On Monday, Lisa Bluder declared her retirement following a 24-year tenure as the coach of lowa’s women’s basketball team. The announcement took Gabbie Marshall, a former Hawkeyes player, off guard.

Marshall expressed her gratitude towards her ex-coach on Instagram, sharing a heartfelt message accompanied by an emoji shedding tears:

“The best to ever do it!!”

Lisa Bluder retired after leading the Hawkeyes to back-to-back appearances in the national championship game and 18 NCAA Tournament appearances.

No details were mentioned behind her decision to step away. Her departure comes after she witnessed the Caitlin Clark era that substantially helped grow the women’s basketball game.

Bluder wrote a letter to her fans that showed great gratitude toward her squad and women’s basketball fans:

“There is never an ideal time to retire and I am sure this fall that I will miss the games, the practices, the road trips, the atmosphere, the tremendous fans and, most importantly, the players. But my belief in the foundation of this program, knowing that success is now an unrelenting component of women’s basketball at the University of Iowa gives me comfort as I transition to become the program’s biggest champion.”

She also noted that her retirement decision came after consulting with her husband and the student-athletes.

Who is set to succeed Lisa Bluder as the head coach of lowa?

Upon Lisa Bluder’s retirement announcement, the lowa Hawkeyes revealed that Jen Jansen, the team’s longtime assistant coach, will assume the role of head coach. Jansen, who played under Bluder’s coaching at Drake for four seasons from 1990 to 2000, later joined Bluder’s staff as an assistant and recruiting coordinator in 2000.

This marks Jansen’s inaugural head coaching position, and she aims to embark on a new chapter as impactful as that of Caitlin Clark’s tenure.