Michele Tafoya defends Holly Rowe amid Arch Manning, Steve Sarkisian incident

Michele Tafoya is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota. Before that, she was NBC’s lead NFL sideline reporter for over a decade

Last week, Tafoya joined OutKick for a lengthy conversation about leaving sports for politics, the state of the country, faith, and her advice to young Americans.

We also asked her about the story involving ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, and quarterback Arch Manning.

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It began with Sarkisian giving Rowe a short answer after Texas’ comeback win against Ohio State, leaving Rowe visibly angered.

“Two things can be true at once,” Tafoya began. “This is where we go so wrong in our dialogue, if there even is dialogue these days, as we just say, ‘No, I’ve got to be on that extreme end of this conversation or the other,’ right? Because that’s what people do.

“I think Holly was put in a difficult position. I wasn’t super happy with the way that, as you said, when a coach is getting that kind of money because of television — and don’t let anyone tell you differently, because television and all of the things that come with it — you do have a certain obligation,” she continued.

She theorized that Sarkisian may have thought his simple response to Rowe was enough.

“Now, he did stop. So maybe he thought, you know, what was the old Marshawn Lynch, ‘I’m here so I don’t get fined’? He showed up at a Super Bowl media day and all he said was, ‘I’m here so I don’t get fined.'”

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“But, you know, maybe he thought he was checking the box. I’m sure it was frustrating for her. You’re in this situation, the game is amazing, and all you want to do is get that phenomenal interview and just get into it with the coach or the player. And both he and Arch — Arch, I should say — cut their interviews a little short.”

Tafoya then referenced Manning joking about an AI-generated image depicting his coach slapping Rowe, for which Manning later apologized.

“The AI images that came out afterward? The one that I did see made it look like Sarkisian was hitting her. No one should be laughing at that. You can’t laugh at a man striking a woman,” Tafoya said.

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I mentioned that a similar incident happened last January, when Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert tried to dodge an interview with another ESPN reporter, this time Laura Rutledge. However, unlike Rowe, Rutledge did not make a scene about it.

“I ran into a similar situation with Justin Herbert, at least his first or second season. We were doing one of his games, and you let them know in your meetings, ‘Hey, we’re going to do a postgame interview,'” Tafoya responded.

“And I remember trying to corral him with his PR director for the Chargers. And he just kept saying, ‘I just don’t want to be here. I want to go celebrate with my teammates.’

“I kind of looked at the PR director like, ‘Does he not understand that this is part of the deal here?’ So I understand, Justin, that you want to celebrate with your teammates. But this is a profession that you’re in. And be a professional.”

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Watch Tafoya’s full interview with OutKick on YouTube here.