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Former Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw is speaking out to discuss Caitlin Clark backing out of her commitment to the school before choosing to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes instead.

Clark’s Recruiting Process

Clark went through the recruiting process in 2019. McGraw, who retired in April of 2020, revealed in a new interview that she might still be at Notre Dame if Clark hadn’t have backed out.

“I may still be coaching if Caitlin Clark came to Notre Dame,” McGraw lamented on the “Good Game With Sarah Spain” podcast.

McGraw went on to claim that she received a verbal commitment from Clark to play for Notre Dame. However, something felt off about this to the veteran coach at the time.

“She committed to us, but I had a feeling it was kind of a soft commitment when she did, because she couldn’t decide, couldn’t decide,” McGraw recalled. “And then finally she said, ‘I want to come.’ But it wasn’t like ‘I’m coming!’ It was kind of like ‘I made the decision.'”

Related: One Season Into Caitlin Clark’s Career And The Indiana Fever Are Already Building a New $78 Million Practice Facility

Clark Changes Her Mind

It wasn’t until November of 2019 that Clark finally announced that she was committing to Iowa.

“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 that themselves,” McGraw explained. “So she made the announcement a long time after that, I kept saying ‘When is it coming out?’ And then when she made the announcement, she was going to Iowa. But of course she called me to tell me.” 

McGraw retired five months later once the 2019-2020 season came to an end. She had coached at Notre Dame for 33 years. During that time, McGraw led Notre Dame to winning two national championships in 2001 and 2018, respectively.

Despite all of this, McGraw has no hard feelings. In fact, she admitted that Clark’s choice to go to Iowa was “probably a pretty good decision.” 

Listen to McGraw praise Clark for her accomplishments in the video below.

Related: Caitlin Clark Stalker Arrested In Indianapolis After Sending Threatening Messages

Clark Recalls Notre Dame Choice

Clark previously opened up about all of this in an interview last year.

“My family wanted me to go to Notre Dame,” Clark told ESPN back in March. “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 pick Notre Dame?”

When Clark visited Notre Dame herself, however, she immediately felt in her “gut” that it wasn’t the right place for her.

“I could feel it in my gut, I was like ‘Ahh, I’m not supposed to go there,'” Clark recounted. “I basically narrowed it down pretty early on when I was going through my college recruitment that I wanted to be like in the Midwest, just kind of a homebody. Family person. Just wanted to stay fairly close to home. So that narrowed a lot of stuff down.”

Clark ended up breaking multiple program and NCAA records during the four years she played for the Hawkeyes. She has since gone pro and now plays for the Indiana Fever. Clark led the WNBA in assists last season, and was named WNBA Rookie of the Year.

In the end, this clearly worked out well for Clark. Good for her for listening to her gut and putting herself on the path to where she is today!

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