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In Jan Jensen, ‘the easy choice is the right choice’ as Iowa’s next women’s basketball coach
‘There are a lot of people that could take this job, but I promise you nobody loves this place more than I do,’ she said
May. 15, 2024 4:58 pm, Updated: May. 15, 2024 10:57 pm
IOWA CITY — There was no expensive search firm. No prolonged speculation on who the next University of Iowa women’s basketball coach would be.
“How amazing is it when the easy choice is the right choice?” Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said Wednesday, introducing Jan Jensen at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Jensen, 55, becomes the sixth coach in the program’s 50-year history.
“There are a lot of people that could take this job, but I promise you that nobody loves this place more than I do,” she said.
About 30 minutes passed Monday afternoon between two announcements — the first of Lisa Bluder’s retirement, the second of Jensen’s hiring.
In reality, Bluder told Jensen of her decision a little more than a week ago.
“(Bluder) came back (from vacation) and said, ‘I’m going to bring you by some coffee, I said, ‘Oh, yeah,’” Jensen said.
“Jenni (Fitzgerald, special assistant of Bluder) showed up, too, and I thought, ‘What’s happening here?’ And I would say within probably 24 hours, (Goetz) reached out to have a conversation.”
By last weekend, Goetz and Jensen had come to an agreement.
“We had company at the house, last Friday or Saturday, and Jan came home,” said Julie Fitzpatrick, Jensen’s spouse. “She looked at me and said, ‘I got the job.’ I hugged her. I had chills. It was a wonderful moment.’”
The next few days were a whirlwind of meeting with players, then recruits. And somehow, the news didn’t seep out to the public until Monday’s release.
Jensen’s first career victory — everybody is staying, including ace transfer Lucy Olsen.
Also intact is the coaching staff. Bluder will serve as an advisor.
Jensen will move down one seat on the Iowa bench, and about 20 feet to her new, bigger office. Other than that, changes will be minimal.
“I'm not going to reinvent the wheel,” Jensen said. “We've had pretty good success. But I'm going to put my own little stamp on it, right?
“We haven't ever full-court pressed before. I know (assistant) Raina (Harmon) is a big proponent of that. So you might see a few things directly. Some of the things that maybe I wanted to vote for (in the past), they got voted down.
“Well, now, guess what: I'm going to give it my shot, right?”
Bluder was in attendance Wednesday, but was not available for questions. At Tuesday’s I-Club meeting in Des Moines, however, she called Jensen “the perfect choice to be the next head coach. That is the perfect person to take on this role and to keep everything flowing in the right direction.”
A native of Kimballton, Iowa, Jensen was a prolific six-on-six scorer at Elk Horn-Kimballton High School, from which she graduated in 1987. She went on to play at Drake University, where she was an All-American and had her jersey retired.
After a year of playing professionally in Germany, she returned and joined Bluder’s staff at Drake, then at Iowa in 2000.
During her 24 years as an Iowa assistant, Jensen said, she had “double-digit opportunities” to interview for head-coaching jobs elsewhere.
“I’d say there was two, maybe three, where I was like, ‘Ooh, kind of like maybe that’s the one, maybe I should go.’”
She never went.
Instead, the years went by as Bluder’s top lieutenant. Her “good cop.” Jensen was asked how her promotion might affect her contagiously sunny demeanor.
“I think it has to,” she said. “But it doesn't concern me. You can probably ask a couple of the players and they wouldn't tell you all the time that I'm as sunny.”
Goetz called Jensen “a relationship builder, a relentless recruiter, a post whisperer, always ready for coffee and a conversation with an athlete, a champion on someone’s most difficult day and on their best.”
But Jensen is nobody’s pushover.
“Oh, she gets fired up,” assistant Abby Stamp said. “She’ll stop practice, get everybody back focused.”
Bluder retired after 40 highly successful years, compiling a record of 884-396. Her best came at the end: Iowa is on a run of three consecutive Big Ten tournament championships and has advanced to the NCAA championship game each of the past two years.
Jensen was asked about her vision as she carries the torch.
“I think when you're chasing greatness, you want to be a champion,” she said. “Every year I want to be the champion of the Big Ten. It's not coach-speak, but I think we have some great pieces returning. I like who's coming in.
“I want to chase greatness. My expectations of the players ... I'd like to think they're coming in with a mentality, a little chip on their shoulder, because most everybody else is going to say, ‘Hey, you lost so much.
“I'd say I'm not shying away from being great.”
Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com
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