Caitlin Clark’s name has been synonymous with the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball program in the last few years. Being one of the state’s own, Clark has stepped into the superwoman shoes quite often, leading the Hawkeyes to glory. But before she committed to Iowa, Clark was initially flattered by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Recently, the Fever guard revealed the reason for not committing to the Fighting Irish.

Speaking on the Post Moves podcast with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston, Clark expressed her admiration for Notre Dame. Moreover, she revealed the reason she stuck with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

“I told Muffett McGraw I was going to go there, and then I had to call her like, no, I actually changed my mind,” Clark said. “I tell people this, I like Notre Dame. Like, it’s Notre Dame, obviously their tradition, and I grew up watching Skylar Diggins. I was like in high school or about to start high school when Enrique made those two game winners, like that was a core memory for me.”

“I wanted to go there, like it’s seven hours driving distance, but then something was just telling me that was just not the right place for me. And I loved the idea of going to a school that obviously had been to the Final Four in 1992 or 1993,” Clark added. “I liked the idea of staying home and liked trying to take a place that meant a lot to me, and like the state of Iowa to somewhere they hadn’t been in a really long time.”

Now, it’s not a surprise that every up-and-coming player of that time wanted to go to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were actually killing it in the collegiate circuit. During that stretch, the team was consistently competing for the coveted National Championships title. In 2018, they even won the title under Muffett McGraw as head coach.

And the very next year, when Caitlin Clark also announced her commitment for context, Notre Dame yet again advanced to the championship game. Thus, there’s no surprise that the idea of committing to Notre Dame struck Clark’s mind during that time. Furthermore, with players like Skylar Diggins-Smith emerging from the program, Clark would have had reason to serious consider Notre Dame.

In fact, Caitlin Clark also revealed in a 2024 interview that her family wanted her to attend Notre Dame as well. “My family wanted me to go to Notre Dame,” Clark had said. “At the end of the day, they were like, you make the decision for yourself. But it’s NOTRE DAME! ‘Rudy’ was one of my favorite movies. How could you not pick Notre Dame?”

Even Clark’s high school coach firmly believed that Clark would be donning the coveted Fighting Irish colors during her collegiate days. “For a while I thought she was gonna end up at Notre Dame.”

But as time went on and her commitment set in, despite all this advice, Caitlin Clark preferred her home above all else. And subsequently, she chose the Iowa program to stay close to her home and do something for that region. She carried the Iowa Hawkeyes team on her back during those four years of her stint in the program. All of this culminated into Iowa gaining the prominence it deserved in basketball.

The coveted yellow-and-black jersey suddenly seemed too much to handle until Clark joined the team. The team saw two consecutive National Championship appearances in 2023 and 2024. Unfortunately, Clark and the team lost both of them in 2023 to LSU and the next year to South Carolina.

But even then, Caitlin Clark’s aspiration was fulfilled. She did take the Iowa program to the Final Four for the first time since 1993. On top of that, she also led them to their only two championship game appearances in the program’s history. Statistically, she’s the most decorated Hawkeye player, leading the team in both points (3951) and assists (1144).

Just like she gave the Iowa Hawkeyes her all despite being a Notre Dame admirer, she also had a very similar story for her WNBA chapter.

Caitlin Clark Opens Up on Being a Minnesota Lynx Fan

Long before Clark thought of carrying Indiana Fever’s No. 22, she was an admirer of the Minnesota Lynx. And who won’t be? A four-time WNBA champion and a basketball dynasty in itself, the Lynx had everything to appeal to it’s fans. But for Caitlin Clark, it yet again traces back to proximity to her home.

“So, obviously, it’s like the closest state to Iowa,” Clark said. “So, that’s just like was the natural draw. It obviously didn’t like hurt me that they were amazing too. Like that was just an easy team to root for, and my first jersey was actually Rebekkah Brunson.”

That admiration for the Minnesota Lynx is a thing of the past for Caitlin Clark. Currently, she’s the franchise player of the Indiana Fever. And it doesn’t seem to change, at least for the next handful of years. She has taken the franchise by storm and, to a certain extent, replicated what she did with Iowa.

With Clark, the ceiling of the franchise has enhanced immensely. And with a strong core they have this season, the Fever can also be considered one of the favorites to win the title. They are currently 3-2 in the season. And even with Clark’s injury in the last season, they defeated the Portland Fire with ease.