Iowa Women’s Basketball Head Coach Lisa Bluder extended through 2029
Coming off back-to-back Big Ten Tournament Championships and the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1993, including a national title game appearance, head coach Lisa Bluder is receiving a well-deserved contract extension. University of Iowa Athletic Director Garta Barta announced the contract extension through the 2029 season on Friday morning. Bluder’s contract was previously set to run through the 2026 season.
Lisa Bluder is set to enter her 24th season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. She 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 494-249 (.665) record. She has a combined 850-391 (.685) record over the course of 39 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, including one of four active coaches.
The Hawkeyes have made 21 postseason appearances in 23 seasons with Bluder as head coach, including 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and four WNIT appearances. Iowa has made the NCAA Tournament in 13 of the last 15 seasons, including a Sweet Sixteen, an Elite Eight and a Final Four over the last five 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. Gustafson (2018, 2019), Clark (2022, 2023) and Kathleen Doyle (2020) have been named Big Ten Player of the Year a combined six times over the last nine seasons.
This past season, Iowa opened the season as the preseason #4 team in the country. They finished the regular season with a 23-6 record and went on to win the Big Ten Tournament with wins over Purdue, Maryland and Ohio State. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a two seed, where they defeated Southeastern Louisiana, Georgia, Colorado and Louisville to advance to the Final Four in Dallas.
The Hawkeyes defeated #1 overall seed South Carolina in the Final Four, ending the Gamecocks undefeated season and snapping their 42 game winning streak. Iowa advanced to their first ever national title game, where they fell to LSU.
Lisa Bluder and her Iowa Hawkeyes are set to open the 2023-24 season on November 6th against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights.
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