New book on Caitlin Clark says everyone was ready for her in WNBA … except WNBA

What if Caitlin Clark had played basketball at Notre Dame, where she originally committed before switching to Iowa? Or anywhere else?

That’s addressed early in Christine Brennan’s book “On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports,” available Tuesday. Brennan and some of her interview subjects suggest Clark wouldn’t have become what Brennan calls “one of the most-famous and beloved people in our country,” had she instead chosen a national women’s basketball power.

Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame’s coach when Clark was in high school, concedes that her loss was Clark’s gain. McGraw, who won two national-titles at Notre Dame, told Brennan “She made a great decision, looking how it turned out. It sounds terrible to say, because they went to two Final Fours with her, but we would have had better players around her and she would have had more help, so it would have been different.”

Given Clark’s incredible popularity and Brennan’s resume as an unafraid author, reporter, columnist, television commentator and longtime champion of women’s sports, this book will get read. It made a recent flight fly by for me.

Brennan spoke with me recently about Clark and Iowa, and Clark and the WNBA. About the former:

“I actually think if Caitlin was not allowed to shoot 18 to 22 times a game, if she was not allowed to run the offense, if somehow a coach like (Connecticut’s) Geno Auriemma said ‘You’re one cog in this wheel, you’re not the cog,.’ which probably is what would have happened at UConn … then is Caitlin Clark Caitlin Clark?” Brennan posed.

“My premise on the whole Caitlin Clark story is why this person? And it’s because she’s trucking the ball from the parking lot, right? And it’s going in. Everyone’s jaw is dropping, and it’s the high wire act, and you just can’t wait to see what’s next.”

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It wasn’t as if Clark called the shots with the Hawkeyes, no pun intended. Brennan gives Lisa Bluder major credit in the book for being the right coach for Clark in more than one way. Also, the writer gives readers a bit of education on women’s and girls’ basketball in Iowa with an early chapter letting the rest of the nation know about where the place from which Clark came.

A highlight of Brennan’s book-promoting will be in Iowa. On July 16, Brennan, Bluder and current Iowa women’s coach Jan Jensen hold a conversation at the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame called “Talking 22.” Brennan also will be at book-signings in Ames July 14 and Des Moines July 15.

Brennan’s awareness of female basketball in Iowa goes back to when she was a high school sophomore in her Toledo, Ohio hometown. She and another girl were assigned to debate equality for girls’ sports against a pair of boys.

“I, as a budding young journalist, did copious amounts of research, went to the University of Toledo library as did my teammate on this, and the boys did nothing,” Brennan recalled.

“One of the main things that I used in that debate about should girls’ sports be equal to boys’ … was Iowa 6-on-6 girls’ basketball. The love of the game, how widespread it was, the scene in Des Moines every year, sold-out crowds, everyone coming from all over the state.”

That was in the back of Brennan’s mind as she had her first conversation with Clark, last year in Indianapolis. Brennan was in the city only because she was covering the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. As her decision to write this book materialized, she said, “It dawned on me that a huge part of the Caitlin Clark story is the launching pad that is the state of Iowa.”

The gist of the book, however, is how the WNBA was strangely unprepared for Clark’s entry into the league and how Clark wasn’t embraced in all corners despite the unprecedented public interest in her as a women’s college player.

“I think it’s because they had always gotten short shrift from the national media, the male-dominated mainstream media,” Brennan said.

“It was an unfathomable thought, that someone could break through wearing the jersey of a WNBA team and become the biggest name in sports. I think it was beyond comprehension for WNBA officials, and therefore they didn’t prepare. They didn’t help their players understand the magnitude of the moment.

“But how can you not know when you’re looking at what was going on around the country in Big Ten arenas and others. And you look at the TV ratings. When the NCAA women’s final beats the men by 4 million (viewers) in 2024, how on earth could you not see this and say something extraordinary is coming to the WNBA?”

There’s much more context and detail in the book, obviously. The chapter on USA Basketball’s decision to exclude Clark from the 2024 U.S. women’s Olympic team is revealing, and not in a way that makes the organization look wise.

It’s a fascinating book with a captivating subject.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com