October is usually when the sports calendar starts asking fans to pick a lane. For Holly Rowe, however, there is no picking one. The ESPN veteran finds herself moving between two completely different worlds, with the WNBA playoffs and college football season demanding her attention at almost the same time. And while the two sports have their own audiences and their own rhythms, Rowe has no intention of choosing between them.
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Speaking on the September 30 episode of Post Moves with Candace Parker, the longtime reporter opened up about what this stretch of the calendar looks like for her and admitted that keeping up with both has become a serious challenge.
“This is a crazy time of year for me, and it’s hard, I’m not going to lie. But it’s joyful and fun because I really have to love my job this time of year because I’m going from, like a college football game at midnight, driving through the night or traveling, and then trying to get to my WNBA playoff game,” Rowe said. “So, this has been really hard. I think this is like my, I don’t know, maybe 18th, 20th year doing college football and WNBA playoffs. So, I’ve been putting some miles on, but I love it, and I would rather die than miss these games. So, I’m here I am.”
That final line might sum up Holly Rowe’s approach better than anything else. The schedule may be brutal, but missing either sport doesn’t appear to be an option for her.
For almost three decades, Rowe has been one of ESPN‘s most versatile reporters. The network’s official bio lists her work across ABC’s Saturday Night Football, the WNBA, the NCAA Women’s Final Four, and several other major events. ESPN even named her alongside Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo as part of its lead broadcast trio for the 2026 WNBA playoffs.
But even though she loves her work, the timing makes this particular ongoing stretch especially demanding. The 2026 WNBA regular season ended on September 24, with the playoffs beginning just three days later. The Finals can continue as late as October 31. College football, meanwhile, was already underway by late August, with the 2026-27 College Football Playoff eventually carrying the season all the way to the national championship on January 25, 2027.
One weekend can require her to prepare for the intensity of a college football matchup before switching gears and heading into a WNBA playoff environment. The preparation itself is different, the storylines are different, and the athletes she is talking to come from completely different sporting worlds. Yet Rowe has spent years doing exactly that.
In fact, ESPN has trusted her with some of its biggest assignments in both sports. In 2021, the network announced Rowe would join Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit on ABC’s Saturday Night Football, extending her college football coverage through the College Football Playoff.
With a schedule this unpredictable, though, many might wonder what her travel situation actually looks like. And as it turns out, she has had to prepare for just about anything. The reporter revealed that she is currently carrying three weeks’ worth of clothes in a single carry-on.
“I’m packed for three weeks right now in a carry-on,” Holly Rowe further added. “I roll some things. But I’m the world’s best packer, and I have probably 10 outfits in my bag right now that I can mix and match and different things. So, you guys will see me in a few repeats right now, but I’m on the road for three weeks because we don’t know our playoff schedule.”
The reason for all that preparation is simple: even Rowe doesn’t know where the next assignment will take her. With the WNBA playoff schedule still dependent on how each series unfolds, she has to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.
“I literally have no idea where I’ll be on Sunday after I get done with my Miami at Clemson football game on Saturday night,” she added.
So while she may not know which city she will be in a few days from now, she knows she wants to be there when the biggest games are being played. And with the WNBA playoffs still unfolding and the college football season only getting deeper, there is no sign of that hectic schedule slowing down anytime soon.