- NCAA. Lisa Bluder retires as Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball coach
- NCAA. Caitlin Clark finally reveals her true feelings on Angel Reese celebration: Frustrating to me
Lisa Bluder has decided to step down and retire as the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team -- and though the program did not win a national championship during her 24 seasons in charge, Bluder still effected major change across college basketball. After all, she successfully recruited a local kid by the name of Caitlin Clark and molded her into the most lethal scorer in the history of NCAA basketball.
Bluder's replacement will be Jan Jensen, her longtime assistant who appears more than ready to take the reins -- and has already received the Caitlin Clark stamp of approval.
Clark delighted with Jensen's promotion
Just minutes after Iowa announced Jensen as Bluder's replacement on Monday, Clark took to X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate Jensen on her elevation to the top job, calling her "the only option there ever was" and saying that the associate head coach deserved this opportunity "more than anyone."
Like many Hawkeyes before her, Clark worked with Jensen for all four of her seasons in Iowa City. Jensen's shot at leading a new era in Hawkeyes basketball comes after decades of being Bluder's most trusted associate -- and back-to-back trips to the national championship game.
The two met in 1990, when Bluder became the head coach at Drake University in Des Moines -- and when Jensen was about to start her senior year as Drake's star player. Jensen went on to average nearly 30 points per game during the 1990/91 season, and she ed Bluder's coaching staff in 1993.
When Bluder departed for the University of Iowa in 2000, she took Jensen with her -- and in 2004, she was named the program's associate head coach, a position she held until Monday afternoon.
Jensen, a native of Kimballton, Iowa, has been credited with playing a vital role in Clark's recruitment, as well as the recruitment of current Las Vegas Aces forward Megan Gustafson, who received All-American honors while playing for the Hawkeyes. Only time will tell whether Iowa can continue to develop WNBA-level talent in the coming seasons as the program starts a new chapter under Jensen's guidance.