Former Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks infuriates the Kentucky fanbase with a reported tone-deaf decision

This isn't good.
Kentucky Wildcats head coach Kenny Brooks shouts to his players during their game against the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024 at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky.
Kentucky Wildcats head coach Kenny Brooks shouts to his players during their game against the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024 at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky. | Clare Grant/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When Kenny Brooks left Virginia Tech last March for Kentucky, Wildcat Nation was excited for the future and why not? His history in Blacksburg gave the Wildcats' fans hope that he was going to come in and turn things around. That's what he did in Year 1 in Lexington.

It helped that Brooks had Georgia Amoore follow him from Virginia Tech, as well as Clara Strack. He also hit the transfer portal like every other coach does this time of the year, and they ended up hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament last weekend. They had their season end in overtime at the hands of Kansas State on Sunday afternoon.

This week, some players entered the portal for Kentucky, including Clara Silva, a freshman who originally committed to Virginia Tech in the summer of 2023 while Brooks was still there. On Saturday, Cassidy Rowe, who committed under former coach Matthew Mitchell and didn't want to play anywhere else, posted that she was not coming back for her final year of eligibility, and the reported reason why upset the Kentucky fanbase.

Kenny Brooks upsets Kentucky fanbase with decision on Cassidy Rowe's future

Rowe, a point guard, posted on her Instagram account that she would not be using her final season of eligibility and would pursue a career in physical therapy. Phoenix Stevens on On3 reported that Rowe was asked to transfer and that she bleeds blue and would never be anything other than a Wildcat. Therefore, her college career ends with a year left of eligibility. It didn't sit well with Kentucky fans, to say the least.

During his preseason media availability, Brooks said about Rowe, "Some of them were already in the portal. And Cassidy, when she started talking about her experiences here, I swore when she started crying, it was blue tears… And I’m asking her why. And you know, she stuttered and stammered a little bit. And that was enough for me.”

This would clear the Kentucky roster of nearly everyone who was a holdover from the previous coaching staff, but having it done this way is not something that Wildcats fans envisioned. It will be an interesting time in Lexington regarding roster-building for the 2025-26 season. Virginia Tech fans might not be surprised at how things went down.

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