Back in May, Lisa Bluder announced her retirement from coaching after 40 years on the sidelines. Following success at St. Ambrose and Drake, Bluder spent the last 24 seasons of her career with Iowa, where she compiled a 528-254 record, became the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten history, won five Big Ten Tournament titles, earned a Naismith Coach of the Year honor and led the Hawkeyes to 18 NCAA Tournament appearances and two national championship games.
Along the way, she sent a number of players to the WNBA. Most notable among them, of course, was Caitlin Clark, who became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I history under Bluder and was later the first player from Iowa to be the No. 1 pick in either the NBA or WNBA Draft. Clark enjoyed a historic rookie season that culminated in Rookie of the Year and First Team All-WNBA honors. Most recently, Clark was named Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year for, in part, what she did to take women’s basketball to new heights.
CBS Sports caught up with Bluder this week to discuss her retirement, watching Iowa basketball as a fan, what it means to her to see women’s basketball thriving, Clark’s success and much, much more.
This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.
CBS Sports: How is retirement treating you and are you enjoying being out of the grind?
Lisa Bluder: It’s a different pace, for sure. Especially around the holidays, it was just like, check off, check off, check off, and now I’m really getting to enjoy the holidays and enjoy spending some time with my family. It’s a different feel. I like it though.
CBS Sports: Is there any part of you, now that the games have started, that wishes you were still out there?
Bluder: Oh gosh, you miss the competition. Who wouldn’t miss the competition? But at the same time, I know it was the right time to pass the torch to [current Iowa coach] Jan Jensen.
CBS Sports: You’re staying involved in the sport with this Gamechanger app, what is that all about?
Bluder: Gamechanger, I wish I would have had something like this when my kids were playing basketball, because it spoke to me as a parent. For example, as a coach, I was out watching everybody else’s kids play, I wasn’t able to watch my own children play. Gamechanger would give me an opportunity to stay connected and see those games easier. I wish I would have had that and a lot of people are in similar situations. This is just a great opportunity to connect with your children. As a coach, it was like having a built-in video coordinator for every youth team. That’s a luxury that us Division I coaches always have, but at the youth level you just don’t have that luxury.
CBS Sports: Speaking of watching your kids, I read in an interview you did this summer that you were excited to get to see your son [David] play at Grinnell this season. How have you enjoyed that?
Bluder: It’s been fun, being able to watch him at every one of his games. Good games, bad games, it doesn’t matter, mom and dad are there to support him. It just feels good to be there all the time. Before if I could get there, I’d be watching film on my iPad while the game was going on. Now I’m fully invested in him.
CBS Sports: Grinnell is famous for firing up 3-pointers. I’m sure you saw the Tennessee record the other day. Broadly speaking, 3-pointers have been a major talking point in basketball recently. For you as a former coach, what do you think of the 3-point trend?
Bluder:I love the 3-point shot. I love the spacing that it creates. I think it’s harder to guard, I think it’s exciting. You look at the Boston Celtics and what they’re doing with the 3-point shot. It has changed basketball and it will continue to do so.
CBS Sports: How do you think things might continue to change as that becomes the primary approach for so many players and coaches?
Bluder: I’ll talk about women’s first. With women, we don’t have as many big people to put inside. Go back 30 years ago and we used to run double-post offense. Well now, it’s hard to find a single post sometimes in the women’s game because a lot of them are going to volleyball — fortunately for volleyball, unfortunately for women’s basketball. So now a lot of people are playing five-out and I think it’s gonna continue to change the game, but I think it’s gonna happen at the youth level as well. They’re gonna understand that three is greater than two, and if you have an opportunity to get up more 3-point shots, statistically, if the right people are shooting them, and you’re capable of doing it, you have a better opportunity to win.
CBS Sports: With Iowa, how much are you keeping up on their season? And can you watch games as a fan, or are you still thinking like a coach?
Bluder: A little bit of all of that. Yes, I’m watching every single one of the games. The first couple of games that I went to that were in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, it almost felt like I was in a dream, like you’re watching it, like you can’t get to class on time, that’s almost how it felt. Like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m supposed to be there.’ It felt so unusual. It’s getting easier all the time. I don’t think you can ever watch a game as a former coach that did it for 40 years without being a little analytical. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch a game as a fan for the rest of my life.
CBS Sports: Have you reached out to Jan [Jensen] at all? Or have you tried to give her some space?
Bluder: I let her lead those conversations. If she wants to talk to me she can pick up the phone or we can go out to lunch, but I don’t want to insert myself. This is her opportunity and I don’t want her to think she has to run Lisa Bluder’s program. I want her to put her own touches onto the Iowa Hawkeyes. But I’m absolutely gonna be here anytime that she needs me.
CBS Sports: You’ve talked before about the surge in popularity of women’s basketball, and you and Iowa have played a big part in that. Now that you’re a bit removed, have you had a chance to reflect on that and what it means to you?
