Chris Huston (00:01.076)
And now we're excited to welcome one of the top sports reporters and broadcasters in the industry, as well as someone near and dear to the Heisman heart. Her sports reporting career has spanned over three decades, including the past 29 years covering college football, her ESPN and ABC, and recently the Heisman Trophy weekend. But she's done so much more than that. She's among ESPN's top WNBA reporters, also part of the Utah Jazz's broadcast team. She has a long history of covering women's college sports at its highest levels.

including the Women's College World Series and the Women's NCAA Final Four. And she's a tremendous advocate for all women's sports. A Utah native who attended both BYU and Utah, we are thrilled to welcome Holly Road at the Heisman Trophy Podcast. Holly, where are you joining us from today? And with your schedule, could really be anywhere, right?

Holly Rowe (00:44.974)
It really is anywhere. So I've been in Baton Rouge, Charlotte and Indianapolis in the last three days. So I'm in Indianapolis today, but it's been a whirlwind of a few, a few days.

Chris Huston (00:56.808)
Wow, you know you have the huge Tennessee versus Georgia game coming up in Athens and last week you were at LSU in Alabama like you mentioned Baton Rouge I saw you in the rain on that one. What's it like being in the rain? Down those types of games as you just you just dread those situations

Holly Rowe (01:12.608)
This is going to sound so crazy, in a way I don't dread it because it's like we're all hunkering down and you you put on all your rain gear and you're just like, you don't have to worry about being cute on TV or anything. You're just like in it for football. So in a weird way, I love those games. We had an epic rain game last year, Washington with Michael Pennex, that great team at Oregon State, a game they had to win to get into the college football playoff and they barely won.

Chris Huston (01:27.478)
We had an epic.

Holly Rowe (01:38.24)
They had to have a last minute drive and that rain game was one of the best I've ever been at and ended up being a kind of a Heisman moment for Michael Pennex who then became a Heisman finalist a few weeks later.

Chris Huston (01:49.59)
Of course, you have a big game this week. We mentioned Tennessee versus Georgia and Athens. What do you see as the key themes for that one that you're working on?

Holly Rowe (01:55.925)
Turnovers so, know both of these quarterbacks and I don't quite know Nico Iamaleava's health status yet But Carson Beck has been a quarterback last year. He set the single-season school record for completion percentage 73.3 percent I think you know one of the highest most efficient quarterbacks we've ever seen in college football and it hasn't gone that way this year he's coming off of I think it's something like

Nine interceptions in the last three weeks or four weeks. And I think he had seven all of last year. So I'm so fascinated by the psychology and the mindset with Carson Beck. I had a good long conversation with him last week before they played against Florida. And he's in a good place, but he's saying, you know, last year was so easy. Everything came so easy. And this year it's not happening that way. And so how he's trying to mentally readjust and change

Chris Huston (02:46.518)
This year it's not happening that way. How he's trying to mentally readjust and change his expectations a little bit. think he was thinking he's onto the NFL and this is all these goals instead of like being right where the feet are in this snap. And he is saying all the right things. He is a resilient young man. I really like his mindset and the conversation he had. But in the game, you've got to figure out a way to make the better decisions and not press and not try to...

Holly Rowe (02:51.902)
you know, his expectations a little bit. think he was thinking he's onto the NFL and this and this, you know, all these goals instead of like being right where his feet are in this snap. And he is saying all the right things. He is a resilient young man. I really like his mindset and the conversation we had, but in the game, you know, he's got to figure out a way to, you know, make the better decisions and not press and not try to take more than the play is giving him.

Chris Huston (03:16.614)
Mm-hmm. You've been doing this for a long time and you've talked to probably hundreds if not thousands of athletes How do you get them to sit down and and and talk to you in earnest and not fall back on cliches? you know because everyone is a little bit scared probably in those interviews probably don't want to say the wrong thing They got to be careful. They've been drilled into their head by the coach about you know, the key themes to hit How do you how do you find ways to get them to open up?

