Former University of Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder has certainly left her mark on the university. Her success at the UI was recently honored with an intricate performance by the Hawkeye Marching band at last weekend’s football game in its “Best of Bluder” halftime show.
The band’s show featured several different coordinated shapes and sayings, including a stick figure with a replica of Bluder’s face laid out between band members forming her head. The band also spelled out “Thanks Coach” and “Bluder” during the show.
“With the stick figure of her with her whistle and holding a basketball, it just really hit home to her time as a coach here in Iowa,” said Kevin Niese, teaching assistant for the marching band and creator of the drill for the Bluder show.
Similar to the Caitlin Clark show performed during the 2023 season, the marching band incorporated a basketball prop into the show and drills depicting the ball being shot into a hoop.
Preceding the Bluder show, the band had three back-to-back home games at Kinnick Stadium, which left one week to prepare for the new show, marching band drum major Brandon Alpers said.
The week started with all band members learning where each of their individual spots were and then slowly adding instruments and music to the show as the week progressed.
“The drill is a little bit easier, since we’ve had some really difficult weeks, but it means that we’re really able to see it out to the best of our abilities,” Alpers said. “It means that we can put out the best show possible for Lisa to honor her.”
Alpers also said the show was special to many of the band members who make up the pep band that played at several of Bluder’s basketball games within the last couple of years.
Jarrid Jaynes, the marching band’s teaching assistant and music writer for the Bluder show, said the timing of Bluder’s retirement announcement came just before the spring show planning meeting and was the reason they decided to dedicate a show to her.
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“Lisa Bluder is this immense figure in Iowa sports — not even just Iowa sports, but for the state of Iowa,” Jaynes said. “To be able to honor her is well-deserved on her part, and it’s just an honor for the [Hawkeye Marching Band] to be able to do something like that for her.”
The show began with a mashup of Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” and Fall Out Boy’s “Thnks fr th Mmrs” before going into a rendition of Pink’s “Raise Your Glass.”
To conclude the show, the marching band was joined by 161 dancers and cheerleaders from around the state of Iowa for Spirit Squad Day to perform BTS’ “Permission to Dance.”
In an email to The Daily Iowan, director of the Hawkeye Marching Band Eric Bush said he was glad to honor the legacy Bluder has left.
“Honoring a legendary coach like Lisa Bluder was an easy decision for the Hawkeye Marching Band,” he wrote. “Beyond being an excellent leader on the court, Lisa is an even better person. Throughout her career at Iowa, she always made time to let band members know how she and her players appreciated them.”