Cleveland becomes the epicenter of women’s basketball when the NCAA Women’s Final Four sets up play beginning Friday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It’s a game that itself has become the epicenter of sports thanks to Iowa star Caitlin Clark and others.
The four squads that will put the spotlight on their game are the Hawkeyes, Connecticut, North Carolina State and South Carolina.
Make no mistake. Clark may be the reason fans pour into the arena. She is a generational player, or at least the one the sport needed for the women’s game to enjoy enhanced status in the sports landscape. Still, from a competitive standpoint, the tournament could provide epic games, as two No. 1 seeds (South Carolina and Iowa) and two No. 3 seeds (UConn and N.C. State) made the semifinals.
NCAA Women’s Final Four: Where to eat, park if you’re visiting Cleveland
These four teams are coached by NCAA royalty as legends from Geno Auriemma (UConn) to the dean of Big Ten coaches, Lisa Bluder (Iowa) to 800-win club member Wes Moore (North Carolina State) and the respected Dawn Staley (South Carolina) seek titles for their team.
Here’s a primer on each:
Iowa: Lisa Bluder
Number of years: 24 at Iowa
Bluder is one of four active Division I coaches with more than 850 win and one of 14 women coaches to win more than 850 games. She leads the Hawkeyes, who are led by guard Clark, back to the Final Four after their appearance in the 2022-23 national championship game. Bluder began her coaching career at St. Ambrose of the NAIA where she worked for six seasons. She then landed at Drake in 1990, staying for 10 seasons until taking the head slot at Iowa.
Playing experience: She started for three years at the University of Northern Iowa.
North Carolina State: Wes Moore
Number of years: 10 at North Carolina State
Moore came to the Wolfpack after 15 years with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His Wolfpack teams have appeared in the tournament seven times. His teams have won more than 800 games in his career. He also served as head coach at Francis Marion (1995-98), as an assistant at North Carolina State (1993-95) and head coach at Maryville College (1987-1993).
South Carolina: Dawn Staley
Number of years: 15 at South Carolina
Staley’s teams have won two national championships (2017, 2022) and have appeared in the Final Four five times in the past eight tournaments. She’s served as a head coach for 23 seasons, which includes seven years spent at Temple. She coached the U.S. Women’s National Team for USA Basketball 2017-21, leading the team to FIBA World Cup gold in 2018. She’s been national coach of the year four times.
Playing experience: A former USA Today National High School Player of the year, she played four seasons at the University of Virginia which included three trips to the Final Four.
UConn: Geno Auriemma
Number of years: 39 at UConn
Coaching experience: Auriemma built the UConn women’s program into what it is today over the course of his 39 years as coach. He’s won the Naismith National Coach of the Year eight times and the AP National Coach of the Year nine times. In his tenure, UConn has won 11 national championships. He was head coach of the U.S. Women’s National team for eight years. Team USA won two Olympic gold medals under his guidance (2012 and 2016). He also led the U.S. to gold medals in the FIBA World Championships in 2010 and 2014.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: NCAA Women’s Final Four 2024: Meet the legendary coaches
