Bluder named winner of Eckman Award

IOWA CITY - University of Iowa women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder has been named the winner of the 2015 Carol Eckman Award.

The honor was announced by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association on Thursday.

The Carol Eckman Award is presented annually to an active WBCA member coach 'who exemplifies Eckman's spirit, integrity and character through sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, honesty, ethical behavior, courage and dedication to purpose,” according to the WBCA release.

It is named in honor of the late Carol Eckman, the former West Chester State College coach, who is considered the 'Mother of the Women's Collegiate Basketball Championship,” who organized the first women's basketball championship at West Chester in 1969.

'It's very meaningful to me, because of who Carol Eckman was,” Bluder said during her press conference Thursday afternoon. 'What it stands for, I'm very honored.”

Bluder is in her 15th season at Iowa and is the all-time winningest coach in school history. She is a three-time Big Ten coach of the year.

Since taking over at Iowa, Bluder has been named the Big Ten's Coach of the Year three times, and has helped guide the Hawkeyes to the NCAA tournament in each of the past seven seasons. She is 299-171 at Iowa, 655-313 in 31 years overall.

This year's team is 21-5 and ranked 11th with three regular-season games left.

Bluder will be formally recognized during the fifth annual WBCA Awards Show in Tampa on April 6.

2015-16 BIG TEN OPPONENTS NAMED

Geography goes out the window in determining home-and-home Big Ten encounters for the 2015-16 season.

The Hawkeyes will face none of their border rivals twice next season.

They will play Illinois, Maryland, Ohio State and Rutgers at home only. Maryland is coached by Cedar Rapids native Brenda Frese; Rutgers is piloted by former Iowa coach C. Vivian Stringer.

Iowa will play Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern and Wisconsin on the road. it will face Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Purdue twice each.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com