Iowa's Caitlin Clark was once recruited by Jackie Stiles. She'll now pass her scoring mark
As an assistant coach for her alma mater, Jackie Stiles, the then-all-time leading scorer in women's college basketball, was watching a club basketball team.
A middle schooler caught her eye. The way the young player played and dominated against older competition was too hard to ignore.
It didn't matter the player had yet to enter the seventh grade. Stiles saw a star in the making.
Stiles did something the legendary Cheryl Burnett did for her when then-Southwest Missouri State first recruited her; she sat down and wrote the player a handwritten letter. She complimented her game, knowing how much it meant to her when Burnett wrote to her before she chose SMS over the likes of Kansas and Oklahoma.
She wanted to make Caitlin Clark a Missouri State Lady Bear.
"You could tell really early on that she was going to be special," Stiles said.
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About a decade later, Clark is wearing Iowa Hawkeyes' black and gold. She turned down Missouri State's pursuit but is again connected to Stiles as she is set to pass the greatest athlete in Missouri State history for third on the women's all-time career points leaderboard within the next few games.
The West Des Moines native is destined to break Washington standout Kelsey Plum's career scoring record by the end of the season — a record Stiles held from 2001 until 2017.
Clark said in an interview before her commitment to the Hawkeyes that Missouri State was the first school to contact her with a letter of interest. Little did Clark know that she was going to be in a position to pass the author of that letter on the all-time scoring list years later.
"That's what you want; records are meant to be broken," Stiles said. "You want the game to continue to get better and better. It's so exciting to see it continue to grow and see the scorers like we have. I celebrate Caitlin and all of her accomplishments and all she's doing for the game. It's just making everything better."
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Stiles' pursuit of getting Clark to Missouri State was short-lived. The assistant under former head coach Kellie Harper, now the head coach at Tennessee, managed to get the guard on the phone once but could tell the Lady Bears weren't going to have much of a chance at bringing her to Springfield. The writing on the wall pointed toward the major Iowa programs before she chose to play for the Hawkeyes.
It's hard to argue Clark's choice as she's gone on to be one of the sport's best players ever, if not the greatest. She's taken Jackie-mania to another level with more eyes on women's basketball than ever before.
"She's done so much," Stiles said. "She's getting more fans to the women's game and maybe some people who have never even watched basketball or even liked college basketball. She makes you a fan whether you like sports or not. To watch somebody so dominant in what they do? It's just so inspiring."
When Stiles has an opportunity to sit down and watch Clark play, she does so. She can't help but think back to her playing days as she watches Clark dominate every time she steps on the court.
Stiles watches Clark take the deepest of 3-pointers and laughs thinking back to the times she did the same at Hammons Student Center. Defenses rarely expect those types of shots to go in but Clark and Stiles made them more than most.
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Stiles watches Clark's ability to play in transition. It was Stiles' favorite thing to do while knowing the defense wasn't set or keyed in on her. She sees Clark doing the same thing while also setting up her teammates as she ranks in the top five on the career assists leaderboard.
"If I'm home and she's playing, I will definitely tune in because I've always loved watching scorers," Stiles said. "I love Michael Jordan and I never missed him play. If I was still playing, I would not miss a game of hers."
Stiles stops short of calling Clark the sport's greatest of all time. Like in the Jordan vs. LeBron argument, Stiles looks at the different eras and separates them that way. Clark's the greatest of this era, she said, while acknowledging Sheryl Swoopes and Chamique Holdsclaw were the best in theirs. Many, especially around southwest Missouri, would argue Stiles deserves a spot in that conversation as well.
But the impact Clark has made on the women's game might be the thing that excites Stiles the most. When she was drafted to the WNBA, Stiles had meetings with ESPN executives in which they dreamt of the ways they could grow the game. What Clark has done has turned those conversations from over 20 years ago into a reality.
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Stiles also knows the impact her run with the Lady Bears made whether it's been in southwest Missouri or throughout her home state of Kansas. Her 2003 run to the Final Four inspired a generation and she's now seeing those who watched and played against her make a point of bringing their kids to her speaking engagements or basketball camps she's put on throughout the region.
Stiles knows, better than most, that Clark's impact on women's basketball is just getting started.
"It's only going to make our game grow so much more because of the funding and girls are growing up everywhere wanting to be heard and doing the things that she did to try and develop those skills," Stiles said. "You're just going to see that talent get better and better with greater opportunities and greater visibility. Everything's just going to improve because of it."
All-time scoring leaders in NCAA Division I women's college basketball
Kelsey Plum, Washington (2014-17) — 3,527
Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State (2015-18) — 3,402
Jackie Stiles, Missouri State (1997-01) — 3,393
Caitlin Clark, Iowa (2021-Present) — 3,351
Brittney Griner, Baylor (2010-13) — 3,283
Upcoming Iowa women's basketball schedule
Jan. 27 — Nebraska
Jan. 31 — @ Northwestern
Feb. 3 — @ Maryland
Feb. 8 — Penn State
Feb. 11 — @ Nebraska
Feb. 15 — Michigan
Feb. 22 — @ Indiana
Feb. 25 — Illinois
Feb. 28 — @ Minnesota
March 3 — Ohio State
Caitlin Clark career stats vs. Jackie Stiles
Points Per Game
Jackie Stiles, 28.0
Caitlin Clark, 27.9
Assists Per Game
Jackie Stiles, 2.3
Caitlin Clark, 7.9
Rebounds Per Game
Jackie Stiles, 3.7
Caitlin Clark, 7.0
Highest scoring game
Jackie Stiles, 56 (March 10, 2000 vs. Evansville)
Caitlin Clark, 46 (Feb. 6, 2022 at Michigan)
Career 3-pointers
Jackie Stiles, 221 (44.1%)
Caitlin Clark, 451 (38.2%)
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Caitlin Clark recruited by Jackie Stiles, will pass her scoring mark
