Jan Jensen, Associate Head Coach of Iowa Women's Basketball Team. Leadership Matters!

Profiles in Leadership

Jan Jensen is in her 24th season with the Iowa women’s basketball team and her 20th as associate head coach. Jensen has helped guide Iowa to 20 postseason appearances, including 17 NCAA Tournament berths. With Jensen on staff, the Hawkeyes have claimed four Big Ten Tournament and two Big Ten Regular Season titles. Most recently, Jensen and the Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Tournament Championship in 2023 and made it to the Final Four and competed in the Championship Game, becoming the 2023 NCAA National Runner Up.

A nationally-known presence on the recruiting trail, she serves as the recruiting coordinator and also works with the post players. Under her tutelage, ten Hawkeyes have claimed a total of 20 All-Big Ten honors, including seven first team selections. Jensen also guided Megan Gustafson to the first consensus National Player of the Year honor in Big Ten history. Jensen was also integral in recruiting current Hawkeye star, Caitlin Clark. Clarkholds numerous National Point Guard of the Year awards, All American honors, B1G Ten Player of the Year awards and was most recently named the unanimous 2023 National Player of the Year.

The Kimballton, Iowa, native Jensen graduated from Drake in 1991 with a degree in Public Relations. She left as one of the most prolific women’s basketball players in Drake history and is one of only two Bulldog student-athletes to have her number retired in the Knapp Center.

Off the court, Jensen is active in her community. Jensen has co-chaired record-setting United Way Fundraising campaigns, served on the boards of the United Way, Shelterhouse and Iowa City Community School District Foundation. Her recognitions include the 2007 United Way Volunteer of the Year, a Corridor Business Journal Woman of Influence in 2014, and was one of five honorees to receive the 2020 LGBTQ Legacy Leadership award by Des Moines Magazine and One Iowa.

Jensen is a sought-after speaker that uses her unique experiences as a former athlete, current coach, and busy mom to engage and motivate audiences from sports arenas to corporate board rooms, to any town hall, or banquet venue. She and her spouse, Julie Fitzpatrick, have a son, Jack, and a daughter, Janie