IOWA CITY, Iowa -Lisa Bluder bristled at the question as she looked across her office desk in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Iowa coach had the program in a good place.
She'd been in the business long enough to understand expectations, however. And after a decade at Iowa, the coach hadn't lifted the Hawkeyes back to the heights experienced under legendary bench boss C. Vivian Stringer.
In fairness, Bluder faced a high bar. Stringer built one of the country's top programs. She now was doing that at Rutgers, which didn't help the person holding her previous gig.
Bluder pondered what she was being asked. Ten years in, what was it going to take to get the Hawkeyes back on top?
She felt a breakthrough was close. The Hawkeyes were competing in the Big Ten and reaching the NCAA Tournament even if the March success enjoyed by Stinger's squads was missing.
The exchange from an interview for a story in the now-defunct Hawkeye Nation Magazine came to mind on Monday afternoon. Bluder was announcing her retirement after 24 seasons at the school and 40 overall in coaching.
We now have the answer to that question presented years ago. Bluder would surpass Stringer by working and growing, aspects of her life she embraced. Even during the ups and downs in reaching the top, her program always remained on task, a sign of her leadership.
Bluder's Hawkeyes reached the second-round of the NCAA Tournament in her first two seasons. She inherited key players in that run from her predecessor, Angie Lee, who struggled after winning with Stinger holdovers.
During Bluder's next five seasons, Iowa reached the NCAA Tournament twice. In Year 5, the Hawkeyes missed the postseason altogether.
The woman that started at the bottom of her profession's ladder and climbed up wasn't going out like that, however. The Hawkeyes tied for first place in the Big Ten the next year and finished second the season after that.
They just hadn't reached the Sweet 16 since Lee guided them there in her first season. That fueled Bluder being asked about getting the program to the next level.
Iowa men's basketball fans are well aware how Sweet 16 droughts damage the psyche. That's especially the case when the followers remember the best times and strive for a return to those days, as was the case with both teams here.
Bluder understood that dynamic. No one wanted to get the program over the hump more than she did. It ate at the ultra-competitive basketball lifer who believed in herself and the people around her.
They would keep working as they had in winning conference championships at Drake. She'd also lean on lessons learned while building St. Ambrose into an NAIA national power before that. That's how the Hawkeyes would return to national prominence.
Bluder stayed true to her word by staying true to herself. She continued working on becoming a better coach. So, too, did her top two assists - Jan Jensen and Jenni Fitzgerald. The duo played for her at Drake before joining her coaching staff there.
Jensen focused on post play. The guards were tutored by Fitzgerald. Their pupils were coached to work together and find success in Bluder's system.
Student-athletes were developing in the program, an essential aspect of winning teams at Iowa. A steady stream of all-conference performers were Hawkeyes.
Then the Sweet 16 breakthrough came in '14-15. Senior Samantha Logic, a two-time, first-team all-Big Ten honoree, led the way. Sophom*ore Ally Disterhoft would go on to break the school's all-time scoring record.
Megan Gustafson arrived in the '15 Recruiting Class to break that mark. The Hawkeyes reached the Elite Eight for the first time since '93 in her senior season. Junior guard Kathleen Doyle also was first-team all-league that year before winning the Big Ten Player of the Year Award in '20.
Doyle's senior season ended early because of Covid. The next year, Caitlin Clark arrived and so did a return to the Sweet 16. The rest, as they say, is history.
After back-to-back national title game appearances, Clark tips off her WNBA career Tuesday night when her Indiana Fever play at Connecticut. It comes a day after Bluder retired as the program's greatest coach and one of the best in all of Hawkeye history.
There's symmetry here for two Iowa girls playing large roles in making their sport more popular than ever before. It will be a long time before their impact at Iowa is replicated, if at all.
They needed each other. Clark was the talent required to compete with the best. She reached her potential playing for a coach that brought out her best.
Bluder masterfully managed a locker room including a superstar with unprecedented popularity. She was Phil Jackson to Clark's Michael Jordan.
It worked because Bluder was a seasoned coach understanding the right buttons to push. She helped Clark channel her emotions into production, reigning her in when necessary.
Bluder maximized Iowa's potential when conditions were optimal here, Jensen and Fitzgerald by her side. She envisioned it happening all those years ago when asked what it would take.
It's an excellent lesson in perseverance and growth. Success is not linear and the best results not always immediate.
Maybe the phenomenon we witnessed these last few trips around the sun occurs no matter the past. We'll never know.
More likely, it worked out the way the world intended, Lisa Bluder's vision realized and her legend secured. She did it.
