A player like Clark could attract some other good players to come to Iowa, and she definitely makes the players around her better. They have a very good offense, shoot better than Uconn, and pass pretty well (same A/TO as Uconn.) If they can learn to rebound and play better defense they will be very dangerous. Their star is a freshman and they started slowly, but finished the year stronger. They may not be a true NC threat, but they could definitely challenge for the Big10 crown over the next three years.
As far as Caitlin's choice, it is not any different from Sabrina, or Kelsey Plum choosing the schools they did. And their choices didn't hurt them. In fact, they might have helped them. Plum at an ND or Stanford may have won more, but might not have become quite the sensation she was in a situation where the offense flowed through her. This is not a dead beat program.
And I think the coaching staff is pretty good. Bluder took her team to the E8 two years ago and got Megan Gustafson recognized as the NPOY.