IOWA CITY, Iowa – Jan Jensen has had countless head coaching opportunities in his 24 years as an assistant on Lisa Bluder’s coaching staff at Iowa.
Some of the offers, Jensen said, were good enough to seriously consider, but ultimately she decided to stick with Bluder and the Hawkeyes.
That loyalty was rewarded when Jensen, Iowa’s associate head coach for the past 20 years, was promoted to head coach after Bluder announced his retirement.
“Ultimately, this is where I wanted to be,” Jensen said during his introductory press conference.
Jensen succeeds the winningest coach in Iowa and Big Ten history. His signing adds to what would be a period of transition for the Hawkeyes, who are coming off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championship game and are missing three starters, including two-time national player of the year Caitlin Clark.
The Hawkeyes have appeared in 14 of the last 16 NCAA Tournaments and have won the Big Ten Tournament title each of the last three seasons.
“When you strive for greatness, you want to be a champion,” Jensen said.
Jensen said the program was already entering a new era with the loss of Clark, who became Division I’s all-time leading scorer in his four years at Iowa. Incumbents Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall also ended their careers.
Even with a large staff turnover, Jensen said he will not lower expectations and expects the same from his players.
Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said it was an easy decision to promote Jensen.
“This is a perfect passing of the baton,” Goetz said. “Jan demonstrates daily what it means to have a tireless work ethic, to lead with compassion and burning passion, and to be confident in who you are and how to pursue your dreams. Everything we needed in the next leader of this historic program was here.”
Jensen said she was “shocked” when Bluder informed her she was retiring after 40 seasons at three schools.
“It’s a beautiful chapter closed,” said Jensen, who added that Bluder will be an advisor for the program.
Jensen, a native of the western Iowa town of Kimballton, was one of the best high school players in the state’s 6-on-6 history, averaging 66 points per game as a senior. She went to Drake, where she led the nation in scoring her senior season in 1991. Two years later, she returned to Drake to work on Bluder’s staff, then followed her to Iowa when Bluder was hired as head coach in 2000.
“I guess I would just like to say that I love this state and I can’t believe the journey I’ve been on,” Jensen said. “Oh boy. I always say, if God took me tomorrow, I couldn’t have lived better.”
“I’d like to think they’re coming in with a low-matter mentality,” she said, “because almost everyone will say, ‘Hey, you missed all this.’ ”
Iowa sold out every home game last season, including two NCAA Tournament games, and Jensen said he counts on that kind of support to keep going.
“This year would be very different in terms of rebuilding in terms of graduating seniors, including a generational player like Caitlin,” Jensen said. “There were fans who came for Caitlin. A lot of people came for Caitlin, but they stayed for Hannah (Stuelke), they stayed for Syd (Affolter), they definitely stayed for Kate and Gabbie. I think they stayed because of what this team and culture is.”
