Caitlin Clark explained why she declined to attend Notre Dame and how her decision to enroll at Iowa has ultimately paid off. The star of the Indiana Fever has been a revelation in the WNBA, winning Rookie of the Year following an incredible debut season that captivated fans on the field and garnered her recognition for her impact on the sport off it.
But Clark’s four years at Iowa are mostly responsible for her remarkable career. With 3,951 points, she is the all-time top scorer in NCAA Division I and was named AP Player of the Year twice.
Given that Notre Dame had won the NCAA Division I championship just two years before she was admitted to college, her choice was courageous. Clark mentioned her strong bond with her family as a major contributing aspect when talking about her university pick-on ‘New Heights’ podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce.
As the all-time top scorer among all college basketball players in history, both in the male and female divisions, Clark spent her whole collegiate career with the Hawkeyes. While attending Iowa, Clark also got to know her fiance, Connor McCaffrey, a fellow Hawkeyes basketball player.
“When I was going through my options, I knew I wanted to be in the midwest. I am a family person and wanted to stay fairly close to home, so that narrowed it down,” she said. “I visited Oregon and Texas and a few other places. I liked them but I just felt it was too far.
“Then I visited Notre Dame a bunch of times. I loved it and as a kid, you want to go to Notre Dame. It has that tradition and has had so many great players go through there, in so many different sports. But I could feel something in my gut that I wasn’t supposed to go there. So I picked Iowa.
“It had been really good at women’s basketball before I went there, made a few sweet 16s, elite eight but hadn’t been to the final four since like 1992. I wanted to go somewhere that was good but hadn’t been a ‘blue blood’ for quite a few years, and I could help them get back to that.
“It was the perfect distance that my parents couldn’t just show up, but I could go home sometimes. It kind of all added up and I guess my decision worked out!”
On the podcast, the Fever star also shared her thoughts on her amazing 2024, telling the Kelces that it had been “life-changing.”
“It is crazy looking back a year ago to today, I was just beginning my senior year. People knew who I was and attended our games but not to the magnitude they do now. That is what makes it cool. I started a new chapter in my life moving to Indianapolis too,” Clark said of her journey into the league from college.
“It is so unlike any other professional sport. I played in the National Championships, went straight to the draft and got picked. You basically pick up and move and don’t even finish senior year in college. You don’t have time to overthink things but I feel like I never really ended the chapter of college.”
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