Because the victim does not want it plastered all over the internet . Geesh. They don’t want to bury the Pierre part
Lisa Bluder Retires
- Thread starter Lewey24
- Start date
Because the victim does not want it plastered all over the internet . Geesh. They don’t want to bury the Pierre part
Very odd career. As others have noted, her career pre the last 2 seasons is pretty underwhelming. Decent, maybe, but all in all no more impressive than her current men's team counterpart, and not more impressive than Fennellys tenure at ISU. It is strange that you can make an argument for her to be a legend based off of recruiting a generational if not better type of talent in Cc and cashing in on that talent with 2 Final 4s/Runners up. On the other hand, it isn't like these past 2 Iowa teams were chalk full of talent. It was Clark and a big who's who both seasons. I know Kate Martin is making a WNBA roster which is an impressive feat, but does anyone think she will stick very long?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do think you can consider her a legend at the university of Iowa, albeit a strange path and career to garnering that prestige for sure. I'm guessing nowhere near that type of legacy without Clark, but that isn't how the story was written. If Fennelly makes it to a Final 4 before he hangs it up I'm sure ISU fans would consider him an ISU legend also.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do think you can consider her a legend at the university of Iowa, albeit a strange path and career to garnering that prestige for sure. I'm guessing nowhere near that type of legacy without Clark, but that isn't how the story was written. If Fennelly makes it to a Final 4 before he hangs it up I'm sure ISU fans would consider him an ISU legend also.
There's no doubt Blunder hit the lottery when she landed Clark, and I'm guessing she figured it would be best to retire before those days of mediocrity returned, especially since expectations for Iowa women's basketball are now so much higher.
I have to tip my hat, though. There aren't many college coaches who get to leave on their own terms, and she was wise enough to know when the time was right.
You don't think ISU or "insert school name here" wouldn't have done the same? BFD. Just be happy for her.
Great players make coaches look good... no doubt about that. Happens in every single sport. Superstar players can make a good coach into a great coach. Bluder was one of many coaches to benefit from that. Good for her. Hope she has a nice retirement.
It sounds like to me she didn't really want to do a rebuild, so go out when you are on top.
It will be interesting to see if Jensen can hold on to their 2025 recruits.
For Iowa's sake, they'd better hope this pans out better than the last time they promoted an assistant women's basketball coach to head coach. When Vivian left, and they promoted Angie Lee, the first year was great, then it slowly went downhill, and eventually Lee resigned.
Maybe I have missed this but are universities really naming their jobs after donors? I noticed both of these in reading about Bluder. Can we just say AD and women’s basketball coach?
Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie Director of Athletics Chair Beth Goetz
Jan Jensen into the P. Sue Beckwith, MD Head Women’s Basketball Coach position
Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie Director of Athletics Chair Beth Goetz
Jan Jensen into the P. Sue Beckwith, MD Head Women’s Basketball Coach position
Pretty similar career numbers:
Bill Fennelly
Born: May 14, 1957Alma Mater: William Penn (1979)
Career Record (major schools): 36 Years, 777-366, .680 W-L%
Schools: Toledo (166-53) and Iowa State (611-313)
Conference Champion: 4 Times (Reg. Seas.), 6 Times (Tourn.)
NCAA Tournament: 25 Years (24-25), 0 Final Fours, 0 Championships
Lisa Bluder
Born: April 16, 1961Alma Mater: Northern Iowa (1983)
Career Record (major schools): 34 Years, 716-359, .666 W-L%
Schools: Drake (188-105) and Iowa (528-254)
Conference Champion: 5 Times (Reg. Seas.), 9 Times (Tourn.)
NCAA Tournament: 22 Years (24-22), 2 Final Fours, 0 Championships
But every time Bluder is mentioned they say 800+ wins due to them adding in from the lower divisions. A little misleading when they compare her win # to CBF.
