Jan Jensen Introduced as Iowa Head Coach: "Beyond Blessed, Beyond Excited"

IOWA CITY — Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz said it best: the easy choice was the right choice.

Jan Jensen was introduced as Iowa's sixth women's basketball head coach at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Wednesday afternoon, part of a press conference that lasted 45 minutes and included wide-ranging answers on topics like staff retention, recruiting, how her fateful conversation with now-former head coach Lisa Bluder went and how Jensen's day-to-day role will (and won't) change as the new boss.

The most pressing question for Jensen — and the Iowa fan base — was going to be retaining her coaching staff and players through the transition.

"It's been a big change, but most everything remains the same," Jensen said. "Thankfully to our staff returning and to every one of our players, every committed player, everybody is here. Everybody stayed. I just consider that on day one a really big win, that everybody was with me and with us."

A source with knowledge of Iowa's recruiting confirmed that the 2024 class has remained committed to Iowa, due in substantial part to Jensen's heavy role in recruiting all of them as associate head coach.

Accordingly, Jensen acknowledged that recruiting will be a primary focus of whoever she hires to bring the Iowa staff back to full strength.

"The name of the game for this level is you can't win the race if you don't have the horses, so it's a lot about recruiting and making sure that our game plan that we've always had remains seamless as well," said Jensen. "We have to pick the right person that's going to be able to come in as a newbie and keep that recruiting synergy going."

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Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Lisa Bluder's retirement was the timing: most personnel moves take place shortly after the season ends, to allow the programs enough time to hire a head coach and install a staff while viable candidates are still available. As an example, Stanford legend Tara VanderVeer announced her retirement on April 9, 11 days after the Cardinal's elimination in the NCAA Tournament and a mere two days after the NCAA Championship Game.

"I heard when everybody gets to that point of retiring, you know when you know," Jensen said. "I don't want to put words in [Bluder's] mouth, but when she just had some time to really center, I just think it became clear. So when it became clear, it was kind of a shocker because it was a little bit later [after the season]."

Bluder mentioned in her retirement statement that she made the final decision to retire after a vacation with her husband. Consistent with that timeline, Jensen said she found out after Bluder returned from the trip.

"When she came back and said, 'I'm going to bring you by some coffee,' I said, 'oh, yeah'," Jensen said. "Jenni [Fitzgerald] showed up, too, and I thought, 'what's happening here?' But then after that point, we rolled. And I would say Beth, within probably 24 hours, just reached out to have a conversation."

Goetz said later that the process of installing Jensen as head coach — including the waiver of the standard job posting session, which would have seen the head coaching job publicly available for two weeks while an interim coach was in place — only began after Bluder's decision to retire.

"You're evaluating ahead, but you never want to predetermine how something's going to play out," Goetz said. "I wouldn't call this a 'planned succession.' It's obvious from an outsider's perspective, when we think about what [Jensen]'s been such an integral part of building. But that wasn't something that had been predetermined. [...] That was not something that I inquired about until Lisa put in a resolution."

Every — every — D-I athletic director has a "short list" to replace any coach, regardless of how long that coach is under contract or how happy they are in their current role. With the process of hiring Jensen made as expedited as possible, it's clear she was firmly atop Goetz's short list, and that designation helped make the transition as smooth as possible, no matter how surprising Bluder's decision ended up being.

"How amazing is it when the easy choice is the right choice," Goetz said, "and in Caitlin Clark's words, the only choice."

Jensen's role as associate head coach gave her plenty of opportunities to lead the program in Bluder's stead over the last 20 years, including acting as head coach in a pair of games in Europe this summer.

"I don't know if [Bluder] had the foresight or not — she had me be the head coach at our European trip," Jensen said. "The opponents weren't great, okay, but right after the trip, [son] Jack said, 'Mom, you're 2-0 as a head coach and your margin of victory is well over 50'."

Even with the associate head coach role doubling as two decades of job shadowing, Jensen mentioned that her roles will necessarily change — and that the short-term transition may not be perfect, even with Bluder graciously serving as an advisor (formal or otherwise).

Jensen said. "I'm going to need a little bit of grace from my team as we learn and grow, and certainly I'm going to make my share of mistakes, but I'm going to have [Bluder] to lean on."

If the evaluation of a head coaching candidate includes their excitement for the job, Jensen's enthusiasm would have flown off the page — not that that's any surprise.

"It is not lost on me that I've gotten to have my dream job at a place that I love, and now I get to have my dream title. Are you kidding me? And I don't have to move?" Jensen asked rhetorically. "I am beyond blessed. I am beyond excited. I'm just in awe that I get to stand here in this capacity today."

Jensen mentioned that she had received head coaching interest from "double digits" of schools over the years, as her reputation as an elite assistant coach grew.

"I'd say there was two, maybe three [head coaching opportunities] where I was like, ooh, kind of like maybe that's the one, maybe I should go," Jensen said. "I was never wired -- there's just two different ways to do it. Some people, they hop, hop, hop and they get back to where they wanted to go."

The Caitlin Clark Era was never in serious doubt, though; Jensen said she had set her sights squarely on replacing Bluder several years ago.

"At some point you have to be, okay, this [Iowa job] is what I'm going for," Jensen said. "So about eight years ago, that's what I told Lisa. Now, some people had called, and I talked, but at the end of the day, there's no place I wanted to be. So that's why I feel grateful that it worked out."

Putting all her eggs in that basket is, quite understandably, a substantial risk, which Jensen acknowledged at multiple points in her press conference.

Ultimately, though, that loyalty was rewarded with a dream come true.

"Some of my friends will be like, you've paid your dues [...] but I'd like to look at it as more of a reward for loyalty," Jensen said. "When you do get something that you've dreamed about, that reward for loyalty is a much better way in my opinion to look at it than, 'oh, you paid your dues.' I made a choice, and it was a fabulous one."