With the Friday, Sept. 26 Homecoming parade swiftly approaching, the University of Iowa Alumni Association announced that former Iowa women’s basketball head coach Lisa Bluder will serve as the event’s Grand Marshall this year.
The event will begin at 5:45 p.m. CT in downtown Iowa City, featuring floats highlighting students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members while providing a vibrant display of Hawkeye spirit the evening before Iowa football squares off against No. 19 Indiana. As is done annually, the route will traverse along Iowa Avenue and Washington, Clinton, and Dubuque streets, with more than 20,000 spectators in attendance.
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Bluder coached the Hawkeyes from 2000-24, where she accrued a record of 528-254 and currently holds the title as the winningest head coach in Big Ten women’s basketball history.
During her illustrious tenure with Iowa, Bluder propelled the Hawkeyes to 18 NCAA Tournament berths, five Big Ten tournament titles, two Big Ten regular-season crowns, two Final Four appearances and two national championship games.
Bluder also won Big Ten Coach of the Year three times and the 2019 Naismith College Coach of the Year award.
Throughout her 40 years of coaching with St. Ambrose, Drake, and Iowa, Bluder holds a record of 884-396, which ranks No. 12 among the all-time winningest coaches in women’s college basketball history.
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While her entire body of work during her 24 years with the Hawkeyes is remarkable, Bluder gained national recognition in the latter portion of her tenure alongside the phenomenal play from both Megan Gustafson (2015-19) and Caitlin Clark (2020-24) as Iowa emerged as a national title contender.
While Bluder is retired from coaching, she still serves as a tremendous ambassador for the Hawkeyes through her various forms of involvement throughout the university and within the women’s basketball program.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa women’s basketball legend named Homecoming parade Grand Marshall
