South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley has had only nice things to say about Caitlin Clark before and after her team beat Clark’s Hawkeyes for the national title. But what she said about Clark this week really got the fans cheering for her.
In an interview with 670 The Score in Chicago, Staley declared that Clark is the “sole reason” that women’s basketball saw the growth that it saw these past few seasons. Staley believes that the powers that be have done a good job of capitalizing on Clark’s success to grow the sport even when she wasn’t playing.
“Caitlin Clark is the sole reason why viewership has shot through the roof for our game — the sole reason,” Staley said.
Fans had all kinds of love for Staley after making a bold declaration like that – especially since many of them agree with it.
“She’s growing the game not unlike how Tiger grew golf. Everybody in the game will benefit tremendously from her existence as coverage increases, viewership rises, ad spends go up, merch & ticket sales increase, revenue goes up, salaries go up, etc.,” one user replied.
“Coach Staley spoke the entire truth! While I knew South Carolina was good, I had no idea they were THAT good. I walked away from that championship game a HUGE fan of Kamila Cardoso, Te-Hina Paopao, Tessa Johnson all because I tuned in to see them compete against Caitlin Clark,” wrote another.
“I think Dawn Staley is spot on here. I am curious to see where NCAAW hoops goes next year without Clark in the headlines. CC had me hooked this year, more so than even South Carolina. And I know many others feel the same way,” a third wrote.
Do you agree with Dawn Staley here?