Despite defeating Ohio State last weekend, Texas quarterback Arch Manning and head coach Steve Sarkisian have faced a ton of criticism this week.
Instead of conducting a normal postgame interview Saturday night, Sarkisian shouted “Texas Fight, Hook ’em” before walking away from Rowe. Less than 24 hours later, an AI-generated video of Sarkisian emerged on social media. It gained enough traction that Manning laughed at it during Monday’s press conference.
“I have seen a few AI edits of Sark earlier, but that’s about it,” Manning told reporters. “Have you seen that one? Of him slapping Holly Rowe.”
Manning later apologized to Rowe for his “insensitive” comment about the AI-generated video.
“In my press conference yesterday, I made an insensitive comment about an AI video. There is nothing funny about it. It’s easy to say I didn’t mean it, but I know my words and actions were hurtful to a lot of people. I do not take that lightly and am deeply sorry for that,” Manning wrote on Instagram. “I specifically want to apologize to Holly Rowe for what she has personally had to deal with because of my comments. I have a ton of respect for her and appreciate her showing me grace in this moment. I need to do better and will be more thoughtful going forward.”
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Dan Wolken of Yahoo Sports believes it’s time for Sarkisian to apologize as well.
“Because we would not be here if Sarkisian simply acted like a normal human being Saturday night,” Wolken wrote in his latest column. “Though he was understandably frustrated when he had to bail on the standard halftime interview due to technical issues on ESPN’s end, there was no reason for Sarkisian to bigfoot Rowe in the postgame scramble by yelling “Texas Fight, Hook ’em!” and then storming off rather than standing there for 30 seconds and answering two questions like every winning coach does after every game.”
What did Holly Rowe have to say?
Not only did Rowe accept Manning’s apology, she revealed they had a private conversation this week.
“Thank you, Arch,” she posted on social media. “I appreciate our conversation about this, which will remain private. Apology accepted. We move forward with respect and kindness for one another.”
Rowe hasn’t said anything yet regarding Sarkisian’s postgame behavior. If we had to guess, she’s ready to move past this drama and focus on her Week 3 assignment.
