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Jan Jensen (basketball)

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Jan Jensen
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamIowa
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record2–0 (1.000)
Biographical details
BornKimballton, Iowa, U.S.
Playing career
1987–1991Drake
Position(s)Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1993–2000Drake (assistant)
2000–2024Iowa (Associate HC)
2024–presentIowa
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As assistant coach:
Awards
As player:

As coach:

Jan Jensen is an American college basketball coach and former basketball player. Jensen currently serves as the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes women's team. She spent her playing career at Drake, where she led NCAA Division I women's in scoring in 1990–91.

Early life

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Jensen was born in the small rural town of Kimballton, Iowa.[1] Basketball played a large part in Jensen's family background. Her grandmother, Dorcas Andersen, was part of a team that won the Iowa state basketball tournament in 1921.[2] The team played a brand of 6-on-6 basketball that saw popularity in rural Iowa – a popularity uncommon for women's sports during this time period.[2] The local newspaper dubbed Andersen "Lottie" in reference to her scoring "a lot of points."[2]

Jensen played high school basketball at Elk Horn–Kimballton High School.[1] As a senior, she led the country with 66 points per game (ppg) in 1987.[1] For her high school career, she was inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.[3] She also ran track and played volleyball and softball in high school.[1]

College career

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Jensen accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the Drake Bulldogs.[2] In Jensen's senior season, Lisa Bluder became the head coach for Drake.[4] Jensen was initially skeptical of Bluder's hiring, stating "It's kind of, are you kidding me, right? New coach. I'm a senior. And then it ended up being really the best thing. She was just tremendous. She was really just a player's coach and intense but knew how to make it fun. Obviously, it benefited me."[5] Jensen led Division I women's basketball in scoring that season, finishing with 29.6 ppg.[5] For the season, she was also named a Kodak Honorable Mention All-American, a member of the All-Gateway team, and the GTE Academic All-American Player of the Year.[3]

In 2007, the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) named Jensen as one of the 35 greatest players in conference history, listing her on the MVC women's basketball All-Centennial Team as part of the conference's 100th anniversary.[6]

Professional career

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Following her Drake career, Jensen played professional basketball in Europe.[2] Playing for BTV-Wuppertal in Germany from 1992 to 1993, she helped the club win the German Club Championship.[3]

College statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage
 FT%  Free throw percentage  RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high  *  Led Division I

College

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1987–88 Drake 25 - - 41.7 25.0 70.8 3.7 0.7 0.4 0.1 - 5.8
1988–89 Drake 27 - - 53.4 33.3 67.2 7.3 1.9 1.4 0.1 - 16.2
1989–90 Drake 26 - - 52.4 9.1 74.1 7.9 1.5 1.5 0.1 - 20.2
1990–91 Drake 30 - - 57.2 35.3 82.6 8.6 2.0 1.5 0.1 - *29.6
Career 108 - - 53.5 23.7 77.2 6.9 1.5 1.2 0.1 - 18.5
Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[7]

Coaching career

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Drake

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After her season in Germany, Jensen returned to Drake as a graduate assistant.[5] Jensen joined Bluder's coaching staff following her playing career.[3] Under Bluder and Jensen, Drake reached the Missouri Valley Conference tournament eight times and had five seasons with 20 or more wins.[8] Jensen served as Bluder's first assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Drake.[3] Bluder and Jensen also worked with Jenni Fitzgerald, who has served as special assistant to the head coach.[8]

Iowa

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When Bluder was offered the head coaching position for Iowa's women's basketball program in 2000, she asked Jensen and Fitzgerald to accompany her at Iowa.[8] Although hesitant because Drake offered her the open head coaching position, Jensen ultimately decided to join Bluder's coaching staff at Iowa.[8]

In 2004, she began serving as Iowa's associate head coach.[9] In this role, Jensen serves as Iowa's recruiting coordinator and additionally works with the team's post players.[9] Jensen played a key role in recruiting Megan Gustafson and Caitlin Clark to Iowa.[4][10] Both players were named All-Americans and would impact the Hawkeyes greatly.[4] Under her tutelage at Iowa, nine post players have been named All-Big Ten players, including Gustafson and Monika Czinano, who also was named an All-American.[11]

The Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Tournament in 2022.[10] In March 2023, Jensen received the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Assistant Coach of the Year award for Division I coaches.[12] The Hawkeyes advanced to the national championship game in the 2023 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, but lost to LSU.[13] The following season, the Hawkeyes once again had a successful season, winning the 2024 Big Ten women's basketball tournament and finishing as runners-up in the 2024 March Madness tournament. They lost that year's national championship game to South Carolina.[14]

She was announced as Lisa Bluder's successor when Bluder announced her immediate retirement on May 13, 2024. Jensen was formally introduced as the P. Sue Beckwith, MD Head Women's Basketball Coach at a press conference on campus at the University of Iowa on May 15, 2024, with Lisa Bluder in attendance. It was announced that the remainder of the staff would remain intact.[15]

Personal life

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Jensen graduated from Drake in 1991 with a degree in public relations and earned a master's degree in higher education in 1996.[3]

Jensen is openly gay, though at one point she considered leaving the Drake program in the 1990s out of fear that coming out would hurt the program.[16] Since coming out, Jensen has stated "I've just never felt different here or hampered here [at Iowa]".[16] She is married to Julie Fitzpatrick who is a physical therapist and also a maternal aunt to former University of Iowa basketball player, Kate Martin[16][17][18] In 2020, she received the LGBTQ Legacy Leader Award from dsm Magazine and the One Iowa Leadership Institute.[16] Together, Jensen and Fitzpatrick have two children.

In her local community, Jensen is a leader of the United Way of Johnson County and is also involved with Shelter House, an organization that helps people move past homelessness.[16] For her community volunteering efforts, Drake awarded her the "Double D" award, presented to Drake letterwinners for achievements following their graduation from Drake.[3]

Jensen's mother and father died during Iowa's national tournament runs in 2015 and 2023, respectively.[19] Her brother died of a heart attack in February 2020.[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Bain, Matthew (October 30, 2017). "Drake standout, Iowa associate head coach joins Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e Merrill, Elizabeth (March 31, 2022). "Fifty/50: Iowa high school girls' 6-on-6 basketball still beloved". ESPN. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Jan Jensen". University of Iowa Athletics. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Brown, Rick (December 14, 2022). "Jan Jensen Reveals Keys to Lisa Bluder's Success". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Dochterman, Scott (March 10, 2023). "How Iowa coach Lisa Bluder's loyalty and longevity have made Hawkeyes into a winner". The Athletic. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  6. ^ "MVC Recognizes Women's Basketball 35 Greatest Players". Missouri Valley Conference. March 6, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  7. ^ "Jan Jensen College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d Peterson, Chloe (March 31, 2023). "As a longtime assistant, Jan Jensen loves where she is with Iowa women's basketball". The Daily Iowan. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Helmer, Josh (March 22, 2023). "Iowa's Jan Jensen named Division I recipient of WBCA's Assistant Coach of the Year". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Bohnenkamp, John (February 27, 2022). "No. 21 Iowa shares Big Ten title with win over Michigan". Associated Press. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  11. ^ Saville, Scott (March 22, 2023). "Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen is the 'Post Whisperer.' How does she do it?". KCRG. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  12. ^ Siebring, Owen (March 21, 2023). "Jan Jensen named D1 Assistant Coach of the Year". KGAN. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  13. ^ Rosenberg, Michael (April 2, 2023). "Officiating Didn't Cost Iowa the Title, but There's Still Plenty of Cause for Frustration". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  14. ^ Steppe, John (April 7, 2024). "Watch Iowa women's basketball postgame interviews after loss to South Carolina in national championship game". The Gazette. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  15. ^ Owens, Jason (May 13, 2024). "Iowa women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder retires; longtime assistant Jan Jensen to take over". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d e Goffin, Isaac (June 30, 2020). "Receiving LGBTQ Legacy Leader Award a 'moment of gratitude' for Iowa's Jan Jensen". The Daily Iowan. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  17. ^ Bain, Matthew (May 1, 2017). "6-foot Illinois guard Kate Martin commits to Iowa's Class of 2018". Hawk Central.
  18. ^ Allen, Olivia (April 7, 2024). "Kate Martin's sixth grade letter to herself was about playing for the Hawkeyes". Quad-City Times.
  19. ^ a b Peterson, Chloe (April 1, 2023). "'They have gotten every angel on the fence on our side': Through loss, Jan Jensen keeps coaching in NCAA Tournament". The Daily Iowan. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
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