Inside The Hawkeyes

Iowa's Jan Jensen Snubbed for B1G Coach of the Year

The Iowa Hawkeyes didn't end up with the conference's top coach of the year.
Jordon Lawrenz|
Iowa Hawkeyes women' basketball head coach Jan Jensen watches during the first quarter against Iowa State in the NCAA women’s basketball Cy-Hawk Series on Dec. 10, 2025, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
Iowa Hawkeyes women' basketball head coach Jan Jensen watches during the first quarter against Iowa State in the NCAA women’s basketball Cy-Hawk Series on Dec. 10, 2025, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In this story:

Iowa Hawkeyes

Second year head coach Jan Jensen guided a young, relatively in-experienced Iowa Hawkeyes squad to the No. 2 seed in the B1G tournament.

There aren't many teams in the conference that rely on sophomores and freshman as much as Iowa does. Michigan is up there, but UCLA certainly is not. Fresh off being named USBWA Coach of the Year and Naismith Women's' College Coach of the Year in 2025, Bruins' Cori Close was named B1G Coach of the Year.

While the Bruins certainly had the better record, that doesn't mean everything. Sure, Iowa got embarrased by UCLA, but that doesn't directly mean Close deserved this honor over Jensen.

Making a Strong Case for Jan Jensen

Jensen's leading scorer is Ava Heiden, a sophomore who is in contender for B1G Player of the Year after she averaged fewer than 10 minutes per game a year ago. The Hawkeyes lost senior Taylor McCabe to a season-ending injury, let alone everything that went on with Emely Rodriguez earlier in the year.

Jensen had to navigate injuries to key players like McCabe and sophomore guard Chit-Chat Wright. Now, senior Hannah Stuelke is hurt at the worst possible time. Time and time again though, the Hawkeyes continue to take care of business.

Iowa has a bad loss to Minnesota on their resume, but the Golden Gophers are now a Top 25 team and one that is peaking at the right time. Other than that, the Hawkeyes worst loss is to USC, but that's still a team that is five games above .500 and it's incredibly hard to win in LA. Their remaining three losses were all to ranked opponents.

Iowa Wasn't Even Projected to Finish in Top 5

Taking a team who wasn't projected to finish in the Top 5 and ending the year as the No. 2 seed is an accomplishment worth celebrating. Jensen has not only proved the doubters wrong, but she proved herself right. After learning from Lisa Bluder all these years, she ended up becoming the all-time winningest coach in program history through her first two seasons.

Jensen already eclipsed her win total from year one and this team still has the B1G and NCAA tournaments ahead of them. UCLA's 28-1 season is impressive, no doubt, but they did what they were supposed to.

Everyone expected Close to keep the Bruins at the top and that's exactly what she did. At the end of the day, what Jensen did with Iowa is far more impressive than Close's 2025-26 season.

Don't forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Jordon Lawrenz
JORDON LAWRENZ

Jordon Lawrenz serves as the Eastern United States College Recruiting beat writer On SI. Jordon is an accomplished writer covering the NFL, MLB, and college football/basketball. He has contributed to PFSN’s and Heavy’s NFL coverage. Having graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay with a Sports Communication and Journalism degree, Jordon fully embraced the sports writing lifestyle upon his relocation to Florida.

Home/Basketball