The Indiana Fever’s run in the 2026 season has officially ended after getting trounced by the Las Vegas Aces in the first round of the playoffs. However, it seems like one of Caitlin Clark’s off-court runs just started. As College GameDay returned to Iowa City for Week 5 after 20 years, fans saw one of their most iconic faces enter the city again. 

The Fever star was in town to promote her newly released Caitlin 1, and she was accompanied by her Hawkeyes associate head coach, Jan Jensen. Before the Iowa Hawkeyes game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, the former coach and her student came together to give away some of her shoes to the fans that gathered to see her. Following the event, Jensen sent a heartwarming message for Clark.

“Never long enough…but how great was it to have @CaitlinClark22 back home?! So awesome to see you, Caitlin! Love you much! And, just in case you haven’t heard…your shoes are fire!” Jensen wrote in a post on X that featured them posing for a picture.

Jensen worked as the associate head coach under head coach Lisa Bluder until 2024, the same year Clark played her last season at Iowa. After Clark was drafted No. 1 overall in the draft, Bluder retired, and Jensen took over the head coach position. 

Although Clark was heartbroken by the Fever’s playoff exit, she looked enthusiastic during her visit to Iowa City. A video later went viral on social media that featured the Fever star loudly asking fans to cheer as she launched her Caitlin 1 “Warning Code Yellow.” She had personally signed those shoes she was giving away, and she let the crowd know about it.

Fans cheered their former star and welcomed her like they would have welcomed a city hero. However, she was also met with boos by some of her own fans.

On Saturday, Clark joined ESPN’s College GameDay as a guest picker, joining Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstreit, and their crew. She picked Iowa over Ohio State. It was pretty expected that a former Hawkeye would never choose another team to win over her alma mater.

It was a choice that garnered a loud cheer from the fans. However, it was her second answer that fans didn’t appreciate. McAfee then asked Clark to pick between Iowa State and  West Virginia, and the Fever star chose the former, drawing boos from the fans.  

“You can boo me. I’ll make you happy at the end,” Clark said, turning towards the fans. 

In her defense, Clark said that her brother played football for Iowa State. Iowa and Iowa State share a very long rivalry, and the Iowa fans wouldn’t want the latter to win at any cost. In their Sep. 12 meeting, the Hawkeyes recorded a 16-13 win over the Cyclones.

While she was booed, Caitlin Clark’s prediction came to be true. Iowa State defeated West Virginia by 45-42.

Clark is a big football fan herself. She is one of the constant faces at the Kansas City Chiefs’ games. In the past, she has often made headlines appearing at Chiefs games with pop star and Travis Kelce’s wife, Taylor Swift.

While Clark and the Indiana Fever had an early exit in the 2026 season after their first-round exit, last year, they reached the semifinals and took defending champions Las Vegas Aces to five games before falling short in overtime.

This offseason, the Fever will have to address a lot of their issues, and at the top of their list would be their defense. Despite marking the season with a historic offense, the Fever were subpar in their defense, and that became their Achilles heel in the playoffs.

For now, Clark is enjoying the release of her first signature shoe with Nike. It was reported that within two hours of release, the sneakers were sold out. Caitlin 1 marked the largest women’s signature shoe release in Nike’s history, with Caitlin 1 releasing in 5000 stores.