Caitlin Clark’s Former Coach Wanted to Postpone Her WNBA Debut

Caitlin Clark’s Former Coach Wanted to Postpone Her WNBA Debut originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Caitlin Clark’s college career was defined by record chases, tournament runs and an unprecedented surge in marketability that pulled new audiences into women’s basketball.

The latest chapter arrived in a conversation released Friday on "Bird’s Eye View with Sue Bird," where Clark detailed the months leading to her decision to enter the 2024 WNBA Draft rather than use a final year of NCAA eligibility.

She said she kept her process close to the vest, repeated to many that she was still thinking and acknowledged that Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder's job was to recruit her back.

Once Clark made the call, she said, Bluder was happy for her, even if they had "constantly" gone back and forth along the way.

“I kept telling people I was going to continue to think about it. Even Coach Bluder … we could constantly go back and forth and obviously that was hard because Coach Bluder, she wanted me to come back and that was her job to get her best player back on her roster … but at the same time, when I had made my final decision, she was very happy for me," Clark said.

Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Resume in Full

• All-time scoring leader: Clark left Iowa as the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer across women’s and men’s Division I, finishing with 3,951 career points.
• Back-to-back national title game runs: Iowa reached the NCAA championship game in 2023 (loss to LSU Tigers) and 2024 (loss to South Carolina Gamecocks), with Clark as the offensive hub and primary shot-maker.
• National player of the year honors: She won all of the major national player of the year awards in 2023 and 2024, including the Naismith, Wooden, Wade and AP Player of the Year.
• Tournament and conference success: Iowa won three straight Big Ten Tournament titles and made back-to-back NCAA championship game appearances during Clark’s tenure (2022-2024).
• Triple-double threat: Clark led the nation in points and assists in three of four years at Iowa and graduated as the second all-time leader in triple-doubles (11) in Division I women’s basketball history.

That level of production, deep postseason runs and signature moments placed Iowa at the center of the women’s game for two straight seasons.

On Feb. 2, Clark had her No. 22 Iowa jersey retired.

The Bluder-Clark Relationship and a Transition at Iowa

Bluder recruited, developed and empowered Clark within an offense that prioritized pace, spacing and elite-level scoring.

During an interview with Hawk Central in 2023, Jan Jensen, who succeeded Bluder and was instrumental in developing Clark as a Hawkeye assistant, spoke about the relationship between Clark and Bluder.

"Caitlin Clark is Caitlin Clark because I think she felt the connection with Lisa and our staff and me, all of it," Jensen said. "But she needed the right head coach to let her be who she was and she studied it. ... But I'm not certain Caitlin would be Caitlin without Lisa Bluder."

The partnership was pragmatic and demanding: Clark was given license to take high-difficulty shots and shoulder heavy usage, and in turn, Iowa enjoyed its most successful run in school history.

After more than two decades as the Hawkeyes head coach (2000-2024), Bluder retired shortly after the 2023-24 season, finishing her career with the most coaching wins in program history (528).

Over her Iowa tenure, Bluder won Big Ten Coach of the Year three times (2001, 2008, 2010) and was named Naismith College Coach of the Year in 2019.

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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared.