Jan Jensen (basketball)

Jensen was born on December 6, 1968 in the small rural town of Kimballton, Iowa.^[1][2][3] 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.^[4] 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.^[4] The local newspaper dubbed Andersen "Lottie" in reference to her scoring "a lot of points."^[4]

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.^[5] She also ran track and played volleyball and softball in high school.^[1]

Jensen accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the Drake Bulldogs.^[4] In Jensen's senior season, Lisa Bluder became the head coach for Drake.^[6] 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."^[7] Jensen led Division I women's basketball in scoring that season, finishing with 29.6 ppg.^[7] 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.^[5]

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.^[8]

Following her Drake career, Jensen played professional basketball in Europe.^[4] Playing for BTV 1846 Wuppertal in Germany in the 1992–93 season, she helped the club win the German Women's Basketball Cup.^[5]

After her season in Germany, Jensen returned to Drake as a graduate assistant.^[7] Jensen joined Bluder's coaching staff following her playing career.^[5] Under Bluder and Jensen, Drake reached the Missouri Valley Conference tournament eight times and had five seasons with 20 or more wins.^[10] Jensen served as Bluder's first assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Drake.^[5] Bluder and Jensen also worked with Jenni Fitzgerald, who served as a special assistant to Bluder.^[10]

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.^[10] Although hesitant because Drake offered her the open head coaching position, Jensen ultimately decided to join Bluder's coaching staff at Iowa.^[10]

In 2004, she began serving as Iowa's associate head coach.^[11] In this role, Jensen functioned as Iowa's recruiting coordinator and additionally worked with the team's post players.^[11] Jensen played a key role in recruiting Megan Gustafson and Caitlin Clark to Iowa.^[6][12] Both players were named All-Americans and would impact the Hawkeyes greatly.^[6] 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.^[13]

The Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Tournament in 2022.^[12] In March 2023, Jensen received the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Assistant Coach of the Year award for Division I coaches.^[14] The Hawkeyes advanced to the national championship game in the 2023 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, but lost to LSU.^[15] 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.^[16]

Bluder announced her retirement on May 13, 2024, with Jensen being announced as her successor. Jensen was formally introduced at a press conference on campus on May 15, with Bluder in attendance. It was announced that the remainder of the staff would remain intact.^[17] In her first season as head coach, Jensen led the Hawkeyes to a 23–11 record overall, going 10–8 in conference play.^[18] Jensen won the Maggie Dixon Award for her first-year coaching efforts.^[18]