Life after Caitlin Clark: How Iowa plans to keep the same winning blueprint (2024)

Two weeks ago, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder walked out of her corner office, moseyed 20 feet down the hall, and poked her head in assistant Jan Jensen’s office. Bluder had just made her retirement public and the university named Jensen — her longtime associate head coach — her successor.

“I promise I won’t leave you too much junk in there,” Bluder told her, motioning back to her (and soon-to-be Jensen’s) office.

Bluder and her staff have been in these offices for more than a decade since the building was renovated, and like any well-lived space, things have accumulated. Photos, letters, trophies, plaques — you name it. Any free tabletop is fair game for storing scouting reports and box scores. In recent seasons, as the wins piled up, more rings and pieces of net took up space, too.

The move is a long time coming. During her 30-year career, Jensen has had several opportunities to leave her spot as an assistant under Bluder, but it was never the right decision until now when she’ll make the move one seat to the right on the bench and two doors down the hallway.

“Nobody loves this place like I do.” @goiowa x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/etkzPEOikO

— Iowa Women’s Basketball (@IowaWBB) May 16, 2024

They have known each other too long for Bluder to not leave a letter or surprise of some sort for the coach taking over her program, her friend continuing the Iowa legacy. They met almost four decades ago when Bluder recruited Jensen to play for her at Drake. Jensen enjoyed a decorated playing career, and Bluder ended up recruiting her again — this time as a coach at Drake, two years after graduating.

Since then, the view to Jensen’s right in every home game she has ever coached has been of Bluder. Now, Jensen will occupy the end of the bench. The junk Bluder might leave in her office? That might fit the “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” adage as any new coach would be happy to stumble upon discarded scouting reports and random scribbles from a mentor. But the program Bluder leaves behind? It sits at a peak and a crossroads.

Iowa women’s basketball has never been as far-reaching a brand as it is now. With two consecutive trips to the national title game and Caitlin Clark, one of the most recognizable athletes in the country, helping move women’s college basketball into the spotlight, the Hawkeyes brand is unmissable.

Jensen has felt that on the recruiting trail. With the Big Ten expanding West — adding USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington next season — she knew that the Hawkeyes might be able to also expand their recruiting footprint. But as Iowa’s ascendancy matched the timing of conference expansion, the uptick in interest from players outside of the Hawkeyes’ typical recruiting circles has been significant.

“It’s great timing, because now kids in California, they’re definitely watching Iowa and saying, ‘Oh, wow, who’s this team from Iowa? Who’s this player?’ And then they’re seeing how we play,” Jensen said. “We’ve been able to recruit farther, but we’re certainly not going to abandon a formula that’s worked so well for us.”

Over the last two decades, 72 percent of Hawkeyes players have come from Iowa or a border state. Another 19 percent hailed from Michigan, Ohio or Indiana. But in the 2024 and 2025 classes, Iowa’s expanding reach is on full display. Ava Heiden, the No. 42 player in the 2024 class, is from Oregon, and though she committed before either Final Four run, Iowa’s success with post players like Megan Gustafson and Monika Czinano — players she watched on national broadcasts — was a big reason she committed. In the 2025 class, No. 12 Addie Deal became the first Californian to commit to Iowa in more than 20 years and just the third top-15 recruit in the last 15 years (Clark and Sam Logic, 2010, were the others). In this offseason’s transfer portal, the Hawkeyes snagged Villanova’s Lucy Olsen — a top guard from Pennsylvania, who has one year of eligibility remaining.

Jensen said that Iowa always attempted to recruit top players who the staff felt would be a fit no matter what state they lived in. Yet, even when they could get on the phone with these players, getting them to consider a visit (or even a commitment) to Iowa, was often a pretty long bridge. “It’s getting shorter,” Jensen said.

The path ahead will have its challenges, Jensen knows. Learning moments and stumbling blocks exist for every new coach, but Jensen will also be navigating a transition that doesn’t include Clark, who helped weather a lot of small storms. The turnover in Iowa’s locker room in addition to Clark is significant, too — Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall, who combined for 275 starts over the last four years are also gone. Raina Harmon, Abby Stamp and Tania Davis remain on the coaching staff, but Jensen needs to hire two coaches to replace Bluder and assistant Jenni Fitzgerald, who also retired after 24 seasons.

Jensen sees this situation as the perfect scenario for her as a first-time head coach. She takes over a program with enough cohesion in its coaching staff and basketball philosophy for players to still feel comfortable. (The Hawkeyes didn’t lose any players to the portal.) Jensen also inherits a program with enough history and recent success to negate a need to recreate the wheel. Yet, as with any new coach, there are areas to improve and change to make Iowa distinctively hers.

“The template we have here,” Jensen said, “it’s pretty doggone good.”

(Photo of Jan Jensen: Matthew Holst / Getty Images)

Chantel Jennings is The Athletic's senior writer for the WNBA and women's college basketball. She covered college sports for the past decade at ESPN.com and The Athletic and spent the 2019-20 academic year in residence at the University of Michigan's Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalists. Follow Chantel on Twitter @chanteljennings