IOWA CITY, Iowa — Two years after Caitlin Clark turned Iowa women’s basketball into a national phenomenon, the program she elevated remains nearly as popular as when No. 22 drilled logo 3-pointers and set NCAA scoring records.
For the third consecutive season, Iowa women’s basketball has sold every available ticket for home games well before the first program’s first fall practice. Retired coach Lisa Bluder served as grand marshal for Iowa’s homecoming in late September and received a standing ovation at the Hawkeyes’ football game against Indiana. Second-year coach Jan Jensen, who served as Bluder’s loyal lieutenant for 30 years, has an appeal that rivals any person — let alone sports figure — in Iowa City. Fans still swarm current and former players for autographs everywhere from promotional events to random visits to the Coral Ridge Mall.
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“It’s amazing,” said assistant coach Abby Emmert Stamp, who played for Bluder and Jensen from 2005 through 2008. “I walked around with Jan during homecoming weekend when we were doing some recruiting, and just the young, college-age kids that are stopping her for photos is just incredible.”
In a community consumed by football, women’s basketball has carved out its own high-profile niche. The Hawkeyes begin the 2025-26 season Monday night against Southern.
The program blended decades of grassroots connections with Clark’s skyrocketing popularity and fortified its adoration. The fans who were there when Stamp played are as loyal today as when curtains lopped off the top rows at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Those who hopped on the Clark bandwagon have stayed. Collectively, they’ve formed one of collegiate sports’ most passionate fan bases.
“If you think of a club you might be a part of,” Jensen said, “when you feel vested and you feel the folks that you’re with feel vested, there’s just kind of an ease to that get-together.
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“I think the longevity that I’ve been able to have here, certainly that Lisa had here, is that we got this club. For the most part, through thick and thin, we’re with each other in that club. I think that’s how I feel.”
Since arriving at Iowa as Bluder’s assistant in 2000, Jensen has earned a reputation as Iowa athletics’ biggest cheerleader, which is punctuated by her X handle — @goiowa. She made it part of her mission to attend at least one competition for every team on campus. Jensen routinely spoke to civic organizations, attended readings at world-renowned Prairie Lights Bookstore and accepted nearly every invitation to promote women’s basketball.
One month after replacing Bluder as head coach, Jensen spent an early June afternoon with a small group of mothers and babies touring Carver-Hawkeye Arena. No opportunity was too small for Jensen, not two decades ago or today.
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“I was just brought up in such a way that you can make someone’s day,” Jensen said. “I’ve long understood the power of the shirt I wear with the TigerHawk. There’s just a lot of people in this state where that means so much. So, when our popularity increased, we could use that for good. I think that’s all I’ve wanted to ever do, is just do good. And you get to do that by doing something you love.”
The connection between Iowa women’s basketball extends past the coaching staff and Clark. Other players became as celebrated for their personalities as for their on-court exploits. They include recent graduates Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall, Sydney Affolter and Lucy Olsen, plus a cadre of others still on the team.
Affolter now serves as a graduate assistant and is recognized every day, bringing a smile to her face.
“I’m never gonna take that for granted, but it is kind of funny that I’m not a player anymore,” Affolter said. “You still see like, Gabbie coming back, and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, can I have a picture?’”
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Winning three consecutive Big Ten titles brought fame, but social media is what helped accelerate players’ staying power.
Iowa’s three most followed athletes on either Instagram or TikTok are current women’s basketball players. On Instagram, the women’s basketball program has more followers (291,000) than the football program (247,000), Iowa Hawkeyes’ page (180,000) or men’s basketball team (102,000). Iowa women’s basketball has more Instagram followers than Nos. 2, 3, 4 (USC, UCLA, Oregon) in the Big Ten combined, and well beyond the next women’s basketball team in the traditional footprint (Michigan, 47,400).