Holly Rowe (03:41.683)
Yeah, I think it's getting more and more challenging because student athletes all go through media training. Well, our sports information people and our media relations people do wonderful things and wonderful jobs. Sometimes I get frustrated because, you know, they're trying to make the athletes, you know, kind of kind of bulletproof and don't say anything wrong or make anything wrong. And in doing that, they create a sameness to kids. You know, they're all saying the same things and behaving the same way. And I think as viewers and fans where we resonate with players,

Chris Huston (04:00.918)
And in doing that, they create a sameness to kids. They're all saying the same things and behaving the same way. And I think as viewers and fans, we resonate with players to see their authenticity. So I'll give you an example. Ryan Williams, the 17-year-old sensation for Alabama.

Holly Rowe (04:11.596)
is authenticity. So I'll give you an example. Ryan Williams, you know, the 17 year old sensation for Alabama, he's got his own podcast right now with his friend on the team in Bakway and they are so cute and so fun and being showing you exactly who they are and what their personalities are. And it is so refreshing. Like I listen to their podcast every week. I'm a big fan. So I want, know, as we media train people, I want us to

Chris Huston (04:27.452)
I'll showing you exactly who they are on AR.

Wow

Holly Rowe (04:40.401)
to never train out of them, like authenticity and connecting with your viewers and connecting with your fans, that's really important. Joe Burrow is a great example of somebody who, you know, it took me two years. I remember doing an interview with him, his very first game he played for LSU. He hadn't played, he'd been sitting behind, you know, other guys at Ohio State. And our post-game press conference or our post-game interview was really funny. And he was like, you know, kind of some boring answers, you know.

Chris Huston (04:59.336)
other guys that will kind of see. And our posting friends.

Holly Rowe (05:08.423)
standard, standard, and then I asked him a question about, you know, what do you see in this team? And he's like, people don't think we're good. This is a really good team. And he kind of bowed up and showed this backbone and this personality. And that was the beginning kind of to me of the Joe Burrow legend of, no, I've got a chip on my shoulder. I'm going to ride or die for my teammates and I'm going to talk about it. And I just thought like, that was fresh. That was really fun.

Chris Huston (05:12.118)
you know, what do you see in this team? he's like, people don't think we're good. This is a really good team. And he kind of bowed up and showed this backbone and this personality. And that was the key to kind of the me of the Joe Burrow legend of, you know, I've got a chip on

Chris Huston (05:34.299)
Mm-hmm

Holly Rowe (05:36.262)
So I like when you can kind of dial in and get to the real person and let them be themselves

Chris Huston (05:42.314)
Yeah. Do you think maybe that this new era where players are taking more autonomy over their careers, like you mentioned, Ryan Williams doing his podcast. Do think that this is going to lead to just sort of more interesting content from your perspective?

Holly Rowe (05:56.782)
I do. think, you know, on the one hand, it's kind of bad for people in the media like us. Like we want those interviews. We want those players to come on our stuff and do content. But what I find refreshing is they are so relaxed and being themselves. I think I'm at the point where I just want the content and then we'll figure it out on the other side. So I'll give you one more example. Jalen Milrow had a really cute, he's doing this thing called link, let a naysay or no. And so he's putting out in a podcast every week or kind of like a video component more so.

Chris Huston (06:20.05)
Mm-hmm. I know that one.

Holly Rowe (06:26.787)
Well, I watched his and then I took a story from his and I used that on our air. So there's not, there's nothing to say we can't share that. You just have to make sure you credit, you know, Hey, I saw this on Jaylen's podcast and make sure we're crediting those kids, but we're getting good information. so I like however the good information and good storytelling can happen. I'm all for it.

Chris Huston (06:28.242)
And then I put the story from his and I did that on our air. So there's nothing to say you can't share that. You just have to make sure you've read it.

