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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lisa Bluder believes culture is bigger than one person. Coaching Caitlin Clark didn't change that
The Athletic To Lisa Bluder, even the best performers have room for improvement. It's why, when she recruited Caitlin Clark, she didn't highlight Clark's strengths but instead pointed out her weaknesses. Advertisement Bluder, the longtime basketball coach at the University of Iowa, helped mold Clark from an intense, young recruit into one of the most impactful athletes of her generation. Bluder retired in May 2024 as the winningest coach in Big Ten history, following four years in the spotlight as Clark's head coach. Together, they grew. And so did Iowa's team. Bluder believes all of it was special, but she doesn't deny how much work it took to navigate the unique situation. I wanted to talk to Bluder to understand more about that. How does a leader handle a truly elite performer and maintain a program-wide culture? In sports, or in the workforce, sometimes leaders are given a very rare, talented person to work with. They are tasked with not only guiding them but with making them even better. You have experience with this, obviously, with Caitlin Clark. How do you approach that situation? When you recruit a star into your organization or into your team, you have to communicate with them beforehand that they're not at their peak. You want them to want to get better. And Caitlin always wanted to get better. Advertisement So what we did, first of all, was identify her weaknesses, not her strengths. She knew what her strengths were. We all knew what her strengths were. But you identify and find what the weaknesses are. And so we could kind of chip away at those and make those better. That's how you make a person or an athlete better. Not just incorporating their strengths into your system, but also helping them develop their weaknesses. What did that process actually look like? During the recruiting process we talked about our player development. Because we had proved that we could develop players like Megan Gustafson. She came in and was ranked around 100th in the country and left as the Naismith National Player of the Year. So we had that. You know, proof is in the pudding, as they say. But what we did then when she came here was, we would show her film. We would meet with her and kind of show how her improvements in those areas could really help not only her success, but the team's success. Advertisement I remember you've said before that Caitlin was the right person for you and you were the right person for her. And that's why it worked. Can you explain that? If a person doesn't want to get better, if they think they know it all already, those are the people that I didn't want to coach. I want people who are confident but also who are willing to learn and willing to hear constructive criticism. We talked a lot with our team about how holding people accountable is the same thing as accepting criticism. I'm talking more about peer to peer now, athlete to athlete. So we talked a lot to our athletes about that. You have to learn how to accept somebody holding you accountable because that's the only way you're going to get better and our team is going to get better. If you don't accept it, you're going to quit getting that feedback and you're not going to reach your full potential. Caitlin wanted to be her best. She wanted to be coached, as well as any of the really good players that I've been around. Every one of them, they weren't know-it-alls. They knew they could get better and continued to get better. Advertisement Are they willing to put in the work required to be great? Because there are a lot of people who want to be great without really working hard at it, especially in today's society. Caitlin Clark didn't start out by shooting logo threes. She started out by shooting layups. And people have to remember that. It's a process. And so I want that work ethic, but I also want a positive attitude in my players. I think having that person in your huddle who's always negative, it just wears on people. And so having a positive attitude was really important to me. I can see where it could become tricky, when there is someone in the spotlight as much as Caitlin was, but at the end of the day, you are a team. How would you advise someone on navigating that kind of situation? When there is someone who receives a ton of attention but you have a full team of great people and great players? 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.' It was getting the rest of the team to buy into that. On any good team, you give up your own personal agenda for the betterment of the team, and they were able to do that because they understood that Caitlin was bringing us to new levels. And instead of hampering that, they encouraged it because they wanted to go to those new levels with her. Advertisement Did they always encourage it from the start? Or were there challenges to get there? Oh, it was a challenge at first. Like her freshman year, Caitlin didn't really understand how to work with other people as much because she was always the show. She could do it by herself. 