I'm guessing it's similar to professorships. A rich alum creates an endowment to partially or fully fund the position and they attach their name to it. I don't know exactly how the financials work, but I imagine U of I doesn't have the foot the entire salary from the annual budget, they have an endowment they can dip into. I know in the engineering department at ISU, there are several professors with similar titles "Bob Anderson - James A. Smith Professor of Civil Engineering"
Yes, incredibly similar. The CC era is literally Bluder's only reason for any slight edge (Conf. Champions, Final 4's)
The ESPN push notification I got last night credited her for 528 I believe. Not sure where these other 300+ are coming from.
Edited: must not have included the Drake wins at the very least. Even still that would only be 716
And Fennelly took over a program with absolutely nothing when he came to ISU.
Bluder took over Iowa, and there was a history of winning there.
For as good as CC was at UI, I will forever insist that Bluder was holding her back at critical moments and when it DID work out for UI it was more due to CC overcoming Bluder/circumstances with brute force rather than anything else.
For instance, one of the primary reasons they lost the national championship game was Cardoso dominating inside with blocks and offensive rebounds since no one on Iowa could even remotely compare to that size advantage. Early in the game Cardoso was switching onto CC every possession and CC was just heaving 3s and forcing passes. A good coach would have explicitly instructed CC to force the switch and immediately drive into Cardoso and create contact every single possession to get her in foul trouble and off the court. Also, there were numerous times throughout the season where CC disappeared and the rest of the team blew it (or nearly blew it) - Nebraska 4th quarter is what immediately comes to mind, although there were others too. A good coach would have found a way to either get her some rest if she was ineffective due to tiredness, or structured some offensive movement to get her more involved. Too many times in those games there were possessions where she didn't even touch the ball, and there was absolutely no excuse for that. She WAS the team. Take CC away and the remainder would have struggled to make the tournament let alone go far.
Finally, there were many fundamentals CC excelled at... and some fundamentals she also consistently struggled with that should have been improved through coaching over the course of 4 years. For instance, CC was just plain bad at rubbing shoulders to use a screen effectively. She would consistently leave a 2-3 feet gap for the defender to get through. Then she'd shake and bake and make a flashy contested shot that could have been much easier. Maybe CC WAS coached on those things and they just didn't sink in. If that's the case, it's still on the coach for not following through and enforcing the lesson.
So all in all, either Bluder was plain out of her league managing CC or wasn't all that good strategically. Either way, I don't think Bluder leaving really hurts UI at all on the court. They won't have the anywhere near the short term success purely because CC is now gone, but I think they will now be better coached and (unfortunately for us) more sustainably dangerous in the long run.
For instance, one of the primary reasons they lost the national championship game was Cardoso dominating inside with blocks and offensive rebounds since no one on Iowa could even remotely compare to that size advantage. Early in the game Cardoso was switching onto CC every possession and CC was just heaving 3s and forcing passes. A good coach would have explicitly instructed CC to force the switch and immediately drive into Cardoso and create contact every single possession to get her in foul trouble and off the court. Also, there were numerous times throughout the season where CC disappeared and the rest of the team blew it (or nearly blew it) - Nebraska 4th quarter is what immediately comes to mind, although there were others too. A good coach would have found a way to either get her some rest if she was ineffective due to tiredness, or structured some offensive movement to get her more involved. Too many times in those games there were possessions where she didn't even touch the ball, and there was absolutely no excuse for that. She WAS the team. Take CC away and the remainder would have struggled to make the tournament let alone go far.
Finally, there were many fundamentals CC excelled at... and some fundamentals she also consistently struggled with that should have been improved through coaching over the course of 4 years. For instance, CC was just plain bad at rubbing shoulders to use a screen effectively. She would consistently leave a 2-3 feet gap for the defender to get through. Then she'd shake and bake and make a flashy contested shot that could have been much easier. Maybe CC WAS coached on those things and they just didn't sink in. If that's the case, it's still on the coach for not following through and enforcing the lesson.
So all in all, either Bluder was plain out of her league managing CC or wasn't all that good strategically. Either way, I don't think Bluder leaving really hurts UI at all on the court. They won't have the anywhere near the short term success purely because CC is now gone, but I think they will now be better coached and (unfortunately for us) more sustainably dangerous in the long run.
She won a ton of games while at Ambrose in Davenport to start her coaching career.