Chris Huston (06:49.014)
Sure, and the cross-pollination helps everyone, everyone benefits a little bit. You know, one of the things I want to ask you about is this current trend of fans throwing things on the field. Hopefully it's not a trend, hopefully it's just a little hiccup. But from your perspective, does that ever feel, I know like when there's gonna be a crowd rushing, you know, when you're on the field, you're like, okay, how am gonna get out of here? Where's my safe spot? But when people are throwing things on the field, does it make you feel unsafe out there?

Holly Rowe (06:52.645)
100%.

Holly Rowe (06:59.032)
Huh.

Holly Rowe (07:14.532)
So there's productive fandom, right? So throwing stuff on the field is completely unproductive. Your team gets penalized. Your school is now getting penalized financially. And you will personally, I just saw where they're saying they're gonna start looking through video clips. And if you get caught throwing something up, you're gonna get banned for the rest of season. So it's an unproductive fan behavior, right? Rushing the field to me is productive for the most part. I mean, we do see things happen with opposing players here and there.

Chris Huston (07:29.142)
video clip.

Chris Huston (07:34.134)
It's an unproductive band became the right. Rushing the steel to me is productive for the most part.

Holly Rowe (07:42.893)
But for the most part, I think it's awesome. I'm definitely pro rush to the field because I love it. I've been in those moments. I think it's exciting. I rushed the field. I was a BYU fan growing up and BYU was playing Miami in the first game of the season. Miami came into Provo ranked number one. Detmer was the quarterback and BYU upset Miami. I rushed the field.

I was in the stands with my dad and family and I rushed the field. So I've done it myself and I like that. So I think fans have got to really figure out is this helping or hurting my team and actually be intentional about that.

Chris Huston (08:18.548)
I'm going to go look at old video footage and see if I can find you on the field. We talked to Ty Dettmer about that. You know, being on the field, you get a different perspective than most people. What do you learn from being down there that you can't get up in the booth?

Holly Rowe (08:20.929)
Yeah. you'll find me there. I was like, let's go! Brush the field.

Holly Rowe (08:31.914)
It is so intimate and you know, honestly, the game is very different from down on the sidelines than it is on TV. You know, I get to hear the hits. I get to hear the guys come over from the sideline after a score and say something or come over after a disappointment and say something and how they work through it. So it really is this very private and personal, it takes on a game of its own. And I think that's why you've seen things like NFL films. You know, I know the SEC network does a really good job of this, of like,

You guys are getting one experience on the broadcast, but really what's happening amongst this team in the coaching box is very different, very intimate. How can we showcase that? So Ole Miss kind of started doing that a few years ago. They had like this great show. They're still doing it. And I think they were kind of some of the first to really put out the best content of like, here's what real conversations are on the sideline and here's what it's really like to be in this moment. It's awesome.

Chris Huston (09:27.562)
There is a Georgia player who was recently caught on tape, know, speaking of rushing the field, celebrating with Ole Miss fans afterward. You're going to ask Kirby Smart about that this week?

Holly Rowe (09:38.485)
Yeah, I saw his press conference where he called the kid an idiot. And I don't really like calling kids idiots, but I get it. Here's what happened. I went back and looked at it. Jake Pope, he ran into some friends that he wasn't expecting to see. They were in their Ole Miss gear. You know, they're in ponchos. These are not players he's celebrating with at first. And he's just kind of like, they're all jumping up and down because everyone around them. And he's just kind like, my gosh, great to see you.

And I see why it looked the way it did. I also understand what Jake explained and what Kirby explained. I was like, he was excited to see these people. Here's what I don't like that's happening right now in college football. I saw another clip right now that just went viral about somebody putting an arrow over a linebacker for LSU. Brian Kelly, you you're trying to teach guys to be tough. What's this on this plane? You see a guy kind of pull up and not.

tackle Jalen Milrow and one thing I've learned being on the field and being in these moments, camera angles are not all there. He was behind the play. If you were looking at that angle from across the field, he's out of the play and he's behind and he just tries to like get out of the way of his guy that he thinks can make the tackle. Like if we go back and adjudicate fandom and adjudicate players based on little tiny snippets of video out of context without seeing the whole video, I don't like that. I just don't think it's fair to people.

