Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark signs with Excel Sports Management
Caitlin Clark’s superstardom continues to grow. On Tuesday morning, Excel Sports Management announced that they had signed the Iowa senior guard.
IOWA CITY, Iowa– Caitlin Clark’s superstardom continues to grow. On Tuesday morning, Excel Sports Management announced that they had signed the Iowa senior guard. The powerful agency also represents Tiger Woods, Peyton and Eli Manning, three-time WNBA All-Star Arike Ogunbowale, three-time WNBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Napheesa Collier and WNBA All-Rookie player NaLyssa Smith.
“I’m lucky to just be starting my career at a time when sports are intertwined with business and entertainment more so than ever before,” Clark said in a release. “Excel has an incredible track record of helping clients extend their profile and impact far beyond the bounds of their sport and pursue different passions while also competing at the highest level.
“Personally, I am looking forward to being part of innovative partnerships, helping to elevate women’s sports and supporting others through the Caitlin Clark Foundation.”
Clark became the first player in Division I women’s basketball history to record more than 1,000 points and 300 assists in the same season and was fastest Division I player (men’s or women’s) to reach 1,500 career points over the last 20 seasons.
She ranked in the Top 10 nationally in 12 categories: triple doubles, assists per game, FTAs, FTM, points, PPG, 3-point attempts, assists, FGAs, 3-pointers per game, FGs, and 3-pointers made. After leading Iowa to the national championship game, Hawkeye fans bought every ticket for every women’s game this upcoming season. It’s the first time in school history that has happened.
“It’s cool to see people rally behind this team whether it’s just in our state, or you know, across the country. I’ll be traveling and people will even recognize me for who I am,” she said. “It’s cool to see the amount of attention our team brought to women’s basketball.”
During the regular season, she joined the likes of Russell Westbrook, James Harden, LeBron James, and Nikola Jokic to record 100+ points, 50+ assists, and 25+ rebounds over a four-game span in the NBA, WNBA, or NCAA D1 MBB/WBB in the last 15 years.
Against teams that are top 26 in the NET Rankings, Clark picks it up a notch averaging 29.6 ppg, 8.4 apg, and 7.1 rpg.
Expectations for her senior year have reached an insane amount of hype, but it’s hard to downplay it. She was the best player in college basketball last season and did things that the game has never seen. Iowa will enter this season ranked No. 3 and are hoping to find a way back to the Final Four.
“Talking with the team, we’ve talked about the pressure, we’ve talked about pressure is a privilege, and we’ve also talked about, will you quit looking at social media,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said when asked about the pressure. “You can look at — I’ve told this to my team. You can look at 200 things on social media. 199 can be great, and there’s one that really stinks, and you’ll remember the one. So don’t read any of the 200.”
Clark will have an option to return to Iowa for a fifth season, but she is undecided at the moment. During Iowa’s media day, she said that when she knows– she’ll let everyone know.
