Caitlin Clark almost landed in Notre Dame; it was at the top of her list for her NCAA basketball career and she even visited the school a couple of times. But something within her just knew it wasn’t the right decision. It was her gut feeling. And that’s how she made the decision to go to Iowa, became a Hawkeye and fans got to see the Caitlin Clark-Lisa Bluder partnership.

The Des Moines native was always destined for the University of Iowa, where she would go on to make history. And by the time she left Iowa for the WNBA, no one could come close to her top spot. But if she hadn’t worked on her game under the mentorship of the equally legendary Bluder, could Clark have had the opportunity to learn from another coach?

It seems so! In the latest episode of ‘Good Game with Sarah Spain’, the host interviewed 2x NCAA championship winner Muffet McGraw, who spoke about Clark. The former coach retired in 2020, the year Clark joined Iowa, after thirty-three seasons at Notre Dame. But as per her own confession, “I may still be coaching if Caitlin Clark had come to Notre Dame.” 

Before finalizing Iowa, the Indiana Fever player had committed to Notre Dame and even had an offer from Iowa State, Texas, and Oregon. However, she had a feeling that going to UI was the best choice. Now that doesn’t mean McGraw didn’t want her to come play for the Fighting Irish.

“I remember recruiting her – terrific, terrific person, loved her game, her parents, great family, everything was good. She went to a Catholic School,” McGraw continued. “When I went to recruit at Dowling Catholic, they waited on me. I mean, they brought me popcorn, they brought me drinks, they gave me special seating. It was amazing. Everybody in the place I think wanted her to go to Notre Dame. It was fun recruiting her. The home visit was great.

“She committed to us but I had a feeling it was kind of a soft commitment when she did, because she couldn’t decide. And then finally she said, I wanna come. But it wasn’t like, I’m coming! It was kind of like, ‘I made the decision.'”

However, since the school cannot announce it and the player has to announce their commitment, McGraw stated how CC kept them waiting a while. Then, when the announcement finally came, she was going to Iowa. “But of course, she called me first, to tell me that she was going to [Iowa], classy person that she is.”

“And I thought, after seeing four years of her at Iowa, it was probably a pretty good decision.” Under Bluder’s guidance, No. 22 received the John Wooden Award twice in a row and led her school to two consecutive finals appearances. It seems Clark had a good reason to choose Iowa over Notre Dame and other schools.

Why did Caitlin Clark ultimately choose Iowa?

Once in the WNBA, Caitlin Clark knew that her choice of teams might be limited, but she still had some flexibility at the college level. Out of all the schools that wanted her, the decision ultimately came down to how close or far they were from her home, as the 22-year-old shared on the ‘New Heights’ podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce.

“I basically narrowed it down pretty early on when I was going through my college recruitment that I wanted to be like in the Midwest, just kind of a homebody. Family person. Just wanted to stay fairly close to home. So that narrowed a lot of stuff down,” Clark said.

“It was obviously my home state too. Two hours from where I grew up. Perfect distance where like your parents can’t show up but also like you can go home if you wanted to.”

That being said, she loves Notre Dame too. “As a kid, you want to go to Notre Dame. It’s the same with Notre Dame football. It’s the coolest thing in the world. It’s Notre Dame, it has that tradition and they’ve had so many great players go through there in every single sport.”

And so, the Iowa sensation was born. While it’s intriguing to imagine how her passing and three-point shooting could have elevated other teams, Iowa was where she truly belonged—home. It seems her decision worked out pretty well. What do you think?