Chris Huston (10:39.107)
Mm-hmm

Chris Huston (10:48.401)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Rowe (11:00.607)
Context matters, all the camera angles matter. What you think you saw on one play, I'll go back and watch replay. I'm like, I literally didn't see that. And so I don't like this trend of us criticizing and really, I mean, this poor kid's getting really criticized for something that we didn't see the whole context of.

Chris Huston (11:19.573)
Yeah, yeah, I think that with this new era like we talked about NIL and and all these other factors that it also opens players up to more criticism because I think the fans think Well, they're getting paid now. So they're open to criticism Yeah

Holly Rowe (11:31.454)
Like you belong to us, right? I think that's a really dangerous way for people to think and fans to think like we own you, you belong to us, you better act this certain way. I don't like that. And I think some of it also comes from betting. We're just allowing sports betting willy-nilly. And I know my company is one of those that's all in on it. So this sounds, you know, hypocritical, but I don't believe in it. I don't bet. And I think it's opening up young, young.

Chris Huston (11:35.904)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (11:54.196)
Yeah.

Holly Rowe (11:57.373)
you know, 18 to 22 year old people to a lot of criticism that's not fair. Don't make me responsible for your bet. That's your decision and I think that's kind of a slippery slope we're seeing right now.

Chris Huston (12:04.63)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (12:08.707)
Yeah, we talked a lot about on this podcast about the disruption that's going on in college football and how everything's kind of in flux right now both with the NIL aspect, the conference realignment aspect, the playoffs and all that. Where do you think this all ends up a few years from now? Hopefully if it does end up somewhere.

Holly Rowe (12:26.833)
You know, I go back and forth on this because there's a part of me that I have said this out loud to people before. think the best, I think we have already seen the best of college football. Like when it was all truest, when it was just me and my brother and we're going to go out there and fight for each other. And, that feeling of camaraderie and team for nothing more than pride, nothing more than performance and pride of performance. Those days are over. And kind of when I started noticing this is this is a true story. I had a.

Chris Huston (12:48.458)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Rowe (12:57.116)
I have a friend that's a sports information director and a player had just given up the game winning touchdown. A defensive back had just given up the game winning touchdown to lose his team the game. And he comes to my friend and says, Hey, do you have any pictures of me that you can send me so I can post to my social media? And it took all of this person's willpower not to say, yeah, I have a picture of you giving up the game winning play.

Chris Huston (13:08.534)
the game and he comes to my friend and says hey do you have any pictures of me that you can send me so I can post to my social media and it took all of this person's willpower not to say yeah I have a picture of you giving up the game winning play is that what you want and so I feel like there's a lot of

Holly Rowe (13:23.757)
Is that what you want? And so I feel like there's a lot of people, not just football, a lot of people who want to be good on social media. They don't want to be good in real life. It's all a show, right? So I have that side of my brain that feels like the best of college football is behind us. But then I see stuff that's going on like, you know, the story at Colorado of what's happening. They're doing it in a different way. They are doing it in an on-camera social media way.

Chris Huston (13:41.033)
Yeah

Chris Huston (13:46.382)
Right.

Holly Rowe (13:51.308)
It's still really cool and beautiful. What Travis Hunter is doing is awesome. Like, I mean, we just haven't seen anything like it. He's getting a lot of hype nowhere near what he should be getting. you know, I definitely go both ways. I want to be one of those people that adapts and grows as I go through life. So I don't want to be like, this is the way we used to do it. But I do feel like the questions of why are kids playing? Why are they performing the way they are? What is their why?

The whys are changing and that's going to be hard for us to adapt to as we navigate this.

Chris Huston (14:24.279)
Yeah, my personal opinion is that it has while the popularity of the sport has grown and is broader the intensity of the the interest amongst like the old guard people who were the most hardcore fans is maybe waning a bit because it's bringing in new fans who were have the sort of like a light

interest in it the same way that people follow the NFL for fantasy football, right? So you're broadening it, but maybe it's not as deep. Do think that's potentially what we're seeing?

