Big Ten Daily (April 22): Caitlin Clark Reportedly Agrees to $28 Million Nike Deal
Caitlin Clark's WNBA career is starting off with a lucrative deal from Nike. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the No. 1 overall pick and new member of the Indiana Fever is expected to sign an eight-year contract worth $28 million with the shoe and athletic apparel company.
Nike initially signed a deal with Clark in 2022, which was expiring this year. That allowed her to listen to offers from other companies, but it appears she'll continue to work with Nike for the foreseeable future.
Indiana selected Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in last Monday's WNBA Draft. It marked the second straight year the Fever had the top selection in the draft. Last year, the franchise selected South Carolina's Aliyah Boston with that pick.
Boston was a WNBA All-Star and received the league's Rookie of the Year award. The Fever are hoping Clark experiences similar success in her first season in Indianapolis.
Clark finished her career at Iowa with 3,951 points, setting a new NCAA record for both men's and women's basketball. She led the Hawkeyes to three straight Big Ten Tournament titles (2022-24) and back-to-back appearances in the national championship game (2023, 2024).
Following her tremendous career with the Hawkeyes, the University of Iowa has announced that it will retire Clark's No. 22.
Fans will catch their first glimpse of Clark and the Fever in the regular season on Tuesday, May 14. Indiana will travel to Connecticut to play the Sun. The game airs on ESPN 2.
Nebraska adds another Big Ten transfer
Fred Hoiberg continues to get work done via the NCAA transfer portal. On Sunday, Nebraska landed another commitment from a Big Ten transfer.
Ex-Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian announced his commitment to Nebraska over the weekend. He's the fourth player from the transfer portal to pledge to the Huskers and the second Big Ten player, joining former Rutgers wing Gavin Griffiths.
Nebraska has also received transfer commitments from Utah's Rollie Worster and North Dakota State's Andrew Morgan.
Essegian didn't have quite the impact during the 2023-24 season as he did as a freshman in the 2022-23 campaign. Last year, the Fort Wayne, Ind. native averaged just 3.2 points per game while logging just over seven minutes per game.
During his freshman season in Madison, Essegian appeared in all 35 games and averaged 11.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. He also connected on nearly 36% of his shots from 3-point range.
With Keisei Tominaga's graduating, the Huskers were in the market for a sharp-shooting guard. While Essegian didn't get those opportunities with the Badgers last season, he's more than capable of filling that role.
Jim Harbaugh gets inked up
Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh now has a permanent reminder of his team's undefeated national championship season. He decided to get the team's impressive accomplishment fro the 2023 season tattooed on his arm.
Videos of Harbaugh's fresh ink surfaced on social media over the weekend. He decided to get the "Block M" (kind of), as well as Michigan's 15-0 record tattoed on his arm.
While the idea is pretty cool, the tattoo itself is ... underwhelming. Have a look for yourself:
Again, it's a cool idea. But if you're gonna do it, why not go all in and get the big "Block M" inked on your arm?
Harbaugh finished his tenure in Ann Arbor winning three Big Ten championships and making three trips to the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines concluded a perfect 15-0 season with a win over Washington in the national title game.
Harbaugh was the coach at Michigan for nine seasons, compiling an 86-25 record and playing in a bowl game eight times. The Wolverines were ranked in the AP Poll at the end of the season seven times in that time.
Following Michigan's season, Harbaugh accepted the job as the head coach of the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.
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