Rowe not just all about Clark
ALBANY — Contrary to a recent headline in The Athletic, Holly Rowe was not sent to Iowa City last weekend as the “Caitlin Clark beat reporter,” Rowe simply was assigned to Iowa’s firstand secondround games in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
“I made a very distinct effort and intention to make sure I did stories about other players on Iowa that were also graduating, so that we will be very clear and balanced in our coverage,” Rowe said Thursday from MVP Arena.
Rowe will be the reporter for all six games of the NCAA Albany Regional. She joins Pam Ward and Stephanie White for Friday’s doubleheader. Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo will be on hand with Rowe to call the Saturday, Sunday and Monday games.
That said, there is no more spellbinding athlete in college basketball, if not the sports world in general, than Clark, the Iowa senior guard who is the NCAA’S all-time scoring leader.
Women’s basketball is enjoying record audiences this season, largely because of Clark, whose Hawkeyes will play Colorado at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC.
“Caitlin’s impact has been the interest she’s drawn from people who weren’t necessarily women’s college basketball fans,” Rowe said. “There’s this nationwide — really worldwide — interest in her skill set and her ability. She’s just captivated people’s imagination.”
Ruocco, Lobo and Rowe also will be calling next weekend’s Final Four from Cleveland.
Does that mean the ABC/ ESPN crew needs to be cautious about how much to talk about Clark?
“One thing I want to make clear,” said Ruocco, who will be calling his fourth Final Four for the network, “Caitlin deserves all of the coverage that she is getting. We see that with the returns and ratings and conversations across traditional platforms, when you see people Googling her, (appearing on) the Today show and other programs like that talking about Caitlin Clark.
“The issue isn’t Caitlin getting too much attention. The issue is that for too long women’s sports in general have gotten too small a piece of the pie. It’s not about dimming the light of the shine on Caitlin. It’s about making sure that we shine the appropriate brightness on everybody else, because they deserve it, too.”
Rowe, one of the most respected sideline reporters in the business, vows to make sure
that happens. That’s why she was a little uneasy when she saw The Athletic’s headline.
She will have plenty to say about unbeaten South Carolina, the No. 1 tournament seed, which will face Indiana at 5 p.m. Friday on ESPN. Rowe said she is
particularly proud of a feature that will air Friday, comparing the style of Gamecocks freshman guard Milaysia Fulwiley to her coach, Dawn Staley, a star player at Virginia nearly a quarter-century ago.
Still, Rowe has spent more than two seasons documenting Clark, who — on camera, at least — seems to have developed a
comfort level with the ESPN reporter.
“We built it over the past couple of years,” Rowe said. “She has just been wonderful to me. I’ve had to ask her for a lot. I really wanted to say thank you to her family and her parents. Her mom has shared some precious journal entries and her project of what her dreams are that we used
for one of our big, long features. We’re prying into these precious personal moments of families’ lives and players’ lives, and I’m just really grateful to Caitlin and her family that they’ve trusted me to tell her story and to honor their daughter.
“Caitlin set one record early this season at Iowa State (first player in men’s or women’s Division I to reach 3,000 points, 750 rebounds, 750 assists), and in our postgame interview, she said, ‘It’s even more special because you’re here.’ That meant something to me, that she appreciates me. I’ve been sacrificing a lot. I’ve been on the road a lot, I worked super hard to cover this story, and I think that she is appreciative and respectful of me.”