Lisa Bluder didn’t know when she was in the 2023-2024 season of University of Iowa women’s basketball that it would be her last as head coach. But when she had time to reflect after a busy stretch of back-to-back Big Ten Championship Titles, playing in two NCAA championship games and coaching the nation’s leading scorer Caitlin Clark, she decided it was time to retire.
“It feels right, just because college athletics is changing so rapidly and I just don’t know that I was the right person to take it into the next generation of change that’s gonna happen with not only the NIL and the transfer portal, but you know, revenue sharing that we're talking about with athletes right now. And it just seemed like, you know, we had achieved so much the past two years. I knew it was going to be hard to maintain that, quite honestly and I don't know that I had the energy to quite do that anymore,” Bluder said. “And there was nobody better to pass this torch off to than Jan.”
Bluder turned to Associate Head Coach Jan Jensen, who has worked alongside Bluder for the entirety of her 24-year tenure at Iowa and before that at Drake. On May 13, the University of Iowa publicly announced that Bluder was retiring and Jensen would ascend to the head coach role.
Over the course of her career, Bluder became the winningest coach in Iowa program history, and led the Iowa team as women’s college basketball drew more attention than ever before.
Bluder and Jensen joined Talk of Iowa host Charity Nebbe for a conversation about the coaching culture the two have built.
Playing the long game
Before working alongside Bluder, Jensen was coached by her during her senior year of college at Drake. After graduation, Bluder helped Jensen secure an agent to play professionally overseas. When Jensen returned from Germany, she planned to get her masters and go into higher education. However, Bluder had an opening on her staff and she hand picked Jensen for the job.
I was always so very keenly aware that what was important to me was family and loyalty, and just a great working environment. And I was not willing to compromise that for a title or more money, or to simply say, ‘Hey, I'm the boss.'Jan Jensen
“You have to hire people who have passion and have knowledge and have loyalty. To me, that is the most important thing and she demonstrated that all along,” Bluder said.
They’ve been a team ever since.
Jensen was offered head coaching jobs at other teams during her time as assistant coach. Though the head coach title was her dream, she decided to remain at Iowa instead of taking the position elsewhere.
“I think sometimes when people are climbing in their professions, they're so ready or desiring the next rung in the ladder, that sometimes they compromise what's really important to them,” Jensen said. “ I was always so very keenly aware that what was important to me was family and loyalty, and just a great working environment. And I was not willing to compromise that for a title or more money, or to simply say, ‘Hey, I'm the boss.’ And a lot of that goes back to I think, how I was raised, but it's also how Lisa led. She was not a micromanager. She welcomed feedback, she gave your responsibility. So when we won, we won.”
A continuation of the culture
Although the leadership role has changed, Jensen’s succession will allow the culture the coaching staff has created to continue.
“There has been a seismic shift and change, but other than that, so much remains and so much has stayed the same,” Jensen said. “I've slid over six inches, which does seem like six miles in some moments, but, you know, Lisa is always gonna be part of our team.”
Bluder will continue being involved with fundraising and in an advisory role.
To hear about how Bluder’s leadership style changed over time and what it was like to coach Caitlin Clark, listen to the full conversation on the Talk of Iowa podcast.
This episode was produced by Dani Gehr. Talk of Iowa is hosted by Charity Nebbe.
