Iowa women’s basketball will look very different next season, and not just because Caitlin Clark won’t be donning a Hawkeyes jersey.
Head coach Lisa Bluder is retiring after 24 years as the head coach of the women’s team in a surprising development on Monday afternoon.
Longtime associate coach Jan Jensen has been named the new head coach by the university.
Bluder, 63, helped grow Iowa’s women’s basketball program during her time at the helm, which included back-to-back appearances in the national championship game.
In a letter to Hawkeyes fans, Bluder said that she had been contemplating her future after the season had come to an end and that after spending time with her husband, “it became clear to me that I am ready to step aside.”
“There is never an ideal time to retire and I am sure this fall that I will miss the games, the practices, the road trips, the atmosphere, the tremendous fans and, most importantly, the players,” Bluder wrote in her letter to fans. “But my belief in the foundation of this program, knowing that success is now an unrelenting component of women’s basketball at the University of Iowa gives me comfort as I transition to become the program’s biggest champion.”
Bluder expressed hope to still be an “asset” for the basketball program and athletics department in retirement.
Bluder has amassed an impressive résumé during her time at Iowa, which began in 2000, and her 884 career wins are the 10th most in NCAA women’s basketball history.
She is also the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten history, while helping to lead Iowa to 22 postseason appearances — 18 NCAA tournament appearances and four WNIT — and capturing five Big Ten Tournament titles.
Bluder also coached women’s basketball’s biggest name in Clark for four seasons before the phenom was drafted first overall by the Fever in this year’s WNBA draft.
Her coaching career began as the head coach of St. Ambrose University from 1985-1990, and she then spent 10 years as the head coach at Drake before taking over at Iowa.