Holly Rowe (14:54.285)
I don't think so and here's why. This generation of kids have been going to games since they were two years old with their parents. Like if you grew up in the SEC, you've been tailgating with your family since you were born. And so I do feel like this, you know, this feeling, this tribalism of like we're Auburn Tiger fans, War Damn Eagle, Roll Tide, you know, like this tribalism still really exists and is really strong.

I do think we view it more through a social media lens. Like I might not sit down and watch five games on Saturday like I used to or three, four games on Saturday like I used to, but I do look at every social media clip. So I'm only seeing, you know, the clip of Travis Hunter making this play or, know, the clip of Jalen Melrose jumping into the stands. So I feel like almost in some respects, a lot of people have blinders on with college football. They're not seeing the whole landscape.

Chris Huston (15:46.434)
Yeah.

Holly Rowe (15:46.932)
So I'll be curious how that changes fandom as we move forward, but I still think this generation has grown up going to games, going to tailgates with their parents, and their grandparents. I still think that fandom is really alive and well.

Chris Huston (16:00.393)
You mentioned Travis Hunter earlier who's impressed you in person the most this year of all the Heisman candidates out there

Holly Rowe (16:06.69)
So, you know, there's a lot. wish I'd seen Ashton G.T. in person. He's somebody that's right up there for me. Dylan Gabriel is having an incredible year. He just broke the touchdowns responsible for record in the NCAA. Because Oregon and their time zone and kind of the TV package they're on right now, I just don't know that Oregon's getting enough love and what Dylan Gabriel is doing out there is really incredible. And then the other kid that I am absolutely obsessed with

with right now that nobody's talking about is Dylan Sampson for Tennessee. The Tennessee running back, I mean, he will probably be the SEC player of the year. He's catching the ball out of the backfield. He's rushing the ball at a high level. And he's really one of the reasons that Tennessee is a one-loss team right now. You know, they have a huge game at Georgia. We kind of are calling it an elimination game. I don't know if that's accurate or not based on the way the SEC is rolling out. But he's a kid that I'm like,

People need to be paying attention to him and talking about him more because he is unbelievable. Unbelievable. Do it.

Chris Huston (17:06.538)
We'll have to get him on the show. Your 12 team college football playoff coming up, you talked about elimination games potentially, but we don't really know. Do you think we'll ever have a situation where there's a three loss champion in college football?

Holly Rowe (17:18.902)
absolutely. That's what playoffs are for, right? That's what the playoff situation is all about, is giving more teams more opportunity so that one loss in a season doesn't ruin their entire chance. I always still mourn the TCU Baylor year, where their only loss was to each other and then they didn't get in, it didn't get a chance to play for more. I've always really mourned that and the loss of that. I remember an Auburn team that went, think, 14-0 maybe at that point.

Chris Huston (17:47.614)
Mm-hmm

Holly Rowe (17:48.213)
And know, Cadillac Williams, that great group. I've always felt sad for them that they didn't get a bigger opportunity, a bigger chance. So I think we will see three lost teams. think, you know, it's like who gets hot lately. So Alabama is a great example of that. Everybody's written Alabama off. They've got two losses. Their season's over. I was honestly, don't get mad at me Alabama fans for saying this, but I was really disappointed with how many fans came to Alabama at LSU. There was like

Chris Huston (18:15.478)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Rowe (18:16.756)
teeny tiny section of Alabama fans and a few people up top. It's normally much different Alabama on the road. can, I could kind of feel like, some fans are checking out of this team already. And then they go in and throw the hammer down and play their most complete game of the season. And I think the teams that can live in the world of we're getting better every week. That's what makes this playoff exciting is it's not going to just be who's good in September and

October anymore. It's who continues to improve through the course of the season and Alabama is one of those teams and it makes it really cool.

Chris Huston (18:53.3)
Right, obviously the tide silenced that crowd last Saturday, but what's the loudest sideline to report from and maybe an underrated loud stadium out there that you've worked on?

