Caitlin Clark sums up her Iowa career in 3-words: "I've had an impact on a lot of people"

By Sahir Bhojwani

Modified Jan 27, 2025 20:32 GMT

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Before her success at the University of Iowa, not much was known about Caitlin Clark outside of the Midwest. She has grown into a WNBA superstar and global icon over the last 12 months and a major factor was her development during her four years with the Hawkeyes.

Coming out of high school, there were a host of colleges interested in Clark with Notre Dame, Iowa State and Texas all in the running. She chose to stay in-state and that decision had a significant impact on a lot of people in the region.

During an interview with 247Sports which was released on Monday, Clark opened up about her time in Iowa and described it as "impactful."

"Obviously, I've had an impact on a lot of people," Clark said (31:05). "But at the same time, I hope everybody knows they've had an impact on me too. It's a two-way street on that ... It really means a lot to us players."

The Indiana Fever point guard also used the words "special" and "life-changing" to summarize her college experience.

Clark transformed the Iowa Hawkeyes into one of the top women's basketball programs in the nation. Before her arrival, the school had reached the NCAA tournament twice over five years but failed to make it past the regional final stage. During her four-year stint, they reached the tournament in all four seasons and played in the national championship game in her junior and senior years.

Clark shattered numerous school records. Her most notable achievement came in her final season during a game against Ohio State. The sharpshooting guard scored 35 points and surpassed Pete Maravich's 54-year-old record, becoming the NCAA's all-time scoring leader.

Caitlin Clark will have her jersey retired by the University of Iowa in February

Iowa guard Caitlin Clark looks into the crowd during the Crossover at Kinnick women's basketball scrimmage between Iowa and DePaul. Photo Credit: Imagn

The Iowa Hawkeyes announced that they will retire Caitlin Clark's No. 22 jersey on Feb. 2. The ceremony will take place before the game against the No. 4-ranked USC Trojans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

During the interview with 247Sports, Clark talked about being honored by her alma mater in what is expected to be an emotional event.

"It think it's hard to probably really feel all the emotions until I'm going to be inside of Carver and really see it and experience that with my family," Clark said. "I'm not usually a very emotional person but I feel like this will probably make me a little more emotional."

Clark added that she is grateful to have played at a school that loved women's basketball.

Over her four years with Iowa, Clark featured in 139 games. She finished her career with 3,951 points, 1,144 assists and 990 rebounds.