"Tear jerker" - Caitlin Clark & Kate Martin react to Iowa's tribute to former coach Lisa Bluder

Caitlin Clark and her former Iowa teammate Kate Martin reacted to the Hawkeyes' tribute to their longtime coach, Lisa Bluder. The Hawkeyes made a compilation video of Bluder, who coached the team for 24 years before retiring this year.

The video featured Clark tightly hugging Bluder during a Hawkeyes game.

The Indiana Fever star reposted the video with a series of emojis.

Kate Martin also reposted the tribute video on her Instagram story.

"Tear jerker. So thankful for @lisabluder," wrote the Golden State Valkyries star.

[Credit: IG/@katemartin]

Bluder's coaching career spans 40 years, and she remains the winningest coach in the Big Ten history. She has an overall record of 884-396 and 528-254 with the Hawkeyes.

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Former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder addresses controversy surrounding Caitlin Clark

Earlier this year, when Time Magazine decided to commemorate Caitlin Clark with the Athlete of the Year award, many people didn't like it. According to Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson, the award should have been given to the WNBA and not to Clark.

When asked about her thoughts on Johnson's comments, Bluder said they were silly. She said that Clark was impacting women's sports across the world:

"It's silly to me that anybody's trying to take away from something that's so good in your sport right now," Bluder said. "I mean, this is a person that's really helped athletics, helped women's sports in a way that nobody has helped women's sports, maybe since Billie Jean King."

Bluder added:

"So, let's get on the bandwagon and help her out, make her life a little bit easier because she is helping all of us."

Bluder also recalled how she used to address her other players on the Iowa Hawkeyes when she knew that almost all attention was on Clark.

"Sometimes, you know, we used to tell our team, 'Listen, when Caitlin's light shines on her, it shines on all of us,'" Bluder said. "And I think everybody else needs to embrace that a little bit better."

Caitlin Clark's impact on the league was on display in her rookie season. Last season, the league had 23 games with over a million viewers, and 20 of them featured Clark.