Lisa Bluder is just the beginning
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Lisa Bluder is just the beginning.
Her decision to retire, which she announced on Monday in a letter to Hawkeye fans, was surprising in that it seemed to come out of nowhere, and barely one month since the end of what was a second straight season in which the Iowa women’s basketball team played for the national title.
But on the other hand, maybe her decision didn’t come out of nowhere.
Bluder just finished her 24th season as the Iowa head coach and she has been coaching women’s college basketball since 1984.
She is nearing retirement age and the world around her is changing due to the impact from name, image and likeness and from the transfer portal.
And what else does she have to prove at this point?
Nothing.
Bluder rebuilt the Iowa women’s basketball program into a Big Ten and national power, and she helped to make Caitlin Clark a legend.
Maybe it isn’t a coincidence that Clark and Bluder are moving on at the same time.
With help from hindsight, and with the shock of her decision having faded somewhat, Bluder’s decision to retire makes sense in a lot of ways.
It isn’t that I didn’t see it coming. I just didn’t think it would happen sooner than later.
But with any head coach in his or her 60s, the end is looming on the horizon.
That’s why Lisa Bluder is just the beginning.
In no way am I suggesting that Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery or Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz are preparing to announce their retirement any time soon.
But they’re both in their 60s, so it’s coming, probably sooner than later.
Kirk Ferentz will be 69 when the 2024 college football season starts, with his birthday on Aug. 1.
And though his contract runs through the 2029, season, it’s hard to see him coaching for another six seasons.
Fran McCaffery will turn 65 on May 23.
His youngest son, Jack McCaffery, is also nearing the end of his junior year at Iowa City West High School and has said publicly that he doesn’t plan to attend Iowa.
Butler is considered a top contender to land Jack McCaffery, and the Indianapolis school already has landed his older brother as Patrick McCaffery recently committed to Butler for his final season.
When Beth Goetz was promoted to full-time athletic director, she stepped into a situation in which her ability to hire head coaches would be tested in a big way.
Iowa has only had four athletic directors since 1970 and the three before Goetz – Bump Elliott, Bob Bowlsby and Gary Barta – stayed on the job for 21, 15 and 17 years, respectively.
If Goetz were to stay on the job for at least 15 years, she almost certainly would hire a new head football coach, a new men’s basketball coach, a new wrestling coach, a new baseball coach, a new softball coach, and maybe even a new women’s basketball coach.
The decision to promote Jan Jensen to head coach was well deserved, and really a no-brainer given Jansen’s track record.
Jensen has been loyal to Bluder, and to Iowa for over two decades. Jensen deserves the chance to run her own program, and to make her mark as a head coach.
So, in this case, Goetz got off easy.
But that won’t always be the case.