Jan Jensen Receives First Iowa Head Coach Commitment in Heartwarming Fashion
The women's basketball community was in collective shock when longtime Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder announced her retirement from coaching after the Hawkeyes' 2023-24 season ended.
In Bluder's 24 years running Iowa's women's basketball team, she amassed a 528-254 record (making her the all-time winningest coach in program history), led the Hawkeyes to 22 postseason appearances (including 14 NCAA Tournament berths in the last 16 seasons), and took them to two consecutive National Championship games in the past two seasons.
While Bluder never secured that elusive National Championship trophy, the fact that she brought world-class recruits like Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, and Megan Gustafson to Iowa and developed her teams into perennial championship contenders cemented her legacy.
It also gave Jan Jensen — who became Iowa's new head coach after spending the past 24 years as Bluder's lead assistant — big shoes to fill.
Of course, a crucial part of a college program's success is getting recruits. And while Jansen was surely active in alluring past and current Hawkeyes to the team, she was never directly in charge of doing so.
Luckily Jansen recently got her first recruiting win as a head coach out of the way, as Iowa landed 6'5" center Layla Hays, who is ESPN's #68 prospect in the 2025 class.
Hays — who, per Iowa.rivals.com, "was considering offers from Big Ten rivals including Illinois, Indiana, and Nebraska, along with a bevy of other high-major programs," made an Instagram post on Monday that showed the moment she revealed to Jansen that she chose the Hawkeyes.
Layla Hays posted a video on Instagram of her surprising Jan Jensen with her commitment on Saturday.
— Kyle Huesmann (@HuesmannKyle) October 15, 2024
A very genuine reaction from Jensen as she learned she had landed her first recruit as a head coach. pic.twitter.com/QB0hSRuUuj
Jansen was clearly overcome with excitement and emotion about Hayes' decision. Hopefully, this heartwarming exchange will convince other top recruits that Jansen and Iowa could be the right home for them.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.