. He cited ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge’s explanation at halftime after Sarkisian ran off before a halftime interview could commence.
“I do want to make sure we clear something up. (Sarkisian) did decline the interview at the half,” Rutledge said. “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.”
Laura Rutledge: “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.” https://t.co/y9o6lXgNhx pic.twitter.com/yE08r5BNpD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 13, 2026
Samaria Terry from The Fumble reported that before Sarkisian walked off from the halftime interview, he had been sitting and waiting for the interview with Ohio State coach Ryan Day to wrap up. Given how far down Texas was at the half, she hinted at the natural anxiety to get talking to his team.
After the game, according to a Texas spokesperson, “ESPN’s technical difficulties arose once again on the field postgame, which played a role in Steve Sarkisian’s demeanor with Holly Rowe.”
In the full video clip, the reporter clearly has to restart the interview, seemingly due to some technology disruption. A USA Today report claims that the coach told Rowe he “was going to sing ‘Texas Fight.’”
“To be fair to Sarkisian, this was not a random act of disrespect out of nowhere,” Akanksha Biradar for EssentiallySports wrote, pointing to how ESPN lost audio right after halftime.
“But while production errors explained his halftime exit,” Biradar added, “blowing off Rowe after a game-winning drive looked far more personal to fans watching live.”
2. It’s a smaller issue — coach just wanted to celebrate with his team
Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL linebacker who played at Texas and described himself as a “Holly Rowe fan,” shared an observation after being a few feet away from this interaction.
“This was the biggest win of Sark’s HC career & most electric that stadium has ever been,” Acho wrote. “He wanted to *immediately* celebrate with the players & coaches he made history with. He should be able to do that without being criticized.”
“The man just pulled off a coaching miracle and wanted to be with his players,” wrote one X user. “Give the guy a break. ESPN already had him standing around at halftime to be interviewed but they had tech issues.”
“This is not the first time that we’ve seen a coach or athlete blow off an interview after the game,” Terry said, referencing when Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert tried to get out of an interview after an overtime victory last season.
3. It’s a bigger issue — coach-reporter disrespect
Akanksha Biradar for EssentiallySports wrote, “When a head coach treats a veteran reporter like a background distraction, it raises real questions about professional boundary lines and how much access networks like ESPN can actually demand during postgame celebrations.”
Some fans speculated that Sarkisian has an “ESPN beef” after getting criticized by reporters in previous years.
Others have insinuated growing disrespect toward journalism creeping into the coaching ranks. Writing for the Austin Chronicle, sports reporter Eric Goodman described postgame interviews as “an obligation that every coach, going back decades, has known to expect.”
“With emotions at their highest, Sarkisian was understandably eager to begin celebrating with his team and fans,” Goodman added. “But the coach let that eagerness get the better of him, resulting in a moment of disrespect toward one of the most respected professionals in the entire college football landscape.”
4. It’s a coach issue
“Are you good with a head coach being this rude and disrespectful to a reporter doing her job?” X user Amy Roberie wrote.
“Not classy by Sark,” sports commentator Skip Bayless said on X. “So disrespectful by Steve Sarkisian,” sports reporter Crissy Froyd said about the interaction. “Not OK at all.”
“Holly didn’t deserve this,” Sports Today posted. “She works her tail off every day for her job. She works behind the scenes everyday for interviews like this. I’m sorry @sportsiren but people do love you and appreciate your work!”
5. It’s a reporter issue
Journalist Lynden Blake weighed in, “As someone that’s been blown off many a times for a halftime/post game interview. The way Holly Rowe handled that was weird. She tucked her tail. All you have to say is ‘well looks like someone is excited.’ Or be petty and say ‘seems like someone didn’t want to talk about the slow start.’ But don’t stomp off.”
Acho agreed: “If Holly, instead of rolling her eyes, simply says, ‘coach is fired up and wants to go celebrate! Fellas, back to you!’ She’s done her job, and elevated the moment.”
6. It’s a postgame interview issue
“I think the big question is, how much value do these interviews have for the live broadcast?” Terry asked. “Should we do away with the live, halftime and postgame interviews on the field?”
“Sideline interviews are a joke,” Todd King wrote on X — “waste of the coaches time and meaningless.” Another X user, JG, said, “Dang … now we’ll never know the answer to incisive questions like ‘how does it feel to win this game?’”
After the Chargers quarterback tried to dodge the postgame interview last year, one commenter said, “The mid and post game interviews are so dumb. Generic questions and generic answers that provide nothing.”
Another pushed back, per The Spun: “Josh Allen does these on-field postgame interviews after almost every Bills victory, and he’s always polite, friendly, patient, and cordial with the sideline reporter. Then afterward he goes and celebrates with his teammates and coaches in the locker room. It’s not that hard!”