Caitlin Clark’s college coach shares lesson the Fever can’t afford to forget

As much as it's tough for other players to up against Caitlin Clark on the court, it turns out that coaching her isn't exactly a walk in the park. That's the takeaway from an interview with former Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder, who retired in 2024 after Clark graduated and went to the WNBA.

While speaking to the Athletic in a conversation published June 6, Bluder revealed what she used to tell Clark's teammates about the hooper's meteoric rise on the floor.

Caitlin Clark's fame was tough for some teammates

She admitted that part of the solution was finding ways to keep the rest of the team from begin jealous when Clark received more attention, whether that was during a game, on social media, or by way of a partnership or brand deal. Part of that included reminding the team that the attention could be beneficial for everyone.

"You can’t ignore it. If you ignore it, you’re in trouble. We would tell our team a lot: 'Hey, when Caitlin’s light shines, it shines on all of us. We all reap the benefits from that. So instead of being jealous about it, let’s enjoy it,'" Bluder explained. "It was getting the rest of the team to buy into that."

She also said that the team understood the group would benefit as a whole if everyone could put their individual goals to the side and reap the benefits of everything that came with playing with Clark. That also seems to be a strategy the Fever has adopted, as many members of the team and Coach White spoke about heading into the 2025 WNBA season unselfishly.

Caitlin Clark had to learn to rely on her team

Of course, that doesn't mean it's always easy to do — or that Clark is easy to play with. Bluder told The Athletic that early in her collegiate career, Clark didn't "understand how to work with other people as much because she was always the show." Because she could perform by herself and draw attention while hitting baskets, Clark didn't necessarily realize that at the highest levels that would be tough.

Soon, she understood that trust and security go both ways. "But when you get to a Power Four conference and you’re competing at the highest level, you realize, 'Oh, I can’t do this all by myself.'
So it was a realization that she needed her team as well as they needed her. Building that trust was really important early on," Bluder added.

Over time, Clark grew into the leader that we see in the WNBA today. That was something that was done slowly and by design. Bluder began to host weekly meetings with Clark and encouraged her to read books about leadership, all things she took seriously. Eventually, it began to work.

"We would show her a video of herself. I mean, Caitlin is very passionate. She’s not the only person I’ve done this with. I’ve had other players whose bench decorum or their reaction affects the team in a negative way," Bluder shared. "You have to show it to them because they don’t understand. They don’t know it."

And while Clark still has a long way to go in terms of learning to be the most effective leader she can for the Fever, her time on the sidelines while she's injured has demonstrated she's more than ready to meet that challenge.