The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced that Caitlin Clark of the University of Iowa is the winner of the 2024 John R. Wooden Award presented by Principal as the most outstanding player in women’s college basketball. The announcement was made during ESPN SportsCenter.
A 2023 Wooden Award winner, Clark becomes the 7th two-time winner of the Wooden Award Women’s Player of the Year (Seimone Augustus [‘05 & ‘06], Candace Parker [‘07 & ‘08], Maya Moore [‘09 & ‘11], Brittney Griner [‘12 & ‘13], Breanna Stewart [‘15 & ‘16], and Sabrina Ionescu [‘19 & ‘20]). This year, she broke the NCAA women’s career scoring record, surpassing Wooden Award winner Kelsey Plum (2017), and became the greatest scorer in NCAA Division 1 history, male or female, surpassing Pete Maravich and ending her career with 3,951 points.
Voting took place from March 19-26, 2024, by a national collection of voters who cover the sport and former winners. As insisted upon by Coach Wooden at the Award’s creation in 1976, all players considered for the ballot were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the academic criteria of the John R. Wooden Award.
Caitlin Clark will join Coach John Calipari, the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient, and the Wooden Award honoree for men’s basketball, to be announced tomorrow, as the celebrated winners of the nation’s most prestigious collegiate basketball awards. They will be joined by their coaches and the Wooden Award All Americans at the trophy presentation on Friday, April 12, 2024 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
About the John R. Wooden Award
Established in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball, recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All America Teams for men and women, and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have demonstrated to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to non-profit organizations, including general scholarship funds in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients, and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament.
Starting in 2024, the John R. Wooden Award Foundation will empower balloted candidates to use the Wooden Award platform to promote their chosen charities, with the Wooden Award presenting donations to the top five All Americans’ charities of choice to support their character initiatives.
Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Ralph Sampson (’82, ’83), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Breanna Stewart (’15; ’16), and last year’s recipients, Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Zach Edey of Purdue.
The Legends of Coaching Award presented by Principal will be conferred upon University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, alongside the Wooden Award Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year on April 12, 2024.
