Jan Jensen reveals she has had 'double-digit opportunities' to leave Iowa

Iowa introduced longtime assistant Jan Jensen as its next head women’s basketball coach on Wednesday.

Despite Jensen’s reputation as one of the best recruiting and player development coaches in the country, this is her first opportunity to be a head coach at any level of basketball. That isn’t because of a lack of suitors, though.

During her introductory press conference, Jensen addressed the numerous times she was approached to leave Iowa City in the past — and why she decided to stay.

“I was thinking about that the other night,” Jensen said of her numerous opportunities to become a head coach elsewhere. “There’s been double digit opportunities.  Everybody is strategic. You get to a certain point in the interview process. Kind of like recruiting, if you feel like they’re not in, then you shift. 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.

“But this doesn’t work out often. You can take this risk and stay and stay and stay and then you don’t get the opportunity. That’s why I’m so grateful to Beth [Goetz] and President Wilson. But I’m an Iowa kid. I believe in it. I believe my education at Drake University helped me become who I am. The way the people are in our great state, the way it feels over here.”

Jensen said that she has never been one to entertain the coaching carousel. After all, she has coached at two schools despite her career in the industry spanning across four decades. Despite the many conversations she’s had — at some point, Jensen realized that the best move was for her to stay in Iowa City.

“At some point you have to be, okay, this is what I’m going for,” Jensen continued. “So about eight years ago, that’s what I told Lisa [Bluder]. 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. I don’t know what the odds are in Vegas that it would work out again, but all I care about is right now.”

Now, Jensen gets her opportunity to lead the Hawkeyes into the future. While she won’t have Caitlin Clark at her disposal, the expectations for success remain the same for Iowa Women’s Basketball heading into the upcoming 2024-25 season.