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. But there were a couple of players who transferred after her freshman year because she was hard at first. She learned how to develop her leadership skills. She learned how to become more inclusive. And some people, she rubbed wrong and they left, and that's OK. She got better, but I also wanted people who wanted to be challenged and wanted to be their best. Again, giving up your own personal stuff sometimes is really, really hard. How did you help her develop those leadership skills after her freshman year? Well, we started meeting weekly and having leadership meetings. I would have her read some leadership books and we would kind of go through the chapters and talk about them afterwards: 'What did you learn from this?' Advertisement And then we would bring in sports psychologists to work with our team so that she understood. I would have them meet with her individually and then meet with the team. Some of those things helped with her leadership. 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. You have to show it to them because they don't understand. They don't know it. They're living it. They're so into the moment that they don't understand how they're affecting other people. And showing real-life examples away from the court, and after the emotion is over, is a good thing. Can you explain how that progress she made then impacted everything else? She then understood that she had to trust her teammates and build relationships with her teammates, and so that completely changed. Then I think her on-court body language got a lot better. It was give and take, too. She is expressive, and you can't take it personally when she is expressive. She is very passionate. So I feel like that just evolved and it became something our team almost got protective of with her. Advertisement If the opposing team was trying to impose their will upon her, so to speak, or fans were yelling things, our team got really protective of her. I think that really is a culture builder, right? When you have people who are looking out for each other. But I also think sometimes people think culture is … I don't know, people think, 'Oh, we got Caitlin, so we got a good culture.' No, we had a good culture, and that's one of the reasons we got Caitlin. So it's a work in progress all the time. Because you have to reestablish that culture every single year. You can't just assume it's going to happen again. Some people say, 'How did you get such a good culture on your team?' Well, it's not a slogan you slap on the wall. It's a continual effort every single time you're together. That's how culture is built. I remember you said that you read Phil Jackson's book 'Sacred Hoops.' Because you thought his experience with Michael Jordan had some similarities to your own. Did you end up applying anything to your own life from that? Yeah, I read that book a long time ago and quite honestly my husband said when Caitlin was a freshman or sophomore, he said, 'You need to reread that book. Because of Michael Jordan.' And I said, 'You're right.' So I read it and I highlighted parts and shared those with Caitlin. On road trips and stuff when you have a little more downtime, I would meet with her and maybe have her read a portion of that book and see what Michael Jordan was doing. All those little things that you do add up, I think. Advertisement Looking back at this whole experience and your career, what do you think is most important for someone to know when they're leading a group of people? As a leader, you have to decide what you want your product to look like. You have to decide what you want your team to look like or your company to look like. You have to have that vision of what it is you want it to be first. And then you've got to find the right people to fulfill that vision. But you also have to be able to be an effective communicator. You can explain what that vision looks like to them and, through communicating, get them to buy in. To me, that's what a really good leader needs to be able to do. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Iowa Hawkeyes, Iowa Hawkeyes, Iowa Hawkeyes, WNBA, Sports Business, Women's College Basketball, Peak, Sports Leadership 2025 The Athletic Media Company
Indianapolis Star
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
'It sold out in 45 minutes.' Iowa can't wait to celebrate Caitlin Clark homecoming
INDIANAPOLIS — Former Iowa women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder remembers the exact moment she saw Caitlin Clark 's game make national news for the first time. It was Feb. 6, 2022, and the Hawkeyes were stuck in the airport after a sobering loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor. It was a game where Iowa was down by as many as 22 points, and at points, seemed insurmountable. With Clark, though, it wasn't truly over. The sophomore took over the game in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 points and making four 3-pointers over six minutes. Every 3 seemed like it was going to be a heat check; each time, it went in. At one point, she pushed her way through all five of Michigan's defenders for a layup, causing the Iowa bench to throw their hands up in disbelief. Clark ended up scoring 46 points that night, setting a Crisler Center record and a new career high. It was a loss, but it got what the young superstar thought was something even bigger — a spot on SportsCenter's Top 10. