For at least three of her four years at the University of Iowa, local hero Caitlin Clark has always heard only cheers associated with her name. Saturday morning, however, hit differently for many reasons.

After the Indiana Fever’s playoff exit, she was a guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay, which returned to Iowa City for Week 5 after 20 years. But the “forever Hawkeyes'” choice to believe in the Iowa State Cyclones to win over the West Virginia Mountaineers did not sit well with the fellow Iowans. While the chorus of boos echoed outside the Pentacrest, Clark’s former coach did what she has always done: stand strongly in her corner.

“Never long enough…but how great was it to have @CaitlinClark22 back home?! So awesome to see you, Caitlin! Love you much! And, just in case you haven’t heard…your shoes are fire!” Jensen wrote in a post on X that featured them posing for a picture.

Jensen was the associate head coach of the Hawkeyes under Lisa Bluder when Clark was playing in Iowa. Their relationship, though, started long before that.

When UConn did not respond to the point guard’s request, her family suggested she should attend Notre Dame. Clark, however, never felt confident in the choice. And that’s when gears shifted for the Hawkeyes.

Jensen reached out to her, not to recruit or propose something that Notre Dame wouldn’t offer her, but to talk. By the end of the call, both of them knew what was really going on in her mind. The then-17-year-old, sitting on her bed, then called up Bluder, and the rest is history, literally.

Clark then went from being one of their top scorers in the introductory test to the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer. Along the way, she broke over 42 records. But what never changed was her relationship with Jensen. The latter said as much.

“That kid, she’s with me and I think she knows that I’m with her,” Jansen told CBS Sports in 2025.

And so, when despite Clark wanting to support her hometown at the end of the day did not go the way she had wanted, Jensen stood strong with her. But it’s not like Clark exactly betrayed the Hawkeyes.

Caitlin Clark chooses rivals before supporting the Hawkeyes and winning their hearts with a surprise

In the Week 5 matchup, many Hawkeye fans would’ve rather chosen West Virginia over the rival Cyclones. Clark didn’t mind going against the grain, though.

She gave her vote of confidence to Iowa State and received the expected boos. In her defense, Clark’s said that her brother, Blake, played football for Iowa State. Iowa and Iowa State share a very long rivalry, and the Iowa fans wouldn’t want the latter to win at any cost. In their September 12 meeting at Kinnick Stadium, the Hawkeyes recorded a 16-13 win over the Cyclones. However, she had the apt response for them.

“You can boo me. I’ll make you happy at the end,” she said.

And she did.

First, she chose her alma mater over their upcoming game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, which they eventually lost. But she also gave them more surprises.

Clark’s first signature shoe with Nike launched to kick off October, and she wanted to share one of the Hawkeye-inspired shoes with the fans present there. Standing on the field, she dished out her Caitlin 1 “Warning Code Yellow” shoes into the fan area as the fans cheered loudly.

“Don’t worry, I’ve signed them all,” she told them as she tossed them away.

It was reported that within two hours of release, the sneakers were sold out. Caitlin 1 marked the largest women’s signature shoe release in Nike’s history, with Caitlin 1 releasing in 5000 stores, “twice the average for a Nike basketball signature shoe, supported by our largest Nike product campaign for the holiday season,” as CEO Elliott Hill stated.

Clark returned to her hometown after a busy year in which the Indiana Fever reached the quarterfinals before the reigning champions defeated them 2-1. While the team has enough to think about in the offseason, Clark is enjoying the release of her first signature shoe with Nike and her time with her former team at home.