“Tear jerker” – Caitlin Clark & Kate Martin react to Iowa’s tribute to former coach Lisa Bluder

Caitlin Clark and her former Iowa Hawkeyes teammate Kate Martin reacted to the Hawkeyes’ tribute video for their longtime coach, Lisa Bluder. The Hawkeyes made a compilation video of Bluder, who coached the team for 24 years before she decided to retire this year.

It was under Bluder that Caitlin Clark became a national sensation. The latter reposted the tribute video by the Hawkeyes on January 5, reacting with a black heart and the ‘GOAT’ and ‘crying’ emojis. The video also featured Clark tightly hugging Bluder during a Hawkeyes game.

Kate Martin also reposted the tribute video on her Instagram story.

“Tear jerker. So thankful for @lisabluder,” wrote the Golden State Valkyrie star.

Bluder’s coaching career spans 40 years, and she remains the winningest coach in the Big Ten history. She has an overall record of 884-396 in her career and 528-254 with the Hawkeyes.

Former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder addresses controversy surrounding Caitlin Clark

With Caitlin Clark spearheading the Iowa Hawkeyes team, the light fell brightest on her. Even as a college basketball player, Clark was arguably the biggest name in women’s basketball in America. She continued to impress in the WNBA as she helped the Indiana Fever fill stadiums and popularize women’s basketball.

Earlier this year, when Time Magazine decided to commemorate Caitlin Clark with the Athlete of the Year Award, many people didn’t like it. According to Washington Mystics’ co-owner Sheila Johnson, the award should have been given to the WNBA and not to Clark.

When asked about her thoughts on Johnson’s comments, Bluder remarked that it was silly. She said that Clark was impacting women’s sports across the world:

“It’s silly to me that anybody’s trying to take away from something that’s so good in your sport right now,” Bluder said. “I mean, this is a person that’s really helped athletics, helped women’s sports in a way that nobody has helped women’s sports, maybe since Billie Jean King.”

Bluder added:

“So, let’s get on the bandwagon and help her out, make her life a little bit easier because she is helping all of us.”

Bluder also recalled how she used to address her other players on the Iowa Hawkeyes when she knew that almost all attention was on Clark.

“Sometimes, you know, we used to tell our team, ‘Listen, when Caitlin’s light shines on her, it shines on all of us,'” Bluder said. “And I think everybody else needs to embrace that a little bit better.”

Caitlin Clark’s impact on the league was very much on display in her rookie season. There were 23 games last season in the league that had over a million in viewership, and 20 of them featured Clark.

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Edited by Prem Deshpande