Preseason All-Big Ten forward Hannah Stuelke boasts 135,000 followers on Instagram alone while reserve Jada Gyamfi has become an on-campus celebrity with 118,000 on TikTok. Sixth-year player Kylie Feuerbach has more than 110,000 combined followers on both platforms, while senior Taylor McCabe touts more than 87,000 followers. They all endorse local businesses through NIL contracts and actively build their audience and personal brands. By extension, they continuously promote the program.
“People really feel like they’ve built a connection with us because they see how good our team culture is and how much we publicize that, and how we are pretty active and vocal in the community,” McCabe said. “I think that people really do feel like they can connect and relate with us, and that we have kind of become — this is crazy to say — role models for kids in the community, especially young girls, and that never ceases to amaze me.”
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Iowa women’s basketball has also separated itself through its in-house media promotion and exposure. Throughout Clark and company’s two-year run to consecutive NCAA championship games, Iowa’s visuals staff shared their joys and touching moments, mixing basketball with human interest topics.
One series showcased Feuerbach, a paid ambassador for the Chicago White Sox, on a day-in-the-life trip to New York City when the Hawkeyes played at Rutgers. When McKenna Woliczko, the No. 6-ranked player in the 2026 class, committed to Iowa on Oct. 1, she called Jensen in the middle of a team photo shoot and the moment was caught on video. It went viral.
“Our social media team, our marketing team, they have done such an incredible job,” Stamp said. “Jan has done an incredible job of giving access, but they have really capitalized on being able to showcase who we are as people to the world. Everybody can kind of see a little bit of themselves in any of us.
“We’re not just telling stories about Caitlin Clark or we’re not just telling stories about Hannah Stuelke. We are telling stories around the circle and around the end of the bench and whatever it may be. I think that is kind of a microcosm for the world, and that is definitely the world Jan Jensen wants to see is where everybody is picking up the person next to them, and we’re all trying to raise the ship together.”
But the interest dissipates if the basketball program doesn’t perform. With Jensen replacing Bluder and four new starters in the lineup, Iowa had the potential to fall significantly last year. A midseason five-game losing streak brought questions, but 10 wins in their next 12 games provided answers. The fans remained engaged, and it solidified recruiting for this year and beyond.
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Five-star guard Addie Deal and four-star post Layla Hays — both freshmen — took unofficial visits during Clark’s final season.
Deal learned about the Hawkeyes in middle school when her trainer suggested Bluder’s style of play fit her. When Deal witnessed Clark play in person, Iowa drew her in.
“That was a huge reason,” said Deal, who is from Irvine, Calif. “The fan base and just the support is insane. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Hays, who is from Alaska, first visited Iowa on the night Clark set the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record against Michigan in 2024.
“I got to see the atmosphere of all the fans, and I was like, ‘Wow, I could play in an environment like this,’” Hays said.
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The program’s culture and family atmosphere were also pivotal in helping Deal, Hays and others select Iowa. As a high school senior, sophomore forward Teegan Mallegni attended a few Iowa games in Clark’s final season. But it was what she witnessed when hanging out with former players that encouraged her to buy in.
“One night we were at Kate Martin’s apartment, and we were having dinner, and I don’t really eat meat, so she offered to make me something else,” Mallegni said. “I thought that was really cool that they were willing to welcome me in like that.”
Clark’s senior year spotlight and the following season’s afterglow have faded, but the program’s intangible qualities endure.
Even as women’s basketball becomes more transient, the Hawkeyes have lost just one player to the transfer portal in the last two years. Rotational players who could have left for larger roles on other power conference squads have stayed, thrived off the court and invited the public to experience the ride with them. And their fans have happily complied with their wallets and their likes.
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“We have truly the best fans in the nation,” Feuerbach said. “We just have an amazing culture. … That’s something I’m super grateful to be part of. I think that’s why (Jensen’s) been able to maintain it, just because we have just great people, a great circle. It’s a tight circle, and we’re all here for each other.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Iowa Hawkeyes, Women’s College Basketball
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