Lessons Learned from Coaching Against Caitlin Clark

Unless you have been living on a deserted island the last few years, you know who Caitlin Clark is….she has taken the college basketball world by storm with her incredible play and the mainstream attention she has brought to the women’s game is off the charts. She has inspirited thousands of young ladies to dream big and believe that anything is possible if you work at it.

As a high school coach, I am asked frequently my thoughts about Caitlin and they are almost all positive considering the amazing impact she has had on the game as well as my love for the Hawks. I must admit that I have some conflicting views on her as we played against her multiple times in high school when she played at Dowling. When she was in middle school, we had players who played with her in AAU so we knew she was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Little did we know what was to come…

In our games with Dowling, the immense talent Caitlin had was clear-the court vision, the shot making, the competiveness definitely stood out. One thing that came out was her frustration sometimes with her teammates, coaches, and officials when things did not go her way. It appeared that because of her advanced skills and basketball knowledge, her “bad attitude” would show up and take away from the brilliance of her play. It definitely made her a “favorite” of opposing student sections and honestly, gave me a negative view of her despite her play.

This led to one of the most memorable games of my high school coaching career a part of girls basketball history in Iowa that I will always remember. On a Monday in February 2019, Caitlin Clark scored 60 points against us in our gym, hitting 6 3’s and scoring 25 points in the FIRST QUARTER! We tried every possible defense and often had 2 girls on her but she was making shots from everywhere. We were very good that year (lost in the state semi finals) and lost the game 91-78. Many don’t remember this but the state record for points in a game was 61 and Caitlin could have set the record as someone from our team (ok it was me….) got a technical late in the game and for some reason, the Dowling coach had someone else shoot the free throws.

So you may be wondering why did I get a technical?? Well, throughout much of the game, Caitlin had questioned and been demonstrative about officials calls during the game. Despite that, at least one of the officials continued to have conversations with her during the game and even late in the game, they had a joking conversation right in front of our bench. When I asked if they could cut the joking and focus on the game, the official gave me a technical and Caitlin told me to “sit down and be quiet coach”.

At the time, I was quite frustrated with the whole situation….obviously it was a big embarrassment as a coach to have someone score that many points on you. The officiating was maddening, and then having an opposing player be disrespectful was a lot to take. When I pointed out the hypocracy of what was happening, everyone walked away. I feel like I handled the rest of the game well and congratulated Caitlin on her amazing accomplishment after the game. If I remember right, some of our students asked for her autograph after the game….looking back, a pretty good move on their part!

Five years later, and with the ability to look back with some perspective on what has happened since that game and the interactions that took place, some takeaways from looking back to 2019:

1. When working with high school students, we need to react to their reactions with grace and without judgement. We don’t know what that athlete is going through or what background knowledge we are missing. A player like Caitlin Clark was going through a lot of different experiences and expectations, and without knowing the full situation, I shouldn’t have judged my interactions negatively. To watch her now handle the incredible pressure and expectations put on her, she is an amazing role model and has learned and grown so much. She isn’t the same person she was as a junior in high school and has grown from all of her experiences and the program she is at with Iowa. I can think back to a number of athletes who were very challenging in high school and tested every level of patience I had, who have turned into amazing adults and people who I check in with on a regular basis.

2. Every interaction we have with others matters…you never know what trajectory that person’s path is on…we need to make it a positive interaction and model behaviors we see in others.

3. Not everything is going to go our way…how we respond to issues and failures is ultimately what matters. I clearly didn’t respond well to our “60 point” game and needed to keep perspective. Athletics are still a game and there are more important things in life and lessons to learn without going overboard over the results of a game. Let’s keep that in mind with the start of the NCAA tournaments this week!

I would love to hear your Caitlin Clark memories or any other opions you have. Have a great week and all the best!

Coach K