Holly Rowe (19:03.067)
Yeah, well, I mean, this seems obvious, but Penn State is one of the loudest. think so. I have a decibel meter and I try to take my own decibel meter readings. Yes, I'm that dorky girl. But the loudest I've ever personally been out in college football is 118. And that was at LSU. That was a few years ago. This season, it was 115. That was at Arkansas, which might surprise people. That was a really loud, crazy environment when they played Tennessee.

But you know, it hovers because it's outdoors, know, and the sound kind of escapes it. It hovers right around 115 to 118, 119 is the loudest. You know, sometimes I see them put the reading up on the Jumbotron and the scoreboard. I don't know how accurate those are because that's probably counting like the music and all that stuff. But it gets loud and it's causing problems like home crowds can change games. And we've seen that.

Chris Huston (19:44.566)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (19:56.711)
Yeah, you know one of the things that when I see you work that I always don't envy you doing is grabbing a coach before the half or on the way out of the stadium Tough spot to be in. How do you balance the need to find? Pertinent information with with kind of recognizing that this coach probably has his thoughts You know a million miles away at the time trying to you know, go through the head knowing they have to do the interview How do you how do you handle all that?

Holly Rowe (20:19.663)
Yeah, I always feel like this interview is going to be as good as my questions. Now listen, sometimes the coach is in different headspace and he's just gonna answer whatever he wants to say, regardless of what question you actually ask. And for sure, I've had my awkward ones throughout the course of the years. One of my favorite ones ever is Kirk Farrance. This is probably like 15 years ago. Kirk Farrance is on the sideline and he's running at a full sprint. I don't know, like neither of us stopped to think to stop and...

Chris Huston (20:42.742)
And he's running at...

Holly Rowe (20:48.737)
and not run and we do the entire interview at a full sprint across the field and after the game he's like you know sorry I don't know why I didn't stop I apologize was that a problem I'm like no let's roll with it like I love it you know yeah I don't I don't want a boring old interview but I will say this I really stew and noodle and work about my questions because you don't want to ask a question that's going to set a coach off

Chris Huston (20:53.421)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (21:01.32)
I remember that one. You were great. You were just jogging right along.

Holly Rowe (21:16.236)
make them angry, have a bad exchange, but you also do want to glean useful information for your viewers. And that's what those interviews are for, right? And so one of the guys I have appreciated forever is Nick Saban. You could think, he'll be impatient or he'll be tight with the media. He was unbelievable with me because he wanted people to know what was going right or what was going wrong in the game. He wanted an educated fan base so people weren't blowing things out of proportion.

Chris Huston (21:24.021)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Rowe (21:44.752)
And one of my favorite Nick Saban interviews is, gosh, I forget who this was. think it might've been LSU came out at Orgeron's last year. LSU was terrible. They come out the first play of the game. It's like a 70 yard bomb down field, you know, to go up on Alabama and they barely win the game. Alabama does. And I remember at halftime saying something about, you know, what did you change after that first play of the game? And he said, well, personnel. I was like, what do you mean? He's like, well, I fired a guy.

Chris Huston (21:53.11)
your elephant is terrible. They come out the first play of the game, it's like 70 yards on downfield, know, go up on Alabama, and they bury them in game, Alabama does. And I remember...

Holly Rowe (22:13.677)
And I just love that. Like we had to change who was defending that wide receiver on that play. I fired a guy. And so I kind of loved that I thought to not just skate over it. You know, like, no, no, no. What do you mean by that? Well, somebody got fired. Another one of my favorite, favorite halftime interviews. This was my favorite game I've ever worked. It was Texas USC at the Rose Bowl for the national championship. I know you're, you've got USC ties. So that was cool for you too. And

Chris Huston (22:40.604)
Yeah.

