Iowa Extends Lisa Bluder Contract

Hawkeye Women's Basketball Coach's New Deal Runs Through '28-29 Season

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder coaches her team during an NCAA Tournament victory against Georgia on March 19, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Gary Barta, the Henry B. Tippie Director Chair of Athletics, announced on Friday that he has extended Lisa Bluder’s contract through June 2029. She is heading into her 24th year at The University of Iowa as the P. Sue Beckwith, MD, Head Women’s Basketball Coach.

The position was endowed in 2021 by P. Sue Beckwith, MD, one of UI athletics’ most generous supporters. Sue Beckwith was a four-year letterwinner with Iowa Women’s Basketball (1976-1980) and has earned three UI degrees: 1980 BS, 1984 MD, and 2015 MBA.

As the all-time winningest coach in program history, the Hawkeyes have made 21 postseason appearances (17 NCAA and four WNIT) in 23 seasons, including NCAA Tournament berths in 13 of the last 15 seasons. Iowa has advanced to 15 consecutive postseason tournaments (13 NCAA and two WNIT). Bluder is a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year (2001, 2008, 2010) and was recognized as the Naismith National Coach of the Year in 2019.

Most recently, the Hawkeyes advanced to the 2023 Final Four for the first time since 1993 and made its first ever appearance in the National Championship game. Bluder has produced two consensus National Player of the Year award winners in Caitlin Clark (2023) and Megan Gustafson (2019) in the last five seasons. She has mentored four Hawkeyes to consensus All-America status a total of six times over the last nine seasons (Samantha Logic, 2015; Gustafson, 2018 & 2019; Kathleen Doyle, 2020; Clark, 2022 & 2023).

Bluder has coached her Hawkeye teams to four Big Ten Tournament championships (2001, 2019, 2022, 2023), including three in the last five years, and two regular season league titles (2008, 2022). She has notched 850 career wins and 247 Big Ten victories in her storied career and surpassed C. Vivian Stringer in 2022-23 as the all-time winningest coach in conference history. She is one of 14 Division I coaches to ever win 850 games or more, including one of four active coaches.