The University of Virginia's College at Wise Athletics

One of the most decorated and feared players in UVA Wise women’s basketball history returned to the team in the summer of 2025, but this time it’s on the sidelines as Caitlyn Ross came back to Wise as an assistant coach.

The Kingston, Tennessee native joined the staff after spending the 2024-25 season coaching at the middle and high school level.

Ross was a standout player for the Highland Cavaliers from 2019-24. She set several new program records, including starts (134), minutes played (4,584), points in a game (47), and assists (820). The 820 assists also set a new South Atlantic Conference record. Her 1,748 career points scored are the third-most in program history. She was also named to the CSC Academic All-District First Team during her final season, to the SAC All-Freshman team, and named All-SAC and SAC Player of the Week multiple times during her career. Ross is also one of the few Highland Cavalier women’s basketball players to notch a triple-double during their career.

Prior to Wise, she was a standout at Midway High School where she helped guide the Green Wave to their first appearance in the Tennessee State Tournament in 17 years, scoring 22 points and grabbing seven rebounds in her final game, a loss to eventual state champion Gibson County.  Ross was a two-time district MVP and was named to the Class A All-State Team following her senior season. She was also a standout softball player, earning all-district honors.

When asked about returning to Wise, Ross said, “I am excited to be back where it all came together for me. Being able to help the women on the team learn and grow throughout their many stages of life excites me and I hope that I can use some of my experience to get them through tougher challenges.

“I also am just really excited to be on the other side of sports and working/ learning from Coach Cluesman and all the knowledge that she has.”

Ross also stated, "This is my first college coaching experience. I helped at the high school level last year and coached 6th graders so this is a whole new level. But I think my experience from playing 5 years in the SAC and under Coach Cluesman in this program helped me gain so much knowledge that I can pass on to the women on the team. The little details that you don’t really think about within your first couple of years of playing I hope to be able to introduce early so that our players can be ahead of the game and continue to grow. Also just already being familiar with the system the Coach runs helps me be able to jump in early to help with positioning and teaching."