Lisa Bluder retires: Caitlin Clark, others react to Iowa head coach calling it quits after 24-year Hawkeyes career

Bryan Murphy

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Lisa Bluder retires: Caitlin Clark, others react to Iowa head coach calling it quits after 24-year Hawkeyes career image

The Lisa Bluder era in Iowa City is over. 

The longtime head coach of the Hawkeyes women's basketball program announced her retirement on Monday, calling it a career after 34 years coaching in the NCAA.

Bluder, 63, spent the last 24 seasons at the helm of the Iowa program. She first joined the Hawkeyes in 2000, where the team immediately enjoyed success, winning a Big Ten championship. It was a sign of things to come, as Bluder racked up a total of five conference titles with Iowa. 

Her last two seasons were far and beyond her most successful. With Caitlin Clark at the helm of a ferocious Iowa offense, the team built a record of 65-12, winning the Big Ten championship in both seasons and reaching the NCAA Tournament championship in both years. However, Bluder and Co. came up just a step short of a ring, falling to LSU in 2023 and South Carolina in 2024 in what would have been the cherry on top of a sensational career for Bluder. 

With Bluder stepping down from her role, assistant coach Jan Jensen was announced as her replacement as the head coach for the Hawkeyes. 

Bluder first got her crack in the NCAA as a head coach with St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. After six seasons, she took over the Drake program in 1990, spending 10 seasons with the Bulldogs. She helped guide the team to four Mountain Valley Conference championships and four NCAA Tournament berths. 

Here is more on Bluder's retirement and the reaction from the college basketball world. 

Lisa Bluder retirement

In a letter to Hawkeye nation, the native of Wisconsin thanked her players, staff members, fans and administration for her time at Iowa. 

It is with a range of emotions that I share with you today that I have decided to step down from leading the Iowa women’s basketball team after 24 memorable years. I informed President Wilson and Director of Athletics Beth Goetz of my decision and I am grateful for their unwavering support and offered them my assistance in any manner in the future.

It has been the honor of my career to be a part of the Iowa Hawkeye family, and to lead a women’s basketball program filled with so many talented and remarkable young women, who have gone on to do great things in their careers and, more importantly, in their lives. There is no denying that this past season was incredible for so many reasons, and we could not have accomplished our achievements without all of you. After the season ended, I spent time with our student-athletes and coaches reviewing the season and preparing those moving on for what comes next. With that also came personal contemplation about what this journey has meant to me, how to best champion this program, and what the future looks like for my family and me. After then taking some time away with my husband, David, it became clear to me that I am ready to step aside.

There is never an ideal time to retire and I am sure this fall that I will miss the games, the practices, the road trips, the atmosphere, the tremendous fans and, most importantly, the players. But my belief in the foundation of this program, knowing that success is now an unrelenting component of women’s basketball at the University of Iowa gives me comfort as I transition to become the program’s biggest champion.

I want to thank each and every young woman who believed in our program and in our values for nearly a quarter of a century, and who proudly wore the Black & Gold.

At the end of her letter, Bluder hinted at the fact that she could be staying around the program to lend a hand. 

"It is my hope that now with more time and energy, I can be an asset to our basketball program and this athletics department in any way that I am able," Bluder wrote.

Regardless, she has done incredible work to build the Hawkeyes women's basketball program to national prominence. 

Clark was one of a few former players to post kind words about Bluder. She, along with former Iowa guard and current Las Vegas Aces member Kate Martin, posted their appreciation for the now-retired coach, in what is expected to be many heartfelt messages from former players. 

Lisa Bluder record 

Bluder officially retires as one of the winningest women's college basketball coaches of all time.

Her 884 victories currently rank 10th on the all-time list for Division I coaches, and her 528 wins at Iowa make her the all-time leader for the program. 

SeasonTeamGamesRecord
1990-91Drake3013-17
1991-92Drake2611-15
1992-93Drake2815-13
1993-94Drake2816-12
1994-95Drake3125-6
1995-96Drake2916-13
1996-97Drake3023-7
1997-98Drake3025-5
1998-99Drake3121-10
1999-00Drake3023-7
2000-01Iowa3121-10
2001-02Iowa2918-11
2002-03Iowa3318-15
2003-04Iowa2916-13
2004-05Iowa3323-10
2005-06Iowa2917-12
2006-07Iowa3014-16
2007-08Iowa3221-11
2008-09Iowa3221-11
2009-10Iowa3420-14
2010-11Iowa3122-9
2011-12Iowa3119-12
2012-13Iowa3421-13
2013-14Iowa3627-9
2014-15Iowa3426-8
2015-16Iowa3319-14
2016-17Iowa3420-14
2017-18Iowa3224-8
2018-19Iowa3629-7
2019-20Iowa3023-7
2020-21Iowa3020-10
2021-22Iowa3224-8
2022-23Iowa3831-7
2023-24Iowa3934-6

Bryan Murphy

Bryan Murphy Photo

Bryan Murphy joined The Sporting News in 2022 as the NHL/Canada content producer. Previously he worked for NBC Sports on their national news desk reporting on breaking news for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, in addition to covering the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games. A graduate of Quinnipiac University, he spent time in college as a beat reporter covering the men’s ice hockey team.