Lisa Bluder

Lisa Bluder

Sport(s)	Women's Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Iowa
Conference	Big Ten
Record	317–179
Biographical details
Born	April 16, 1961 Marion, Iowa
Playing career
1979–1983	Northern Iowa
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1984–1990	St. Ambrose
1990–2000	Drake
2000–present	Iowa
Head coaching record
Overall	674–320
Medal record Women’s Basketball Assistant Coach for  United States World University Games 2001 Beijing, China National Team Head Coach for  United States Pan American Games 2015 Toronto, Canada National Team

Lisa Bluder (born April 16, 1961)^[1] is the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball program. She is an alumna of the University of Northern Iowa, 1983 and Linn-Mar High School, 1979.

Coaching career

St. Ambrose University

She began her coaching career at St. Ambrose University, where she coached six successful seasons building the Bees into an NAIA powerhouse. During her tenure at St. Ambrose, she recorded a 169-36 (.824) mark and guided the Bees to four straight national tournaments, including two consecutive Final Four appearances. The 1990 St. Ambrose team was ranked No. 1 and she was named the NAIA Converse Coach of the Year.

Drake University

Bluder has compiled a 187-106 (.638) record at Drake in 10 seasons and a 169-36 (.824) record in six seasons at NAIA St. Ambrose University. She currently sits 39th in career winning percentage (.692) for Division I active coaches.

She is also committed to her team's academic success. She coached two Academic All-America Players of the Year in current Hawkeye Associate Head Coach Jan Jensen (1991) and Tricia Wakely (1996). As a team, the Bulldogs ranked fourth in 1995 graduation rate success among teams ranked in the USA Today/CNN final top-25 Coaches' Poll. In 2004 and 2012, a team record eight student athletes were named to the academic all-Big Ten team. Student athletes who have played under her have a 100 percent job placement following their career, and all of her recruited athletes have earned their degree.

University of Iowa

Bluder, alongside her husband David and daughter Hannah, was introduced as the Hawkeyes' fifth head coach in front of a packed press room in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on April 7, 2000. The native of Marion, IA, came to Iowa after spending 10 successful seasons at Drake University.

Bluder is in her 15th season as head women's basketball coach at the University of Iowa. Under her direction, the Hawkeyes have advanced to postseason play in 14 of 15 seasons (12 NCAA and 2 WNIT). Bluder is the dean of Big Ten coaches and has posted a 304-173 record at Iowa and her 31-year record stands at 660-315. Her 304 wins at Iowa are the most of any Hawkeye women's basketball coach, passing Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer (269 wins).

Bluder is a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year (2001, 2008 and 2010) and two-time WBCA Regional Coach of the Year (2001 and 2008). She has guided Iowa to a winning record in 14 of her 15 years at Iowa, including 11 upper-division finishes in the challenging Big Ten Conference. Bluder has led Iowa to nine 20-win seasons in her 15 years, including the last three years in a row.

Bluder had one of her most successful seasons in 2010-11, leading Iowa to a 22-9 overall record and a third place finish in the Big Ten at 10-6. Iowa's overall win/loss record in 2010-11 was the best for an Iowa team since the 1995-96 campaign. The Hawkeyes were nationally ranked for 14 weeks during the season, reaching No. 14 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 13 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Iowa received an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight season.

Career milestones

She has reached five coaching milestones while coaching Iowa. During her first season, she collected her 200th victory at the Division I level when the Hawkeyes defeated Minnesota. She garnered win No. 300 at the Division I level with Iowa's regular season finale win over Indiana in 2006. During her third season, she captured career win No. 400 in Iowa's triumph over Iowa State and victory No. 450 when Iowa topped Creighton in the first round of the WNIT. During the '07-'08 season her Hawkeyes defeated Penn State on February 10 to give Coach Bluder career win No. 500. When Iowa beat Purdue on January 20, 2013 Coach Bluder made that her Career win No. 600.^[2]

USA Basketball

Bluder was the head coach of the U.S.A. women's basketball team at the 2015 Pan American Games. The event was held in Toronto, Canada from July 16-20, 2015. Bluder's USA team had a strong roster, including 2015 All-Americans Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, and Tiffany Mitchell.^[3] The USA team secured a 75-69 win over Brazil in its opening game, followed by a lopsided 94-55 win over Dominican Republic in the second round. In its final preliminary round game, the USA outscored Puerto Rico 93-77 to secure a number one seed heading into the medal semifinals. Bluder's team survived a close semi-final game against Cuba with a 65-64 win that advanced the USA into the gold medal game. The USA team led Canada in the championship game by as much as 11 points early on, but a strong third quarter by Canada gave them the lead, and an eventual 81-73 win over the USA women. Bluder and her team returned home from Toronto with a silver medal.^[4]