Holly Rowe (22:43.406)
I go into the lot and Mac Brown is like, we stunk and know, da da da da da. And my follow up question in a national championship game, the biggest game of my life was what stunk? And I just love that question so much because I can't just let him say we stunk and run to the locker room. Like I need to, I know. And I still to this day don't even know what the proper grammar for that would have been like, what stunk? What stink? What stinks?

Chris Huston (22:56.064)
Great.

Chris Huston (23:02.462)
It's pretty open-ended.

Holly Rowe (23:11.532)
You know, like, I don't even know if I had the right grammar, but I love that follow-up because it's just real and it's organic, and then he gives this great response. And what you're after in those moments, it isn't about you and your question. I want good information and a great response for fans. And like, one of my proudest things is when...

Chris Huston (23:16.052)
Yeah.

Holly Rowe (23:33.687)
Kirk Herbstreet and Chris Fowler, they did it this week. They'll say, well, coach told Collie at halftime, and they reference back to it because the information was important. And that's when I really feel like, yay, I did a good job. They think that information was relevant and they keep bringing it up later in the game.

Chris Huston (23:45.96)
you

Yeah, that's incredible. That's I remember that that quote too. That was that was great You're also ESPN's top reporter covering the WNBA which has absolutely exploded The past year with great young stars like angel Reese and Caitlin Clark Have you ever seen a woman like Clark come along and generate so much interest so fast?

Holly Rowe (24:06.006)
You know, it's funny, back in the day now, this is weird because it was before social media. I would say the first player I really saw generate this kind of interest was Candace Parker. I mean, she was the first woman I saw, you know, as a high schooler on the cover of magazines. She was the first woman who announced her college, you know, choice live on national TV. And so I would say Candace Parker was the first that was big like this, but we didn't have social media yet. And so I think that's what's pushed it even bigger is

You know, everybody has instant access to everything these women are doing and every highlight and all the great shots. And I remember a moment, this was two years ago, know, Caitlin's played well. I think they get to the Sweet 16, her freshman year, sophomore year, she's doing well, scoring a lot, but not a lot of media buzz. Her junior year in January, about mid January, they play...

Chris Huston (24:56.266)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Rowe (25:00.747)
Indiana and Indiana is the top team in the Big Ten. It's for the first place in the Big Ten standings and she hits a last second 30 foot shot at the buzzer to win that game. And I was there and I got to interview her after the game and I just feel like from that moment on, Caitlin exploded because she was hitting shots in moments that mattered.

but from distances we've never seen from a woman and it just kind of blew people's minds and then she just kept doing it over and over and over.

Chris Huston (25:32.419)
Wow you are going to do the Heisman Trophy ceremony and the events surrounding it again this year I saw you out there last year with the the finalist up there the night before talking to them interviewing them You've had a great relationship with the Heisman

and help them tell the finalist stories, what years have really stuck out for you as special?

Holly Rowe (25:52.522)
Well, first I want to say, know, the Heisman Trophy was something that was really important to me in my life growing up. I watched it every year, probably for my whole life. And one of my favorite memories was I grew up as a really big BYU football fan. mean, back for Gary Scheide was the quarterback like in 1976. I definitely remember him, Gifford Nielsen, Robbie Bosco, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, like every great quarterback.

Chris Huston (26:12.054)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Huston (26:16.778)
McMahon.

Holly Rowe (26:20.337)
in college football that came out of BYU, like I was there, I went to those games. And so when Ty Dettmer won the Heisman, that was one of my favorite moments ever in my life. And it was, if you go back and watch the video, it's so cool. I think they're in Hawaii for a bowl game or for their last game of the season. And he's got the team around him, LaVelle sit next to him, but only Ty has the earpiece in. And so he just does this really awkward, we got it. We got it.

Chris Huston (26:34.194)
Mm-hmm. He's got the lay

Chris Huston (26:47.658)
Yeah.

Holly Rowe (26:50.2)
And I was like, this is so perfect, because he's so humble. I've gotten to now go to the Heisman for so long and work for so long. I've gotten to sit at the table at the dinner the night before the Heisman with Ty Detmer and his wife, and we reminisce about all the great days. So the Heisman is important to me in my life. You might remember I was going through stage four metastatic cancer, and I had a period where things weren't going well, and the doctor told me, we're not sure if you're going to make it.

