A true ambassador
Former UConn coach, longtime advisor Rowe dies at 91
Dee Rowe, the former UConn men’s basketball coach who has been an ambassador for the school’s athletics program for more than 50 years and helped bring Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma to Storrs, has died.
Rowe, 91, passed away early Sunday in Storrs, according to UConn.
“As good a coach as he was,” Calhoun said, “no one could surpass him as a person. He was special.”
“People use this term a lot, but he’s been a father to me,” added an emotional Auriemma. “And I can only imagine what his players, the coaches that coached with him, that had much more interaction with him than I did, the impact that he must have had on them.”
Rowe was UConn’s head coach for eight seasons, from 1969-77, winning 120 games, earning New England Coach of the Year honors twice (1970, ’76) and leading UConn to a pair of NIT berths (1974, ’75) and the 1975-76 UConn team to the ECAC New England Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16.
But wins and losses tell only a small part of Rowe’s story, as he touched the lives of so many people over the years as a true ambassador for UConn sports.
“I really don’t think Rentschler Field would be big enough to host an event for Dee,” Auriemma said, “because people would be arriving from around the world, not just Connecticut or New England or the United States. And basketball was just a part of the impact that Dee had. Admittedly, a large part. But he was so much more than just a basketball coach.”
Rowe, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduated from Worcester Academy in 1947 and played basketball at Middlebury College. In 1955, he returned to Worcester Academy, where he coached several national powerhouse prep teams and numerous top players, until 1969. In 21 sea
sons, he posted a 300-122 head coaching record at the school. He also was the first to hire a young assistant by the name of Dave Gavitt — who, of course, would go on to found the Big East Conference.
“People ask, ‘Did (Dee) have something to do with the Big East?’ ” Calhoun noted. “You think?”
In 1980, Rowe was named as one of Gavitt’s assistant coaches of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team. However, the team did not play due to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Since his official “retirement” in 1991, Rowe remained actively involved at the school in his emeritus role as special advisor for athletics.
Auriemma called Rowe a “personal cheerleader” for virtually every coach and athlete at UConn.
“They could go home at night knowing that Dee was there for them, no matter what else in the world was going on,” Auriemma said.
Rowe served on the search committees that hired both Au
riemma and Calhoun. Auriemma recalled having lunch with Rowe during the process.
“He didn’t have to say a lot,” the longtime women’s basketball coach noted. “I learned from Dee just by watching him, how he carried himself. He reminded me of an old-time movie star from the ’30s and ’40s. I thought to myself, ‘Man, if I coach long enough and be able to be like him, I’ll be the happiest person in the world.’ ”
Calhoun recalled arriving in Storrs, looking to be hired as the replacement for Dom Perno, who had been an assistan under Rowe, and being surrounded by others who had long been around the program.
“There was not one hint of ego or anything else,” Calhoun remembered. “He supported me, said great things about me. No ex-coach could ever equal what he did for me, as far as making my
journey at UConn so much better. He was a mentor, he was a friend, a confidante, talking about the team, the kids. He was invaluable to me.”
Calhoun said he was able to speak with Rowe for one last time a couple of days ago, and though Rowe couldn’t respond, Calhoun said he “just told him how much I loved him.”
Dan Hurley got to know Rowe over the past few years since taking over as UConn’s head coach in March 2018.
“Coach Rowe was obviously a beautiful man,” Hurley said. “People like him, especially in this world today, are certainly missed. I feel fortunate that I got a couple of years with him.”
Along with begging Hurley to play more zone defense (something he often asked of Auriemma, as well), Rowe helped console Hurley over his first two tough seasons in Storrs.
“He’d always say something uplifting and encouraging,” Hurley recalled, “because he knew that we weren’t winning, and it was tough.”
UConn athletics director David Benedict got to know Rowe after being hired in March 2016.
“UConn Nation is grieving the loss of an icon,” Benedict said. “As a coach, mentor and, most importantly, a friend to so many, Dee has touched so many of us in so many ways. I feel totally inadequate to be able to fully express what Dee meant to the University of Connecticut, but Dee will forever be woven into the fabric of who we are and what we stand for.”
“Over the course of a lifetime, we are all blessed to come into contact with people that leave an indelible imprint on your life. Coach Rowe will forever impact my life, and I can only hope to continue to lead this athletics department at UConn in a way that will make him proud.”
In 2016, Rowe was named a nominee for consideration as a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in the contributor category. He remains on the ballot this year.
Added Auriemma: “You know what cool is? Cool is a state of being. It’s something that surrounds you. And Dee was really cool. He really was.”
“That’s what I’m gonna remember about him the most. He was one cool guy.”