Jan Jensen Gets Honest About Iowa Earning 'Blue Blood' Status Post Caitlin Clark Era

Iowa Hawkeyes coach Jan Jensen had an interesting take about whether her program can now be called "blue blood".

Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen and Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrate after a NCAA Big Ten Conference women's basketball game against Penn State, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. Iowa won, 108-67. 230114 Penn St Iowa Wbb 039 Jpg | Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Caitlin Clark brought the Iowa Hawkeyes to another level of global attention and acclaim within the women's basketball world during her four seasons there.

And while Clark is now playing for the Indiana Fever in the WNBA, her influence is still keenly felt among her alma mater.

Jan Jensen was Iowa's assistant coach during Clark's tenure there and became head coach after Clark left, taking over for Lisa Bluder, who decided to retire.

On February 19, Jansen spoke with Blake Hornstein for Hawkeye Headquarters and addressed whether she believed her program can now be considered "blue blood" after the Clark era has ended.

"I think blue blood has to be multiple years and pushing a decade to get to that," Jensen said, per an X post from Hornstein. "And I think that's a long way off. I think that's a great goal for every program to have, and I think that would be a great byproduct.

"Every day I don't wake up with the pressure, like 'Oh, we've got to capitalize and make this into blue blood,'" Jensen continued. "But I think the makings of what's happening [at Iowa] is certainly giving us a great opportunity. We're attracting great interest, we're attracting a lot of great recruits... so I think we're on the right path."

She then added, "Had this been 5 years ago, I think we could really be talking about that potential. Now the landscape has changed so much that the money that will now be a part of the rev[enue] share... Blue bloods or not, there's a new angle that people are able to utilize. And so we're in interesting times."

I asked Jan Jensen if she believes Iowa has now reached 'Blue Blood' status

She says due to financial implications, the days of traditional blue bloods might be fading away

"Had this been 5 years ago I think we could really be talking about that potential..." pic.twitter.com/zSjMWQTUbj

— Blake Hornstein (@BlakeHornTV) February 21, 2025

Of course, Jensen is alluding to the NCAA's NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rule change where student-athletes can profit off of their own success.

It seems Jensen might be more optimistic than Geno Auriemma (head coach of the undoubtedly blue-blooded UConn Huskies program) about the direction the college game is going.