It will be an entirely new era for Iowa women’s basketball after coach Lisa Bluder announced she was retiring about a month after All-American Caitlin Carr departed for the WNBA.
Bluder, who finished with 884 career wins, was named the Naismith Coach of the Year in 2019, was a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, four-time regional Coach of the Year, and the Carol Eckman Award winner.
“It has been the honor of my career to be a part of the Iowa Hawkeye family,“ Bluder said in a statement. ”And to lead a women’s basketball program filled with so many talented and remarkable young women, who have gone on to do great things in their careers and, more importantly, in their lives.”
Jan Jensen, who has served the last 20 years as the associate head coach under Bluder, was named the program’s sixth head coach by Athletics Chairman Beth Goetz. Jensen has more than 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, working alongside Bluder for the past 24 years at Iowa and eight years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Jensen has big shoes to fill for Bluder, who was named head coach at Iowa in 2000 and became the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten history with an overall record of 528–254 and a Big Ten record of 262–145. Jensen led the Hawkeyes to the last two National Championship games and made 22 postseason appearances—18 NCAA and 4 WNIT.
Bluder also led the Hawkeyes to five Big Ten Tournament titles, and two shared Big Ten regular season championships.
Bluder was also instrumental in developing Caitlin Clark, widely regarded as one of the best women’s college basketball players of all time. Clark finished her college career as the top scorer in the history of men’s and women’s college basketball with 3,951 points and was a two-time NCAA women’s basketball Player of the Year. She finished with the highest career scoring average (28.42) in Division I history, passing Patricia Hoskins of Mississippi Valley State.
Clark was the No.1 overall pick in this year’s WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever.
“Simply no one is better at building a team,” Clark wrote on X about Bluder. “Thank you for believing in me more than anyone. Enjoy retirement, coach. Very much deserved.”
Under Bluder, three different Iowa players were named the Big Ten Player of the Year and three players were recognized as Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Sixty-five Hawkeyes earned All-Big Ten honors.
Seventeen former Hawkeyes went on to play professionally. Her student-athletes were named Academic All-Big Ten more than 150 times, while Ally Disterhoft (2016, 2017) and Clark (2023, 2024) were recognized as the Academic All-American of the Year.
Now, Iowa is ready to move forward with Jensen, who was Bluder’s main assistant for more than two decades. Jensen is considered a master recruiter attracting top recruits to Iowa, including McDonald’s All-Americans—Samantha Logic, Lindsay Richards, Johanna Solverson, and Clark.
Jensen is also credited with helping develop and maintain All-American players Samantha Logic, Megan Gustafson, Kathleen Doyle, and Clark.
Gustafson and Clark were ultimately voted the Naismith Player of the Year.
“This program has always been about family, and the contributions to its incredible culture are shared by alums, current student-athletes and the entire staff,” Goetz said. “One of those contributors has been in the team circle for 24 years as a tireless recruiter, skilled teacher of the game, and charismatic personality that has endeared her to the Hawkeye community.
“Coach Jensen has been an instrumental part of our success, assisting in all aspects of the program. After several conversations with Coach Bluder and President Wilson over the last few days, it is clear that everything that we are seeking in a head coach, we have found right here.”
