Jan Jensen (basketball)

Jensen was born on December 6, 1968 in the small rural town of Kimballton, Iowa. 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. For her high school career, she was inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. She also ran track and played volleyball and softball in high school. == Playing career ==

College Jensen accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the Drake Bulldogs. In Jensen's senior season, Lisa Bluder became the head coach for Drake. 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." Jensen led Division I women's basketball in scoring that season, finishing with 29.6 ppg. College statistics {| class="wikitable" Professional Following her Drake career, Jensen played professional basketball in Europe. Playing for BTV 1846 Wuppertal in Germany in the 1992–93 season, she helped the club win the German Women's Basketball Cup. == Coaching career ==

Drake After her season in Germany, Jensen returned to Drake as a graduate assistant. Under Bluder and Jensen, Drake reached the Missouri Valley Conference tournament eight times and had five seasons with 20 or more wins. Although hesitant because Drake offered her the open head coaching position, Jensen ultimately decided to join Bluder's coaching staff at Iowa. In this role, Jensen functioned as Iowa's recruiting coordinator and additionally worked with the team's post players. Both players were named All-Americans and would impact the Hawkeyes greatly. The Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Tournament in 2022. The Hawkeyes advanced to the national championship game in the 2023 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, but lost to LSU. 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. 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. In her first season as head coach, Jensen led the Hawkeyes to a 23–11 record overall, going 10–8 in conference play. Jensen won the Maggie Dixon Award for her first-year coaching efforts. ==Head coaching record==

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead| ==Personal life==

Jensen graduated from Drake in 1991 with a degree in public relations and earned a master's degree in higher education in 1996. Since coming out, Jensen has stated "I've just never felt different here or hampered here [at Iowa]". In 2020, she received the LGBTQ Legacy Leader Award from dsm Magazine and the One Iowa Leadership Institute. Her brother died of a heart attack in February 2020. ==See also==