Caitlin Clark: Iowa women's basketball program is in a really good spot

Caitlin Clark was back in Iowa City on Sunday to have her jersey retired by the Iowa Hawkeyes. In the meantime, she was treated to an upset win for her Hawkeyes over the USC Trojans.

Following that game, Clark met with the media. There, she shared some of her own thoughts on the program, explaining that she thinks that the program is in an excellent spot moving forward. That’s despite a season where the program has seemingly taken a step back in her absence.

“Asking me the tough questions,” Caitlin Clark said. “No, I think they’re definitely a younger group. The freshman class to me is what’s really exciting. I think they’ve been ones you can tell they’re freshmen, they’re going to be inexperienced at times but you learn through that and you grow through that. Really just proud of this coaching staff.”

When Caitlin Clark arrived in Iowa, ahead of the 2020-21 season. That season saw the Hawkeyes go to the Sweet Sixteen a year after the NCAAW Tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. They would go on to win the Big Ten Tournament the next three seasons and compete for national championships.

Last season, the Iowa Hawkeyes finished the year and underwent major changes, though. Beyond Clark leaving for the WNBA, several other stars moved on either to the WNBA or graduation. Then, the coaching staff turned over with Lisa Bluder retiring and Jenni Fitzgerald moving on from the program.

“I don’t think people always at times give them the grace they deserve, losing five seniors or six seniors, whatever the number was, losing our head coach,” Clark said. “And then losing Coach Fitz, which a lot of people don’t talk about too often and Coach Fitz was the person that did the scouts. She watched games or she was working ahead on games. She was Coach Bluder’s kind of right-hand person and she never got a lot of the credit. So, that’s a big loss too, but just proud of this coaching staff. They’ve stayed resilient in the moments that have been kind of tough for them so far, but this program is in a really good spot.”

The 2024-25 season has been a frustrating one at times for Iowa. Led by longtime assistant under Lisa Bluder and in her first season as a college head coach, Jan Jenson has Iowa sitting at 16-7 and 5-6 in Big Ten play. That’s 12th in the current conference standings.

“You have a great young group and you have a couple of juniors that are going to be back next year that are really good,” Clark said. “And then, obviously, the class that we have coming in too is really good as well. So, the program is in a really good spot.”

Iowa will look to build on its upset win and prove Caitlin Clark right moving forward with a road trip to Minnesota on Thursday. Meanwhile, Clark is going to look to turn her Indiana Fever team into a championship team in the WNBA.