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. The Hawkeyes stared at the airport TV in awe as they saw Clark's efforts broadcasted on national television. "Coach Bluder wasn't even that mad that we didn't win. She was like, staring at the TV like, 'Oh my gosh,'" Clark told David Letterman on 'My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.'"Everybody was just kind of in awe. Even I was like 'Wow, we're on SportsCenter. We made SportsCenter top 10.'' Bluder remembers it slightly different, but she knew it was the start of Clark's superstardom. And they were witnessing it in real time. 'We could see the ESPN replays going on, but I remember being a little more disappointed than she does about the loss, because obviously, you're going there to win,' Bluder told IndyStar. 'But also, you know, I was just amazed at the way that she brought us back and gave us an opportunity to win that game. 'That's when it really did start to explode, because then all the men's basketball players and armchair point guards were all of a sudden paying attention to what was going on.' ESPN's cameras will be back at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday as Clark brings her Indiana Fever to Iowa City to face the Brazilian National team in a celebration and thank you from the state she gave so much to. Clark became a household name what seemed like overnight after that Michigan game. The Hawkeyes recorded three sellouts in 2022, including when they hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in Iowa City. By the time Clark's junior year came around, she was a household name. The curtains, which blocked out unsold seats at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, were permanently up. Fans came from near and far to see the Hawkeye sensation, who was on her way to becoming the undisputed National Player of the Year. 'It was even international, like people were coming from other countries to watch her,' Bluder said. 'There were newspaper reporters from France coming to interview and talk about her. It wasn't an Iowa thing, it wasn't a Big Ten thing, it wasn't a Midwest thing. It really was a national phenomenon. It's fun to be a part of something like that, right? I mean, you know, it can be tiring, it can be pressure-filled, but it's also a lot of fun.' It was something special with Clark, too. Not many players, in the men's and women's game, had the amount of juice she did. Not many players could garner those constant sold-out crowds, home and away, as a college player, and help set higher and higher viewership records. It had to do with her game, of course — her long-range 3-pointers and crafty, no-look passes drew a lot of people in. But what made people stick around, Bluder said, was the type of person Clark is off the court. 'I think it's her style of play, and I think it's her relatability,' Bluder said. 'I think people can really relate to her, just because she is so honest and she's humble. People really can relate to that, and they want to get behind that. I think we've had great role models for women, but I think Caitlin's popularity took it to a whole other level.' It also had to do with her loyalty to her hometown team. Clark, who grew up in Des Moines, chose Iowa over other potential college destinations, including Notre Dame (which she originally committed to). She played in the time of name, image, and likeness and in an era where players could transfer freely as many times as they wanted. Surely, Clark had interest from some of the women's basketball blue bloods. Through all the fame and sponsorship deals, that was never something she considered. She wanted to be successful, but not without her hometown Hawkeyes. 'That's not Caitlin,' Bluder said. 'Caitlin is a loyal Iowan, and it never entered my mind that she would leave, never. And we never had that discussion. I just don't even think it was on the radar. I just think that would have hurt her brand a little bit, but I don't think that's why she did what she did (in staying). She really enjoyed playing in Carver, being a Hawkeye, and representing our state.' Now, Hawkeye fans are rewarding the loyal Iowan and two-time National Player of the Year with a sold-out WNBA game at her alma mater. Bluder, who is returning from an international vacation on Saturday, is making sure she gets back in time to see her, too. 'I mean, it sold out in 45 minutes,' Bluder said. 'That's how much enthusiasm there is to watch Caitlin playing again in Carver.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lisa Bluder recounts to Harry Smith how she learned Caitlin Clark was coming to Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Hawkeye women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder spent Monday evening in central Iowa. At an event at Central College in Pella, former NBC News senior correspondent Harry Smith led the conversation with the retired coach in front of a packed house. The two spent an hour discussing Bluder's career – from memorable moments to things we're learning for the first time – including the night Caitlin Clark switched her decision to go from Notre Dame to the University of Iowa. Caitlin Clark's return to Iowa for WNBA exhibition game to be broadcast on ESPN, reports say 'Weeks went by, weeks went by, and then suddenly her AAU coach called me and said, 'hey, you know, I think Caitlin's having second thoughts about Notre Dame, would you still have a place for her?' Yeah,' said Bluder. 