Former Notre Dame coach on decommitment Caitlin Clark: ‘I might still be coaching if she came’
Former Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw revealed the details Fire Caitlin Clark from her program during the 2019 star recruitment process.
McGraw appeared on the “Good Game with Sarah Spain” podcast on Tuesday, and said that if Clark honors his commitment to Notre Dame, McGraw might still coach there. McGraw retired from coaching in April 2020, just months before Clark’s freshman year.
“I might still be coaching if Caitlin Clark came to Notre Dame,” McGraw said.
McGraw says she received a verbal commitment from Clark to play at Notre Dame, but it was never certain.
“She committed to us, but I felt like it was a soft commitment when she did, because she couldn’t make up her mind, she couldn’t make up her mind,” McGraw said. “And then she finally said, ‘I want to come.’ But it wasn’t like ‘I’m coming!’ It was like ‘I made the decision’.”
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Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw reacts on the sidelines against UConn during the Women’s Final Four at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on April 5, 2019. (Jasen Vinlove-USA Today Sports)
Then, after a tense and dramatic wait, McGraw revealed she would miss Clark, who announced his commitment to Iowa on Nov. 12, 2019.
“After that, we waited and waited for her to announce it, because as you know, we’re not allowed to announce anything. The players have to do it themselves,” McGraw said. “So she made the announcement long after that, I kept saying ‘When’s it coming out?’ And then when she announced, she was going to Iowa, but of course she called me to tell me.”
McGraw retired shortly after the end of the 2019-20 season, five months after learning she would not be coaching Clark, ending a 33-year streak that included two national championships in 2001 and 2018.
McGraw went on to call Clark’s withdrawal from her program in favor of Iowa “probably a pretty good decision.”
Clark earlier he told ESPN that her own family wanted her to play for the Fighting Irish.
“My family wanted me to go to Notre Dame,” Caitlin said. “At the end of the day, they were like, you make your own decision. But it’s Notre Dame! ‘Rudy’ was one of my favorite movies. How could you not pick Notre Dame?”
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark cheers during the Big Ten Women’s Basket Championship against Nebraska at Target Center on March 10, 2024 in Minneapolis. (Angelina Katsanis/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Clark then spoke about her experience visiting Notre Dame and her thoughts on playing for the Fighting Irish during a Jan. 2 interview with the “New Heights” podcast. She said she ultimately made the decision not to play there because of her gut feeling.
“I could feel it in my gut, I said ‘Ahh, I shouldn’t go there,'” Clark said.
“Basically, very early on, when I was going through college recruiting, I narrowed down that I wanted to be like in the Midwest, just kind of a host. Family person. I just wanted to stay pretty close to home. So that narrowed things down a lot. “
Clark then played her entire four-year college career with the Hawkeyes, where she broke multiple program and NCAA records, including the all-time scoring record among any college basketball player, male or female, in history.
Clark also met her current boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, while in Iowa. McCaffery played on the Iowa men’s basketball team for his father, head coach Fran McCaffery.
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Caitlin Clark dribbles down the court at the All Iowa Attack Basketball Fieldhouse on April 22, 2017 in Ames, Iowa. (Luke Lu/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, without Clark, Notre Dame has done well, but not nearly as well as Iowa. Under current head coach Niele Ivey, the Fighting Irish made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2021-24, but lost in the regional semifinals all three times, while Clark led much deeper tournaments in 2023 and 2024.
Clark led Iowa to two straight national championship appearances en route to becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever. McCaffery was already in Indiana working on the Pacers’ coaching staff, and they’re still in town together because he now works on Butler’s men’s basketball coaching staff.
Clark was named the WNBA Rookie of the Year, was selected to the All-Star team, led the WNBA in assists and helped lead fever to the playoffs in her rookie season.
Time magazine also named Clark the athlete of the year for 2024.
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