Holly Rowe Talks WNBA Draft, Auriemma-Staley Dustup

Holly Rowe will serve as the primary reporter during ESPN’s coverage of the WNBA draft, which will take place at 7 p.m. ET on Monday night.

Ahead of the event, ESPN’s lead sideline reporter for women’s college basketball and the WNBA spoke to Front Office Sports about a wide range of topics, including the draft, being in the center of the Geno Auriemma-Dawn Staley dustup, and why she deleted her tweet about the state of the Lady Vols. 

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Front Office Sports: We’re several days out from the WNBA draft. What interests you the most about it?

Holly Rowe: This draft is loaded. It’s so deep and talented. It’s really exciting because we’ve just seen this incredible college season. This is one of my favorite events I get to work every year because it’s the culmination of dreams and also the beginning of another journey. 

I also see a little bit of chaos and anxiety because rosters are unsettled [due to the CBA delaying free agency]. This will be the first time I can ever remember where I’m thinking through what I’ll ask players about fit with their new team, but because of the uncertainty of rosters it will be a very unusual draft.

FOS: Looking at the latest ESPN mock draft, one of the questions is, if the Dallas Wings pick Olivia Miles first overall, if there’s enough basketball to go around with her and Paige Bueckers in the same backcourt? 

HR: Yes, there is enough ball to go around, and it’s going to be flying and flinging and exciting [if it happens]. Olivia can be a score-first point guard but I think in her heart of hearts she’s pass-first. She scores when needed, so she’s a perfect complement to Paige Bueckers if that’s where Dalles goes. 

I literally was laying in bed last night thinking about who’s going to be the No. 1 pick, and I was just imagining her no-look, behind-the-back wraparounds to Paige. Paige is a great passer and the way those guys could play off each other on a string with pizazz and electricity, I was just like Oh my gosh that could be really fun if it happens!

FOS: You’re mentioning there’s no consensus. That’s different than normal, right? Most years we know who the first pick will be months in advance but the draft is Monday.

HR: I think this is an interesting year. Teams’ rosters—and needs—are up in the air. You have to look at a combination of best player available and fit. 

The one thing Dallas knows is they have Paige on a rookie contract. They’re in a unique position to pair her with the player that suits her best. We saw her play well with Azzi Fudd at UConn in years past. That could be an interesting combination. I think the question with Azzi, looking at this purely from a pro standpoint, she is an exceptional shooter and a high-level player but she’s had an injury history. Olivia Miles has also overcome an ACL. These are questions that teams are now dialing into that maybe fans hadn’t been locked into before with getting the physicals and getting medical backgrounds. 

FOS: When you mentioned the depth this year, if you’re talking to a casual fan, who are some of the players who would go later in the first round that might be stronger than classes in years past?

HR: Because we’re coming off the Final Four, if you look at the national champs UCLA, they have a chance to have four-to-five players drafted—maybe four in the first round. That is really unusual. I can only think of UConn or maybe South Carolina who have had that many players drafted early. 

Lauren Betts. Gianna Kneepkens is somebody who has kind of snuck into the conversation because of her ability to stretch the floor. She had an unbelievable Final Four and elevated her status.

I would also point to Raven Johnson. She was the point guard for one of the best programs [South Carolina] for the last four years—she was there five, but didn’t play one year because of an ACL—I think she has elevated her draft stock as much as anybody. She’s always been talented but I think she’s shown this year that she can truly run a team. She was the best defensive player in the SEC and she can also score. 

I love that people who stayed in college and worked on their game are seeing that elevation happen. 

FOS: You were in the middle of the Geno Auriemma-Dawn Staley spat at the Final Four, interviewing a fiery Geno during the game and Staley after the frosty handshake. What was it like being in the middle of it in real-time, and what’s your perspective a few days later?

HR: My first reaction was to be surprised. I’ve covered Geno Auriemma for over two decades now. When he has lost in these moments in the Final Four before, I can promise you no one has been a more gracious loser than he has. 

I remember having to interview him after the loss of a 111-game win streak to Mississippi State, and I had to go back and do the “losing coach interview”—those are really hard to do—and Geno has always been really gracious. My first reaction was it was surprising because he’d never acted like this before.

There were reasons that he had, and he came out with a really lovely apology Tuesday. At first it was surprising. I’ve heard him criticize the officials before, I hadn’t heard it get personal before. I understand frustration in the heat of the moment and him not understanding it was Sarah Strong that ripped her own jersey. There was a lot happening very quickly. None of us knew that in that moment.

The other thing I’d say is it made everyone a little sad. You don’t want to see two icons of our game having words and having this moment. I had to immediately grab Dawn Staley right after all this happened. We were both a little bit shaken to be honest with you—I could tell her spirit was a little bit shaken. She was so wonderful in that interview and quickly turned the topic back to basketball.

The statements she’s come out with, taking the high road, has been a really strong moment of leadership. She could have been negative or attacked Geno further. It could have devolved into something really ugly. Dawn was so classy in having the most gracious leadership in a difficult moment and I’m really in awe of her.

FOS: We’ve covered how you, Ryan Ruocco, and Rebecca Lobo have a really unique relationship where you’re together all year for college and WNBA. Do you ever reflect on how special a situation this is?

HR: I do. I feel lucky all the time. It is unusual. I think why I feel so lucky is we’re dear friends off the court. We’ve all navigated some serious life things together. We’ve been there for Ryan through his dating years, and when he met his wife. We’re giving his mom advice. Sleep advice for toddlers. They’ve been there for me through my very hard cancer battle. We have helped with Rebecca’s children and trying to include them in dinners. We truly have a great relationship with each other off the court that’s better than anything we do on TV.

We have a total trust with each other on TV. He includes my sideline stories with perfect lead-ins, or Rebecca follows up with points I make out of the huddle. We had a moment during the Final Four where I asked a question in my third-quarter timeout about Raven Johnson guarding Sarah Strong, and we come off my interview with Rebecca immediately doing a telestration package about it. This is just synergy you can’t make up. It’s really beautiful. 

FOS: You had a situation where you tweeted about the downfall of Tennessee basketball, then deleted it. Can you walk me through your thought process about sending and removing it and where this shakes out for what you think now?

HR: Number one, I woke up the morning after the Final Four exhausted. I know better than to post things when you’re emotional, and the very first thing I saw that day was that Tennessee now has zero players. 

My strongest reaction was just one of grief. I covered Pat Summitt and that whole era of Tennessee dominance so closely, and I just hosted this beautiful Pat Summitt reunion special that was just put on by Peyton Manning and Omaha Productions. 

To see what’s going on at Tennessee, I’m sad. But what happens when you put something on social media you don’t understand how other people twist it and turn it into something ugly. Tennessee fans are getting in this fight about which sports should be getting more NIL money, and I’m thinking, “This is not serving any purpose.”

I know better than to tweet when you’re emotional. I took it down because I just thought it was getting turned into something yucky, but I do stand by what I said. I do feel very sad about what’s happening there. There was a time where this was the preeminent program—not just in women’s sports, in all of sports—they were the first to endow scholarships.

Pat Summitt had the nicest locker room, the best facilities, the best recruits. She had built something that was so special, everybody else was trying to copy her. She was trying to show people how it’s done, not just in women’s sports. Sports. It was better than the men’s program there for a long time.

So it’s really hard to watch it now as we mourn her. I’m still grieving her frequently, and to watch that legacy getting reduced to something that’s not special is hard to watch. I do think I can be more productive with how I express that, and talk to the AD and the people at Tennessee directly, because it does make me sad. I want them to retain her legacy and continue to be a strong program. There’s more productive ways to do that than on social media.