'That's a funny question,' Smith quipped. 'Oh, let me think about it for a minute.' 'My husband and I were out having dinner. I remember exactly, you know, where we were, what table we were sitting at, and the phone rang. It was Caitlin. And I said 'I'm going to go outside and take this, Dave.' And so I went outside the restaurant and she said, 'Coach, do you still have a spot? Would you still like me to come to Iowa?' And I said, 'Absolutely!' Okay. So then I went in and ordered a bottle of champagne,' Bluder told the crowd. The rest is hoops history. In her senior season at Iowa, Clark became the career leading scorer, for both men and women, in Division I NCAA with 3,951 points and led the Hawkeyes to a berth in the NCAA Championship game. She was picked #1 in the 2024 WNBA Draft and went on to have a successful rookie season with the Indiana Fever. Bluder announced her retirement from Iowa in May of 2024, after leading the Iowa Women's Basketball program for 24 seasons. Lisa Bluder recounts to Harry Smith how she learned Caitlin Clark was coming to Iowa Valley's Haffar over 600 wins Caitlin Clark's return to Iowa for WNBA exhibition game to be broadcast on ESPN, reports say Hawkeyes' Olsen drafted in to WNBA Iowa State softball winning despite youth Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Humility is the winning formula
In this file photo, head coach Lisa Bluder of the Iowa Hawkeyes signs autographs for fans after the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Jan. 31, 2024 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by) When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.' — PROVERBS 11:2 The teachers tying one on in the booth next to us were working up to Friday on a Thursday at Red's in North Liberty. They howled and screeched. I could barely hear son Kieran and his wife Holly across the table. Kieran pointed out that it was attracting attention from another table. With my Hawkeye Bar Vision glasses on I could see that none other than retired Coach Lisa Bluder was seated there. Holy Herky, she is my hero. Star at Linn-Mar and UNI, coach at St. Ambrose, Drake and Iowa. Bluder helped make women's hoops a national attraction while barely leaving the farm. So I walked past her table and told her so. That is the greatest thing about living in Iowa. You can do that at Red's. You do not do that if you see Rick Pitino or John Calipari. But heck, Lisa Bluder seems so nice on TV I am sure she won't mind if I tell her that I love her. She didn't seem to. Her husband Dave stood up and shook my hand. Wow. Ever the Iowan, Coach Bluder asked what I was doing in Iowa City. I told her I was seeing a doctor about some heart plumbing set for Feb. 19. A look came over her face and she expressed genuine concern, as anyone from Marion, Iowa, would. Humility. She has it in spades. She puts others above herself. That's why she is regarded up there with Maury John in my mind. He was Iowa's hero when Drake took on UCLA in the Final Four. I urged her to run for governor. Everyone loves her and would vote for her. She could bring the state together. She laughed but was ever polite, as Fighting Bees from St. Ambrose are off-court. She worked with all races and persuasions. It didn't matter that this was Iowa, we could expect to be the best. You can have fun and be civil while shooting your way to the top. And when some gomer fan from Storm Lake interrupts your Thursday night, you entertain him. You don't win by demeaning others. She did not get dragged in to trash talk. Not one to get whistled for a T. You lose when you gloat. Bluder would spend about an hour celebrating after a win before working up her next game plan. She could manage a phenomenon like Caitlin Clark without anyone noticing. We could use more leadership like that in Iowa. Genuine. If Tommy Tuberville can be a U.S. senator, well … I can dream. Sometimes it can be a dream. Iowa normally is miserable in February. I am scared to death about someone shoving a stent up my arteries. There is Lisa Bluder to pop up and make me think I might be somebody. It's how Iowa can be. Should be. There was a guy standing on the shoulder of the road at Marengo with a cardboard sign that read: 'Go home, illegals.' Where does that come from? How did a Mexican ever put that guy down? What is so wrong with Iowa that would make him stand out there in the wind? What is right with Iowa is that we can be so unassuming. It lifts you up as you leave the hospital parking ramp for home, and there the protester invades the windshield view. It's such a pretty place, even on a brown winter day, the surgeon has a sure hand, and Lisa Bluder is cheering us on. It makes you love Iowa even when you might want to hate it. It's not the heat, it's the humility. Marengo still could use some help. The folks at the Chelsea bar, with the only public restroom around, were priceless. As long as we can somehow stay grounded, we will survive. Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot, where this column first appeared, as well as Art Cullen's Notebook on Substack. It is republished here as part of the Iowa Writers' Collaborative. Editor's note: Please consider subscribing to the collaborative and its member writers to support their work.
