Jan Jensen (basketball)

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

Jensen was born 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. 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. The local newspaper dubbed Andersen "Lottie" in reference to her scoring "a lot of points."

Jensen played high school basketball at Elk Horn–Kimballton High School. As a senior, she led the country with 66 points per game (ppg) in 1987. 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.

College career

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. 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.

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.

Professional career

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

Coaching career

Drake

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

Iowa

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

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

The Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Tournament in 2022. In March 2023, Jensen received the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Assistant Coach of the Year award for Division I coaches. 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.

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.

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.

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. Since coming out, Jensen has stated "I've just never felt different here or hampered here t Iowa. 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 In 2020, she received the LGBTQ Legacy Leader Award from ''dsm'' Magazine and the One Iowa Leadership Institute. 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. For her community volunteering efforts, Drake awarded her the "Double D" award, presented to Drake letterwinners for achievements following their graduation from Drake.

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

See also

*List of NCAA Division I women's basketball season scoring leaders

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Jan
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American expatriate basketball people in Germany
American lesbian sportswomen
American women's basketball coaches
American women's basketball players
Basketball coaches from Iowa
Basketball players from Iowa
Drake Bulldogs women's basketball coaches
Drake Bulldogs women's basketball players
Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball coaches
LGBT basketball players
LGBT people from Iowa
People from Audubon County, Iowa