Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

Given all the outrage in Iowa and among sports scribes around the nation over Caitlin Clark not being named to Team USA—our women’s basketball entry in the Paris Olympics—you’d think everyone should be upset.

At least three who should not be furious: the coach of Team USA, one of the twelve players named to the 2024 team, and Caitlin Clark. Indeed, when the press or broadcast media cover her being “snubbed,” Ms. Clark sometimes seems like the only adult in the room. 

But let’s start with the coach, Cheryl Reeve from the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, and her assistants, Mike Thibault of the Washington Mystics and Curt Miller of the Los Angeles Sparks.

If Clark had been named to the team, that would just be the beginning of different fusses. Judging from the nature of the “snubbed” coverage, the Olympic coaches and other team members would be held accountable for every second Clark did not play, for every ball not passed to her, for every time a pass from her goes astray. Naming her to the team would create more headaches than not doing so. If you doubt that, look at the one-sided outrage commentary. So far it seems, it has not dawned on the sports press that if Clark were on the team, someone else on the very talented roster would have to be kicked off it.

No one questions Clark’s excellence. What a bevy of awards she’s received, including the top honors in college basketball—the Naismith and Wooden awards—for two years running. Players named to Team USA can’t match all her awards, but it will take her a while to match their professional credentials.

Meantime, Clark welcomes the WNBA schedule break during the Olympics and, one would think, a respite from adoring press coverage that can turn so quickly on those covered if they stumble, however briefly.

Every one of the twelve professional players deservedly named to the team likely covets being a basketball Olympian, just as much as Caitlin Clark does. But if the rookie had been named, one of those twelve would be denied the 2024 Olympic experience, like many other top professional and collegiate players.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Caitlin Clark’s basketball career at the University of Iowa and now with the Indiana Fever is how she has handled all the attention with grace, common sense, and sportswomanship. She has defused controversies the press has fed and she has well recognized the hundreds—thousands?—of women athletes ignored or discriminated against for decades.

Future Olympic teams may provide recognition at that level when Clark’s professional credentials are better established.

The coverage about her missing the Olympics this year reflects press hypocrisy. Contrast the ballyhooed “snub” with the lack of media outrage over decades, as sports reporters tacitly accepted the exclusion of Black athletes from Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association.

The NCAA downgraded women’s sports in general, relegating women’s basketball to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) from 1971 until 1982, when the NCAA finally relented in supporting women’s sports.

We have come a long way, thanks in part to Caitlin Clark. However, as she has been quick to point out, she only continued the efforts of women long discriminated against in sports and sports coverage. Because of the NCAA, Clark’s coach at the University of Iowa, Lisa Bluder, had second or third-rate status in the AIAW as a player and coach before Caitlin was born.

And it should be noted that one of Clark’s biggest fans is Dawn Staley, the coach of the University of South Carolina team, which defeated Iowa in April to win the NCAA championship.

In post-game comments she shouted, “I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport. She carried a heavy load for our sport. And it’s just not going to stop on a collegiate tour but when she’s the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft. She’s going to lift that league up as well. So Caitlin Clark, …you are one of the GOATs  [Greatest Of All Time] of our game. We appreciate you.”

Not incidentally, Staley was on the selection committee for Team USA.

Some snub!

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Top photo of Caitlin Clark during Iowa’s game against Purdue on March 3, 2023 was taken by John Mac and originally uploaded to Flickr. Available via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.