Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian had no interest in the customary postgame ESPN interview on Saturday night after his team completed a 21-point fourth-quarter comeback to knock off Ohio State, according to Breitbart News. Instead of stopping to talk with sideline reporter Holly Rowe, Sarkisian ran off to celebrate the win.
Footage of the moment shows Rowe starting to ask a question before Sarkisian speaks over her. “Coach, this was one of the most—” she begins, but Sarkisian appears to repeat, “That’s called Texas fight.” He then adds, “Hook ’em!” flashes the Hook ’em Horns hand sign at the camera, and sprints away.
Rowe’s reaction became its own storyline. She initially seemed as if she might pursue him, perhaps to salvage the segment, but instead simply rolled her eyes and walked off set. Viewers quickly noted the awkwardness of the exchange, particularly given that ESPN is the SEC’s broadcast partner.
Halftime Tension Added Context
The postgame snub did not come out of nowhere. Earlier in the evening, ESPN on ABC sideline reporter Laura Rutledge had to chase Sarkisian as he hurried into the tunnel at halftime. Rutledge told viewers that the coach had waited patiently through technical problems but ultimately declined the interview as the half ended.
“Alright, we actually just lost Sark because he had to go. 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 said, per Breitbart.
She went further, taking responsibility on behalf of the network. “I do want to make sure we clear something up,” Rutledge said. “[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.”
Why the Celebration Mattered
Skipping media obligations is generally frowned upon in college football, especially when the network in question holds the conference’s television rights. But the context of the win makes Sarkisian’s decision at least understandable to many observers. Beating the top-ranked team in the country on the road — or at a neutral site, depending on the schedule — is a career-defining result for a head coach, and moments like that are rare.
The victory also avenged Texas’s loss to Ohio State in Columbus last season, adding a layer of redemption to the celebration. With the win, the Longhorns are widely expected to replace the Buckeyes as the No. 1 team in the country when the AP releases its updated rankings, according to Breitbart.
For ESPN, the evening was an awkward one. The network’s own reporter had already publicly apologized to Sarkisian on air for technical issues that disrupted the halftime interview, only to watch him bolt from the postgame segment. The optics — a coach sprinting away from a waiting reporter — sparked immediate debate online, with some fans praising Sarkisian for prioritizing his team’s moment over media obligations and others criticizing him for disrespecting a longstanding broadcast partner.
A Pattern or a One-Off?
It is worth noting that Sarkisian has generally been accessible to the media throughout his tenure at Texas. The back-to-back declined interviews within the same game stand out precisely because they are unusual for him. Whether the friction reflects frustration with ESPN’s technical problems, a deliberate choice to keep the focus on his players, or simply the emotion of a massive upset, the coach has not addressed it publicly.
What is clear is that the moment produced one of the more memorable images of the college football weekend: a head coach yelling “Hook ’em” at a camera while a veteran sideline reporter stands abandoned, rolling her eyes. For a sport that thrives on passion and pageantry, it was both a viral clip and a reminder of the uneasy relationship between coaches and the broadcast partners who pay billions for access.
Texas players and fans, meanwhile, are unlikely to care much about the media dustup. They got the win, the rivalry avenged, and likely the top ranking in the country. Sarkisian got to celebrate the way he wanted — on the run.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/09/12/watch-steve-sarkisian-blows-off-espn-after-texas-upsets-ohio-state/