DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa head women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder was in Des Moines Friday to receive the Robert D. and Billie Ray Pillar of Character Award, which recognizes Iowa's role models.
Local 5 sports director Reina Garcia caught up with Bluder to discuss the Hawkeyes' success and supporting her players at the WNBA Draft.
Both questions and responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: I want to ask you about kind of this whirlwind you have been on for the past month or so. Have you had a minute to kind of step back and wrap your head around everything you guys accomplished this season?
A: I have not really, I haven't had much time. You know, it's been a whirlwind since we got back from the national championship game, you know, with Caitlin all of her awards and in our own team banquet. So, I really haven't had a whole lot of time to sit and process. But after about another week, I think my husband and I are going to head out on a little vacation and have some time just to do that.
Q: You were there at the WNBA Draft earlier this week getting to, you know, be there for such a special moment Caitlin Clark being selected first overall by the Indiana Fever ... but also Kate Martin also being drafted in the second round, how special was it for you to be there to support them?
A: It is so special because you want these women do achieve their dreams. You want them to, you know, set goals, high goals, and then when you watch them to reach them. It's amazing. It's such an amazing feeling, feeling and it's overwhelming. And I'm just so proud of both of them.
Q: Seeing the explosion in popularity of the game, especially over the past few years, and knowing that your team played a significant role in that — how special is that to know that you contributed in that way?
A: It is special. But I think it's even more rewarding for me because I did see it at the very beginning. I saw this in its, you know, infancy and now seeing it grow up and just explode over the last couple of years in popularity. I mean, our national championship game reached 18.9 million homes. And you know that it peaked at 24 million, and it's the third highest sporting event ever after the Olympics and the Super Bowl. So I know people are interested in this game. I know they're falling in love with it, and I can't wait to see where it goes.
Q: Looking ahead to next year, what are you most excited about?
A: We have the ninth rated recruiting class in the nation coming in, five really special young ladies coming in to our program. Along with, like you said, Sid and Hannah are back and Kylie Feuerbach and, you know, just so many more. So, you know, certainly we lost a lot with five people graduating, but we do have a great nucleus coming back. We're going to be younger next year, definitely. But you know, with the portal, you know, that helps us add a little bit of experience.
Q: The award that you're receiving tonight, the Pillar of Character Award, what does that mean to you to be the recipient of that?
A: At first I was like, 'Oh, I don't think so Scott,' you know, because it's just the people that have received this award before. You think about them so much and what it stands for, but, you know, Scott Raecker has been a friend for a long time. Governor Ray was a dear friend and then you know, Drake University, I feel right at home with the blue right behind me. But Character Counts is an organization that Dave and I really believe in because we have to invest in our youth. It's, that's our future. And we need to make sure that we are bringing our young people up with good values.