Dwyer: The Case To Retire Caitlin Clark's Jersey NOW

Iowa Athletics, especially when it comes to the women's basketball program, doesn't typically throw a lot of jersey numbers into the rafters. But that's about to change when NCAA points leader Caitlin Clark plays her last minutes for the Hawkeyes.

Michael Weindruch

Statistically, Caitlin Clark has nearly passed all the accolades and achievements of the other two athletes with retired numbers. So you know it's a foregone conclusion that Clark will soon be holding a framed 22 at center court, whilst the permanent reminder of her greatness rises to its lofty resting place in Carver.

My question is: Why wait? Part of the story of Clark is that she is so good she is knocking down performance records at a rate that may never be equalled by any other college player, male or female. So why not add to the mystique of her incredible run at Iowa by making her the first and probably only player to ever have her number retired before her career is even over?

A player as once-in-a-lifetime as Clark has been will obviously have her number retired. The only way to make the gesture equally remarkable as the player would be the unprecedented retiring while she is still providing her on court fireworks.

Caitlin Clark's Biggest Moments

While playing for the University of Iowa, Caitlin Clark has performed above bar. Most recently, she broke Kelsey Plum's All-Time NCAA Women's Basketball Scoring Record of 3,527 points. When the game against Michigan begun, Caitlin only needed 136 seconds to get her needed 8 points out of the way, sinking a 3-point shot from the Hawk logo to break the record.

In the same game, she put 49 points on the board to break the school's record for the most points scored in a game.

On top of that, because of the "Caitlin Effect" every home game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena has been sold out since early in the season.

Caitlin has also appeared in a State Farm commercial as part of her NIL deal.

Hy-Vee used part of their NIL deal with her to put out her own cereal - Caitlin's Crunch Time.

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Caitlin's been able to use the NIL deals that she has to create the Caitlin Clark Foundation.

Caitlin’s passion and joy on the court inspire her foundation’s work off the court. The Caitlin Clark Foundation’s mission is to uplift and improve the lives of youth and their communities through education, nutrition, and sport—three pillars Caitlin believes were foundational in her success."

Some of her other highlights include:

In her 103rd game, she became Iowa's all-time leading scorer.
Clark is the Big Ten All-Time Leading Scorer - a record broken January 31st, against Northwestern.
Clark is the first Division I player to record 3,300+ points, 1,000+ assists, and 850+ rebounds in a career
Clark is the all-time leader in 30+ point performances in men’s and women’s college basketball over the last 25 seasons with 52 games.
She has registered 40+ points, 5+ assists and 5+ rebounds five times in her career, three of which were against AP Top 25 opponents. Since her career began, the rest of Division I has seen three such games.
She and Sabrina Ionescu are the only two players in women's college basketball to record a triple-double in four consecutive seasons.
Clark has recorded four triple-double games this season.

Clark made national highlights when she sank a three-point shot at the buzzer from the school's logo to break a tie against Michigan state for the win.

Congrats, Caitlin. You've done us all proud.