Bluder: Yeah, I have had a little bit of time. I’ve watched women’s basketball since 1972 when Title IX was passed until now, 53 years later. To me it means a lot. It’s emotional for me because of the growth, because this is what we always wanted for our sport. This is what we were striving for: the respect, the TV, the revenue, the fan support. It’s there now, and I think I appreciate it more because I’ve seen the growth, I’ve seen it happen over time and how hard we worked to have it happen. So it’s exciting for me. When we had the Crossover at Kinnick [Iowa played DePaul in an exhibition game in the school’s football stadium on Oct. 15, 2023] and we had over 55,000 people come and broke the attendance record for women’s basketball, I had women in the stands with tears running down their cheeks because they got to see the support, they got to see the love for women’s basketball, and they wish they would have had that opportunity. It’s very rewarding for me to see it all the way through.
CBS Sports: That’s really cool. Just personally, even from covering your games in Madison against Wisconsin, there were so many more people there in Caitlin’s senior season than in her junior season. It was like an army of little kids in Iowa shirts. It was awesome to see.
Bluder: It really is, and that’s what you want. You want good role models in sports. You want good role models in television. I think our team was that. I think Caitlin was that. I’m just so glad that people are paying attention now and understanding the value of women’s sports.
CBS Sports: You mentioned Caitlin. What was it like, after coaching her for so many years, to watch her from afar and see everything she did for the Indiana Fever last season?
Bluder: So proud of her. What she’s able to handle. They had a really rough start. They were playing the best competition, they had no prep time, they were playing on the road. To weather that, and then during that break to rejuvenate — physically and mentally — and come back and play so well that she becomes Rookie of the Year, First Team, and then Time Athlete of the Year. What can she not do? It’s absolutely amazing to me. Continue to be proud of her, but I believe she’s only gonna continue to get better.
CBS Sports: The Fever have now brought in Stephanie White as their new coach. How do you think Stephanie can help Caitlin take the next step?
Bluder: Well, I think Stephanie, as a pro coach, probably saw her more than anybody because she was also doing television and she had a lot of our games. So she knew Caitlin better than all the other coaches, and I think she respected Caitlin more than the other coaches who hadn’t been around her as much. Caitlin always told me that she thought Coach White defended her better than anybody else in the pros. I know that Caitlin has great respect for Stephanie White and I just think that, knowing both of their personalities, that they’re going to mesh really well.
CBS Sports: Yeah, I saw in the Time coverage that Stephanie had a multi-page scouting report just for Caitlin last season.
Bluder: And that will make Caitlin respect Stephanie right off the bat, so I think it’s gonna be a good relationship.
CBS Sports: Caitlin obviously isn’t the only former player you have in the WNBA. I’m curious if you’ve talked to Kate Martin at all about the expansion draft experience. [Martin was selected by the Golden State Valkyries.]
Bluder: And let’s not forget about Megan Gustafson, who is still playing for the Aces. With Kate, I’m very excited for her. She was really looking for this opportunity. The [Valkyries’] coach [Natalie Nakase] came from the Aces and Kate had a good relationship with her when she was on the Aces. So I think in the back of her mind she was hoping that she would be selected to go. She looks at this as a new opportunity to start again and I know she is working really, really hard to make the most of this opportunity. And she’ll also be playing in the Unrivaled league.
CBS Sports: Yeah, that’s really interesting. What do you make of Unrivaled? It’s still competitive, but it’s just such a different experience than regular basketball.
Bluder: It’s a different environment, but what I see as the benefits for the players is they’re not gonna go overseas, which nobody wants to go overseas — safety wise, being away from your family, all of the reasons. But second, they’re also going to be able to play against the best players in the world. Here you are, every day, for 10 weeks in the winter, instead of playing in some obscure place, you’re playing against the best players and getting better because of that. I think it also generates excitement for the W in a down time for them. So I see so many advantages to this. Yes, it’s a different game, but it allows people to work on different skills that they might not have time to during the WNBA season.
CBS Sports: Did you expect that Caitlin would want to take a break and not participate in Unrivaled?
Bluder: Yeah, it didn’t surprise me, just because of our conversations. She just really needed some time. Just like the Olympic break gave her some time to rejuvenate mentally, emotionally, physically, she needs this one. She’s been going hard for a long, long time. I think this will do her good and I think that she’ll go back into the W season ready to go and with a little bit more fire from taking this break.
CBS Sports: OK, I have just a few more quick ones for you. Is there a college team you enjoy watching that you don’t think gets enough recognition?
Bluder: Well they do get the recognition, but I’m really enjoying watching Notre Dame right now. I love their guard play. I’m really watching them. And then Oklahoma also. One of my former players, Jennie Baranczyk, who played for me at Iowa is the head coach there. Offensive juggernaut. They do so well scoring and I’m really happy for her. Those are a few teams I enjoy watching besides the Iowa Hawkeyes.
CBS Sports: Is there any rule change you would make if you could implement one in the college game?
Bluder: I just think I would have the officials call every single little travel. I think it gets on everybody’s nerves. Like somebody just moves their foot just a smidge and they’re calling traveling. If there’s no advantage gained — if you watch the men’s game, the pro game, they’re not calling those as travels. I think it slows our game down and makes it too many turnovers. That’s one thing I would like is for our officials to not call that.
CBS Sports: And lastly, if you could choose a city to bring a WNBA expansion franchise to, where would it be?
Bluder: Des Moines, Iowa. That’s a no brainer.
