On the Rowe to Victory: Cassidy Rowe's journey to becoming a Kentucky Wildcat

Cassidy Rowe, a junior women’s basketball guard at the University of Kentucky, has spent three years of her life playing as a Wildcat. But actually, it’s been much longer than that. Despite graduating in less than three years with a degree in kinesiology at the University of Kentucky, Cassidy is a Wildcat, and will be forever.

For her whole life, Rowe knew she wanted to play basketball. She knew she wanted to play at every level, elementary through collegiate. She knew deep down, she was meant to be a Wildcat. Her grandfather, her dad’s dad, Jimmy, had been a Kentucky fan for as long as Cassidy can remember.

Jimmy instilled that belief in Cassidy’s father, Lonnie, who instilled that same belief in Cassidy. She would go on to play basketball for the University of Kentucky in 2022, the same year her Papaw passed away from dementia.

“My Papaw [Jimmy] is actually– he was the biggest UK fan you’d ever find,” Cassidy said. “His dream was to have a kid or a grandkid play for the University of Kentucky. [He] ended up unfortunately getting dementia, and the last place that he got to go out of the house, was to my signing.”

Fortunately, Jimmy didn’t pass without knowing his granddaughter would be a Wildcat. The last place he went to before his passing was Cassidy’s signing at Shelby Valley High School in November of 2021. Jimmy passed in January of 2022.

“He would also be the first to tell me ‘Your girls are sharing the ball and playing the right way,’” Lonnie said in a Facebook post about his father.

Lonnie, a lifelong basketball player and Kentucky fan, also coached Cassidy for her entire career. Up until she graduated from Shelby Valley in 2022, Lonnie was his daughter’s coach. From her elementary years, to middle school, to high school, basketball was kept within the family.

“It means everything to me,” Cassidy said. “I’ve always been super close with my family… so just getting to experience this with them, it just means everything to me.”

“That’s why I take a lot of pride in playing for my state as well,” she continued. “Just ’cause, my Papaw was a big UK fan, and I feel like I’m partially doing this for him.”

Cassidy, a native of Virgie, KY grew up in the eastern part of the state. A place that doesn’t usually get much recognition. Despite that, she chased her dreams all the way to Lexington. In 2020, she received an offer from the University of Kentucky by Coach Matthew Mitchell, while she was patiently waiting for surgery to repair a torn ACL. Shortly after the offer, Mitchell stepped away from the program, leaving assistant Kyra Elzy in his place.

“Once she hung up the phone,” Lonnie said of Elzy offering Cassidy a scholarship to UK, “there were a lot of tears throughout our family. That was a special moment, because our family, especially my father, was such a huge UK fan. We immediately called him, and he cried also.”

After graduating high school in 2022, Cassidy made her way to UK’s campus to begin practicing with her new team. This would be the first time she’d been coached by someone other than her father or her uncle. While Rowe wasn’t MVP her freshman year, she became one of the team’s most important factors as a sophomore.

Kentucky parted ways with Elzy after the conclusion of Cassidy’s second year as a ‘Cat. Cassidy had to wait patiently — eagerly — to see who her next coach would be. While the rest of her teammates entered the transfer portal, Cassidy, and friend Saniah Tyler, decided to stay true to the blue and white.

“I knew that I always wanted to stay,” Cassidy said. “I was more just praying that, Coach Brooks would want to keep me, and I could keep representing my state.”

Though the Rowe family was full of long-time Kentucky fans, Lonnie knew that there was a chance that Kenny Brooks wouldn’t want to keep Cassidy around. He might want a fresh start.

“I tried to explain to her when Elzy left, that the new coach, regardless of who it was, did not have to keep anyone,” Lonnie said. “If Brooks hadn’t kept her, she said she wouldn’t have played for no one else.”

Fortunately, Brooks decided to keep Cassidy (and Saniah) around. While neither of them plays as much as they had the past two seasons, Cassidy has comfort in knowing that she’s made her grandfather proud.

She quickly became one of the state’s most beloved women’s basketball players, which was made clear by the roar of applause during her entrance to Big Blue Madness. Not only that, but Rowe has little girls all over Kentucky looking up to her. If a girl from a small town in Eastern Kentucky can do it, so can they.

“That’s why I think I’ve been placed in this role to show other people from my hometown that it’s possible, and no dreams are too big,” Cassidy said.

“I really believe her heart and soul is with this university and with this state,” Lonnie said. “She’s always dreamed of being here, she didn’t want to leave and go nowhere else even though we had several schools reach out to her.”

“She said, ‘Not interested, Dad.’ She said, ‘I’m either going to be at Kentucky or nowhere else.’“