This is going to sound morbid, but I've told the Heisman people this, because I think it's sweet, because now I am doing better. But I had to fill out all my paperwork and get my, you know, my burial plan ready and my will and all my paperwork and all that kind of stuff, my living trust. And I got on there that I want my tombstone to say Heisman Trophy Voter, because it means something. I was a little kid that grew up going to football games since I was five years old. And for that little girl to grow up,

Chris Huston (27:39.155)
Wow

Holly Rowe (27:49.925)
and become a Heisman Trophy voter and to then get to help be there and present the Heisman Trophy. Like it's the coolest, maybe one of the coolest things ever in my lifetime. So the Heisman is really special, really important to me. I'm honored to ever be a part of it. And I just love being there, seeing these moments. We've had some cool moments. Like I got to be out in Times Square with Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts.

Chris Huston (28:09.383)
Yeah.

Holly Rowe (28:16.455)
Chase Daniels, know, Aiden Hutchinson, like Johnny Man, all these kids through the years, Adrian Peterson, Matt Leiner, Reggie Bush, like just all these great guys through the years. I've gotten to be there and host them and do segments with them. And it just means the world to me.

Chris Huston (28:32.118)
And it just means the world to me. Well, we're certainly grateful that you came through that and we continue to cheer for you and root for you to keep staying healthy. And speaking of that, you also have a foundation, the Heisman is supporting your foundation, Joyous. Please tell us about that endeavor and how people out there can support it.

Holly Rowe (28:52.504)
Yes, so when I was going through cancer, I would have those moments where you're like, please let me live. I promise I will pay it forward and do good in the world. So I just launched my foundation. It's called the Joyous Foundation. We just did our first $10,000 scholarship to a young softball player at Yale University. And so I want to do good in the world and help promote sports and people whose lives have been impacted by cancer. And the Heisman.

Trust has been really awesome. We're working together. I don't think we're quite ready to announce this yet, but I am working with the Heisman Trust that we're going to do something special for someone in college football at this year's Heisman Trophy. And my foundation, the Joyce Foundation, is going to bring that person and make sure they are having this joy-filled experience. Because what I learned when I was going through cancer, and it was really dark, awful days, I have to live today as joyfully as possible.

And so I just want my foundation to help people live with joy and find your fun, find your fun stuff that makes each and every day happy and joyful. So I'm really grateful to Tim and everybody at the Heisman Trust that we are going to make that connection with people who love football also.

Chris Huston (30:00.818)
Well, you are always a friend of the Heisman Trophy and I'm sure whatever we can do to help you both on this podcast in the future and the Heisman itself will always going to be there for you. You are a giant among sports journalists and we appreciate your association and thanks for coming on the show, Holly, and we will see you in New York down the road.

Holly Rowe (30:20.366)
I'm so grateful and I love that you're doing this podcast. I was listening to Jake Resloff's from BYU, the BYU quarterback a couple weeks ago. You guys are doing a great job on this podcast and I'm really grateful because you're getting people from all over the country that maybe aren't the mainstream stars and we've seen the Service Academy quarterbacks on here. So anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys thank you. I'm a big fan and I'm listening every single week to what you're doing.

Chris Huston (30:36.181)
Yeah.

Chris Huston (30:42.534)
thanks so much. really trying to highlight people who don't necessarily get the support and you know, we're not trying to bend support in one way or another, but just to highlight all the accomplishments of these great players.

Holly Rowe (30:52.683)
Okay, get Dylan Sampson. That will be our next goal. He's my guy. I want us to give more attention.

Chris Huston (30:55.422)
Okay, Paul, Paul, Paul, if you can hear us, you know, get on that. So, all right. Thanks, Holly. Thank you. Take care.

Holly Rowe (30:59.905)
Make it happen. Thank you.

Yeah!