$818,000 NIL-valued Caitlin Clark backs Kate Martin as Iowa guard moves towards potential coaching job: “Draft her, hire her”.

Iowa Hawkeyes basketball stars, Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin

After Kate Martin was nominated by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association for the “So You Want To Be A Coach Program,” the $818,000 NIL-valued Caitlin Clark, according to On3, backed her teammate on her Instagram stories with the caption:

“Draft her, hire her.”

Clark spoke highly of Martin in an interview with The Intelligencer last month.

“She’s one of those people you can lean on,” Clark said. “She does a lot of dirty work, a lot of stuff that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet or in a news article. We’re wired the same.

We’ll go at each other in practice, all in good fun, maybe gets a little serious sometimes. She’s one of those people, we’ll step off the floor, and we’re going to hug and be best friends.”

Kate Martin, the Iowa fan favorite

While Caitlin Clark gets plenty of attention, Kate Martin has been an Iowa Hawkeyes fan favorite. She always stays behind to sign autographs for fans after games.

In an interview with The Intelligencer, Martin explained the reason behind it.

“I grew up idolizing Iowa women’s basketball, as well, and I know what it’s like to be a kid looking up to those college basketball players,” Martin said. “I keep that in the back of my mind. Anything you do to make a kid’s day special, you do it.

“When I was little, I know if I could have gotten a high-five from an Iowa women’s basketball player, I would have been excited.”
Caitlin Clark credits Lisa Bluder

Caitlin Clark acknowledged her coach, Lisa Bluder, after surpassing Kelsey Mitchell for second place on the points-scoring list in the 110-74 win against Northwestern on Jan. 31.

“Coach Bluder obviously!” Clark said.”The kind of way she pitched me when I got recruited four years ago was ‘We play fast, uptempo offense and you’re going to kind of have the ball in your hands’ and she’s kind of just let me thrive and be me. There’s not a lot of coaches out there that would probably allow that every single night, so I’m just very thankful.”

After another sensational performance against the Maryland Terrapins, Clark seemed relaxed about breaking the record.

“It’s not something I’m after. Just keep playing the game, keep having fun and this is just kind of what comes along with it,” she said. “I’m just trying to enjoy every single second.”

Bluder was pretty matter-of-fact about her star student-athlete being within sight of the record.

“Caitlin did natural Caitlin things, which are spectacular, but I thought Molly Davis really had a great game as well,” Bluder said.