Jan Jensen (born December 6, 1968) is an American college basketball coach and former basketball player. Jensen currently serves as the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes women's team. She spent her playing career at Drake, where she led NCAA Division I women's in scoring in 1990âÂÂ91.
Following her playing career, she became an assistant at Drake for her former head coach Lisa Bluder. Jensen followed Bluder to Iowa, joining her coaching staff there and succeeded Bluder as Iowa's head coach in 2024.
Jensen was born on December 6, 1968 in the small rural town of Kimballton, Iowa. Basketball played a large part in Jensen's family background. Her grandmother, Dorcas Andersen, was part of a team that won the Iowa state basketball tournament in 1921. The team played a brand of 6-on-6 basketball that saw popularity in rural Iowa â a popularity uncommon for women's sports during this time period. The local newspaper dubbed Andersen "Lottie" in reference to her scoring "a lot of points."
Jensen played high school basketball at Elk HornâÂÂKimballton High School. As a senior, she led the country with 66 points per game (ppg) in 1987. For her high school career, she was inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. She also ran track and played volleyball and softball in high school.
Jensen accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the Drake Bulldogs. In Jensen's senior season, Lisa Bluder became the head coach for Drake. Jensen was initially skeptical of Bluder's hiring, stating "It's kind of, are you kidding me, right? New coach. I'm a senior. And then it ended up being really the best thing. She was just tremendous. She was really just a player's coach and intense but knew how to make it fun. Obviously, it benefited me." Jensen led Division I women's basketball in scoring that season, finishing with 29.6 ppg. For the season, she was also named a Kodak Honorable Mention All-American, a member of the All-Gateway team, and the GTE Academic All-American Player of the Year.
In 2007, the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) named Jensen as one of the 35 greatest players in conference history, listing her on the MVC women's basketball All-Centennial Team as part of the conference's 100th anniversary.