When Iowa’s new head coach Jan Jensen heard the results of the 2024-25 season ticket campaign last fall, she was emotional. The nearly 15,000-seat Carver-Hawkeye Arena had sold out for the second straight season — with no Caitlin Clark or Lisa Bluder to bolster sales.
“It was pretty big shoes to fill,” Jensen told Hoops HQ. “When I look back on it, one of my friends said, ‘that was kind of one of the most unique takeovers following two GOATS — Lisa Bluder and then Caitlin.’”
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It’s not surprising that Jensen’s expectations were a little tempered. Clark, who took the women’s basketball and sports world by storm with her pinpoint passes and logo three-pointers, graduated and was taken No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. Shortly after, Bluder surprisingly retired after 24 seasons as the head Hawk. Jensen, Bluder’s top assistant at both Iowa and Drake, was named her mentor’s successor the same day Bluder’s retirement was announced.
The Hawkeyes not only lost their top player and coach, they also said goodbye to the senior class, which included Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall and Molly Davis, who all were instrumental in Iowa’s two consecutive appearances in the Final Four and National Championship game.
In her first season as head coach, Jensen led Iowa to a 23-11 overall record, including a berth in the NCAA Tournament where the Hawkeyes lost to Oklahoma in the second round. The Hawkeye faithful stood behind their team through a five-game losing skid in January, including three at home against Big Ten rivals Maryland, Indiana and Nebraska.
In one of the biggest wins in program history, the Hawkeyes defeated then No. 4 USC and their own transformational talent JuJu Watkins, 76-69, on Feb. 2, the same day Clark’s No. 22 jersey was retired and hoisted to the rafters.
The electric atmosphere most likely made an impression on the top prospects in the crowd, including highly-touted 2026 recruits Kate Harpring, Addison Bjorn and Jenica Lewis. Two of Iowa’s 2025 commits, Addie Deal and Journey Houston, were also on hand, taking in Carver’s full Caitlin Clark Effect.
Five-star prospect Deal, a 6-foot guard from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., committed to the Hawkeyes in March 2024 after receiving offers from top-tier basketball programs such as Stanford, LSU, USC and UCLA.
Houston, a 5-foot-11 guard from Davenport North (Davenport, Iowa), was rated as highly as 19th nationally and was a five-star prospect before her season-ending injury as a junior.
They are joined by fellow freshman Layla Hayes, a 6-foot-5 center from Wasilla, Alaska, who was Jensen’s first commit as head coach.
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“Every year is a different race, but I would say this particular year is a much, much different race than it was last year, because that was just like ‘whoa’ with all the history that graduated. Now it’s a little bit more normal, but I have a lot of new faces,” Jensen said of her 2025-26 squad after a recent summer practice.
After guard Lucy Olsen graduated and was drafted by the Washington Mystics, Jensen turned to the transfer portal to help fill the gap.
She landed two young players with three years of remaining eligibility – Emely Rodriguez from University of Central Florida and guard Chazadi ‘Chit-Chat’ Wright from Georgia Tech.
Rodriguez, a 6-foot forward, was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, and the 5-foot-4 Wright played in all 33 games with 12 starts as a freshman on a Yellow Jackets team that made the NCAA Tournament.
Wright, who followed former Georgia Tech assistant coach LaSondra Barrett to Iowa, knew right away that Iowa was the perfect fit.
“The transfer portal is very frustrating with a lot going on,” Wright told Hoops HQ. “When I took my visit here, it just felt like home. I don’t think anywhere else is where I would fit. This just felt like the perfect place for me — the team and the coaches, it just felt right.”
Along with the new faces on the team, Jensen is also breaking in several new coaches on her staff.
In April assistant coach Raina Harmon was named head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University after eight seasons at Iowa. Later that month Jensen hired Barrett, who spent the past three seasons as assistant coach at Georgia Tech, to fill the open spot.
After Georgia Tech head coach Nell Fortner announced her retirement in March, Barrett was weighing her career options when Jensen reached out.
“That was kind of one of the most unique takeovers following two GOATS – Lisa Bluder and then Caitlin.
JAN JENSEN, IOWA HEAD COACH
“Jan was one of my first calls. In just talking to her, I came to campus to be able to really see it, meet everybody. I think we just hit it off,” Barrett told Hoops HQ. “I think the winning tradition here, the culture, the standard here is something that definitely drew me. I can’t say enough about the community and the people — everywhere I go, everybody’s super nice and just super friendly.”
Jasmyn Walker, who was an assistant coach at George Washington last season, joined the Iowa staff after the departure of former Hawkeye Tania Davis, who joined the coaching staff in 2023.
Season ticket renewals recently went on sale for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign. While Jensen said she doesn’t know if they will sell out for a third straight season, odds are high that they will, given Iowa’s reputation and top recruits the program is now attracting.
Five-star class of 2026 wing McKenna Woliczko from Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., recently included Iowa in her final top four schools, including Ohio State, South Carolina and USC.
Iowa is also in the running for top 2027 prospects Kaleena Smith, a five-star guard from Ontario, Calif.; and guard and small forward Madi Mignery from Sarasota, Fla.
While Jensen acknowledges what the Caitlin Clark Effect has had on recruiting, she said Iowa has long had a solid reputation.
“The core that’s been there since we got hired in 2000, we’ve added a lot since then, but that core has just magnified, and I hope that we can continue, because it’s putting us in conversations with these top kids,” she added. “I think that was definitely Caitlin, but I do think it’s never just an overnight sensation. It’s kind of your reputation over the long haul.”
