Iowa Women's Basketball Head Coach Lisa Bluder announces her retirement

Basketball Icon. Legendary Leader. All-Time Great.

That’s what came across Twitter this afternoon in a tweet from the Iowa Women’s Basketball account. What followed was unexpected. After 24 years as head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, Lisa Bluder has announced her retirement.

Basketball Icon.
Legendary Leader.
All-Time Great.

Lisa Bluder announces retirement.#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/zaCehITUu3

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) May 13, 2024

A statement from Lisa Bluder provided by University of Iowa Athletics

Dear Hawkeye Nation:

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.

I want to thank Presidents Coleman, Skorton, Mason, Harreld and Wilson for their unequivocal support of our program and Directors of Athletics Dr. Christine Grant, Bob Bowlsby, Gary Barta and Beth Goetz for their unrelenting partnership.

I want to thank my assistant coaches and operations and support staff who each played an integral role in our journey. I specifically want to acknowledge the work of Jan Jensen and Jenni Fitzgerald whom I have had the pleasure of working alongside for the past 32 years. 

I want to thank the incredible fans for believing in what we were doing and how we were doing it, creating the greatest home court advantage in all of women’s basketball.

And finally, I want to thank David and our children, Hannah, Emma and David, Jr., for supporting me while I pursued my dreams and for their own sacrifices along the way.

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. 

With Love and Gratitude,

Lisa

Lisa Bluder arrived in Iowa City in 2000 after spending ten seasons as head coach at Drake. Bluder is the all-time winningest coach in Iowa Women’s Basketball history, owning a 528-254 (.675) record. She has a combined 884-396 (.691) record over the course of 40 seasons as a head coach at St Ambrose, Drake and Iowa. Bluder is one of just 14 Division I coaches to ever win 850 games or more and currently sits in 11th place all-time in career wins.

The Hawkeyes made 22 postseason appearances in 24 seasons with Bluder as head coach, including 18 NCAA Tournament appearances and four WNIT appearances. Iowa made the NCAA Tournament in 14 of the last 16 seasons, including a Sweet Sixteen, an Elite Eight, two Final Fours and two national championship games over the last six years.

Under Bluder, the Hawkeyes have had two National Player of the Year awards winners, with Megan Gustafson winning in 2019 and Caitlin Clark in 2023 and 2024. Gustafson (2018, 2019), Clark (2022, 2023, 2024) and Kathleen Doyle (2020) have been named Big Ten Player of the Year a combined seven times over the last ten seasons. Eight players earned AP All-American honors under Bluder and 13 players earned First Team All-Big Ten honors.

This past season, Iowa started off the year by breaking the NCAA Women’s Basketball attendance record, with 55,646 fans showing up to the ‘Crossover at Kinnick’ to see the Hawkeyes defeat DePaul in an exhibition game. From there, the popularity of the team was unmatched by anything we have ever seen. Every single home game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena was sold out, while 30 of their 32 games prior to the postseason were either sold out, or broke an attendance record. Iowa finished with a 34-5 overall record, including a third straight Big Ten Tournament Championship and a second straight trip to the Final Four.