If you were watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament coverage from Lexington last month, you may have recognized Hopkinsville native Rheagan Lindsey in the bowels and on the sidelines of Rupp Arena.
The 2022 University Heights Academy graduate is a sophomore at the University of Kentucky and doing an internship in the UK athletics department under the communications and public relations team.
In addition to working with Kentucky athletics in the fall, she also worked the NCAA Basketball Tournament first and second rounds at Rupp Arena.
“I’ve had such a good year, and that was a cool experience,” she said. “I got to meet so many cool people on Tennessee’s team, Auburn’s team, and Louisville. I got to escort all three of their coaches and UCLA’s coach, and just like have a conversation with them which is crazy to me because I see them on TV.”
Rheagan also used that time to make a recruitment pitch to first-year Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey.
“I got to talk with him about his daughter wanting to come to UK, and I was like ‘she needs to come here. It’s the right school,” she told the U of L coach.
Rheagan worked at Kentucky football, soccer, volleyball, and basketball games this past season and plans to work some baseball and softball in the spring.
“I’ve helped run social media stories at basketball games. I’ve taken stats to all the media people on the floor during full time outs and then during football, we set up in the press box and just kept track of who’s on the field, what players are playing,” she said of her game duties. “In post-game press conferences, we would lead SIDs, teams, and coaches to those and I’ve also had to record and transcribe what they say during those press conferences.”
She said they would be assigned a coach or player to work up the interviews after the game and conduct pregame setups.
As someone who grew up a sports fan and played golf and soccer at UHA, Rheagan is familiar with the different sports and understands the challenges of separating being an intern and a fangirl.
“It’s definitely a challenge because we have to be neutral on our opinions about the game, and we can’t really cheer in the press box,” she said. “Obviously, I’m a huge Kentucky fan and it’s been an adjustment being a fan to now an intern but I still get to go to games as a student to obviously cheer on the team and just try my best not to let my emotions get the best of me when I am working.”
Rheagan originally wanted to take a kinesiology path but her love of sports caused her to take a fork in the road.
“I grew up in a huge sports loving family, and a huge Kentucky fan, so I knew coming in I wanted to do something down that path. I kept seeing more and more of the (UK) internships related to sports. When I went to the games last year, I kind of just asked questions to people I knew that did the same thing, and I applied for it over the summer.”
And she has no regrets about changing fields of study to the sports field. It’s also allowed her to see some of Kentucky’s biggest sports moments of 2024-25.
“I was nervous going into it with (Mark) Pope coming in as a new coach. I was excited but obviously a little nervous since Coach Cal had been there for so long,” she said. “But I got to see the Tennessee win at home, and I got to work the Arkansas game, and just to see Coach Cal and Coach Pope go head-to-head against each other was cool,” she said.
With Lexington in the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ with Louisville and Cincinnati, opportunities in sports management and entertainment are abound through college and pro teams.
“I hope down the road I can work for either a college or professional team, but I can definitely see myself staying at Kentucky,” she said.
Rheagan has been able to balance her work and school load to make the Dean’s List the last two semesters.
“I always had homework in high school and also played sports on top of that. I also loved cheering on my team, going to baseball games, and soccer games. You just have to find a balance and be able to manage your time and keep your grades up, but also be able to have those experiences.”
Rheagan’s experiences the past several months have been memorable for her, both as a UK intern and a UK fan.
Rheagan talked about her experiences with Scott Brown on YourSportsEdge Saturday. You can listen to the interview below.
