Former Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw has revealed the details of Caitlin Clark’s waiver from his program during the star’s 2019 recruiting process.
McGraw appeared on the “Good Game With Sarah Spain” podcast Tuesday and said that if Clark followed through on his commitment to Notre Dame, then McGraw could still be the coach there. McGraw retired from coaching in April 2020, just months prior to Clark’s first year.
“I can still coach 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 never felt certain.
“She committed to us, but I had a feeling it was kind of a soft commitment when she did it because she couldn’t decide, couldn’t decide,” McGraw said. “And then she finally said, ‘I want to come.’ But it wasn’t like, ‘I’m coming!’ It was kind of like ‘I made the decision’.”
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Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw reacts on the sideline 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 found out she would miss out on Clark, who announced her commitment to Iowa on Nov. 12, 2019.
“Then 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 that,” McGraw said. “So she made the announcement a long time 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’s retirement came shortly after the end of the 2019-20 season, five months after finding out she would not be coaching Clark, ending a 33-year run that included two national championships in 2001 and 2018.
McGraw went on to call Clark’s release from her program in favor of Iowa “probably a pretty good decision.”
Clark previously 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 the decision for yourself. But it’s Notre Dame! ‘Rudy’ was one of my favorite movies. How could you not choose Notre Dame?”
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Iowa guard Caitlin Clark celebrates during the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Championship against Nebraska at Target Center on March 10, 2024 in Minneapolis. (Angelina Katsanis/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Clark then recounted his experience visiting Notre Dame and her consideration of playing for the Fighting Irish during an interview on the Jan. 2 “New Heights” podcast. She said she ultimately made the decision not to play there because of a gut feeling.
“I could feel it in my gut, I was like ‘Ahh, I’m not supposed to go there,'” Clark said.
“I narrowed it down pretty early on when I was doing my college recruiting that I wanted to be like in the Midwest, just kind of a homebody. Family person. Just wanted to stay pretty close to home. So that narrowed a lot of things down. “
Clark then played her entire four-year college career for the Hawkeyes, breaking numerous program and NCAA records, including the all-time leading scoring record by any college basketball player, male or female, in history.
Clark also met her current boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, while you were in Iowa. McCaffery played on the Iowa men’s basketball team for his father, head coach Fran McCaffery.
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 did OK, but not nearly as well as Iowa. Under current head coach Niele Ivey, the Fighting Irish made the NCAA Tournament three straight years from 2021–24, but they lost in the regional semifinals all three times, while Clark led much deeper tournament runs in 2023 and 2024.
Clark led Iowa to two straight national championship games, en route to becoming the No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft. McCaffery was already in Indiana working on the Pacers’ coaching staff, and they are still in town together as 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 the fever to the playoffs in her rookie season.
Clark was also named Time Magazine’s 2024 Athlete of the Year.
