Caitlin Clark was the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year and took the league by storm after being selected first overall in the 2024 draft by the Indiana Fever
Caitlin Clark broke college and division records with the Hawkeyes before heading to the WNBA (Image: Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
Caitlin Clark shed light on why she turned down Notre Dame and how her choice to attend Iowa has ultimately paid dividends. The Indiana Fever star has been a revelation in the WNBA, scooping up Rookie of the Year after a sensational first season that mesmerized fans on the court and earned her praise for her influence on the game off it.
However, Clark’s impressive trajectory owes much to her four-year stint at Iowa. She was crowned AP Player of the Year twice and is the NCAA Division I all-time highest scorer with 3,951 points.
Her decision was gutsy, especially as Notre Dame clinched the NCAA Division I title just two years prior to her college admission. Discussing her university pick on ‘New Heights’ podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, Clark cited her close relationship with her family as a key factor.
“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!”
Caitlin Clark explained the reason why she snubbed Notre Dame to go to Iowa (Image: @newheightshow /Youtube)
Clark played her entire college career with the Hawkeyes, becoming the all-time leading scorer among all college basketball players in history across both male and female divisions. Clark also met her boyfriend, fellow Hawkeyes basketball player Connor McCaffrey, while at Iowa.
The Fever star reflected on her incredible 2024 on the podcast as well, telling the Kelces that the year 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.”