Bluder served as an assistant coach of the USA representative to the 1999 World University Games (also known as the Universiade). The event was held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The USA team opened with a 134–37 win over South Africa. The second game was against Canada, which the USA team lost in a close match 68–67. The USA could not afford to lose another game if they wished to win a medal, and won the next game against Japan 106–66. The USA next faced undefeated Russia, and fell behind by twelve points at halftime, but came back and won the game 79–68. The USA fell behind in their next game against undefeated China, but rallied and went on to win 89–78. The USA then beat Brazil to advance to the semi-final, where they faced Lithuania. The game was not close, with the USA winning 70–49. That set up a rematch with China, on their home court with 18,000 spectators. The USA only had a four point lead at halftime, but did better in the second half, and won 87–69 to claim the gold medal. Ayana Walker set a World University Games record with 19 rebounds in the game. Walker was the leading scorer and rebounder for the USA team with 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.^[5]

Head coaching record

Drake was awarded a forfeit victory over Valparaiso during the 1995–96 season due to Valparaiso's use of an ineligible player. Drake originally lost that game 79–80.^[6] Drake recognizes that game as a victory, but the NCAA does not, thus the NCAA statistics database includes a record of 15–4 for that year.^[7][8]

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
St. Ambrose () (1984–1990)
1984–85	St. Ambrose	18–13
1985–86	St. Ambrose	20–12
1986–87	St. Ambrose	29–3
1987–88	St. Ambrose	32–5
1988–89	St. Ambrose	36–2
1989–90	St. Ambrose	34–1
St. Ambrose:		169–36 (.824)
Drake Bulldogs (Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference) (1990–1993)
1990–91	Drake	13–17	10–8	4th
1991–92	Drake	11–15	7–11	T–6th
1992–93	Drake	15–13	8–8	T–4th
Drake:		39-45 (.464)	25–27 (.481)
Drake Bulldogs (Missouri Valley Conference) (1993–2000)
1993–94	Drake	16–12	8–8	5th
1994–95	Drake	25–6	13–5	T–2nd	NCAA Second Round
1995–96	Drake	16–13	10–8	T–4th
1996–97	Drake	23–7	14–4	1st	NCAA First Round
1997–98	Drake	25–5	17–1	1st	NCAA First Round
1998–99	Drake	21–10	14–4	2nd	WNIT Semifinals
1999–00	Drake	23–7	15–3	1st	NCAA First Round
Drake:		188–105 (.642)	91–33 (.734)
Iowa Hawkeyes (Big Ten Conference) (2000–present)
2000–01	Iowa	21–10	12–4	2nd	NCAA Second Round
2001–02	Iowa	18–11	10–6	4th	NCAA Second Round
2002–03	Iowa	18–15	6–10	7th	WNIT Third Round
2003–04	Iowa	16–13	10–6	T–4th	WNIT First Round
2004–05	Iowa	23–10	8–8	6th	WNIT Semifinals
2005–06	Iowa	17–12	10–6	5th	NCAA First Round
2006–07	Iowa	14–16	6–10	9th
2007–08	Iowa	21–11	13–5	T–1st	NCAA First Round
2008–09	Iowa	21–11	13–5	T–2nd	NCAA First Round
2009–10	Iowa	20–14	10–8	3rd	NCAA Second Round
2010–11	Iowa	22–9	10–6	3rd	NCAA First Round
2011–12	Iowa	19–12	11–5	T–2nd	NCAA First Round
2012–13	Iowa	21–13	8–8	7th	NCAA Second Round
2013–14	Iowa	27–9	11–5	T–4th	NCAA Second Round
2014–15	Iowa	26–8	14–4	2nd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2015–16	Iowa	19–14	8–10	T–9th	WNIT First Round
Iowa:		323–188 (.632)	160–106 (.602)
Total:		680–329 (.674)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. "Women's Basketball Coaches Career". NCAA. Retrieved 24 Sep 2015.
2. "Aggressiveness+Confidence=Milestone". hawkeyesports.com. Jan 20, 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
3. "Stewart, Loyd top All-America team". ESPN. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
4. "Seventeenth Pan American Games - 2015". USA Basketball. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
5. "TWENTIETH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES -- 2001". USA Basketball. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
6. http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/WBB1/Women%27s%20Basketball_Women%27s_Division%20I_1996_189_Drake%20University.pdf#page=2
7. "Final 1996 Division I Women's Basketball Statistics Report" (PDF). http://web1.ncaa.org/. Retrieved 1 Sep 2015. External link in |website= (help)
8. "Drake Media Guide". Retrieved 1 Sep 2015.