Texas coach Steve Sarkisian issued an apology to begin his Monday news conference after he left the field before singing “The Eyes of Texas” school song following the Longhorns’ 41–34 loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday.
“As you know, I owe an apology to Longhorn Nation,” Sarkisian said.
“I made a mistake at the end of the game in not singing ‘The Eyes of Texas’ when the game was done. That was not anything intentional. That was not anything that had to do with our players. I think our players just followed me up the ramp into the locker room, obviously upset by the way the game ended. I apologize to everybody for that. That’ll never happen again. But again, that was not intentional. It was not premeditated by any means. That was just a mistake on my part. Nothing to do with the players. They had followed my lead on that. So that won’t happen again.”
“The Eyes of Texas” school song shifted into national focus in the midst of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. The origins of the song are tied to minstrel shows where performers were most likely wearing blackface.
After Saturday’s loss, Texas is now 5–3 overall and 3–2 in Big 12 play. The Longhorns are on bye next Saturday before facing Kansas State in Manhattan on Nov. 5.
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