Hannah Stuelke’s intended audience walked in early, but also just in time. The Iowa forward was just asked a question about her head coach’s growth over her two years in charge of the Hawkeyes, and Jan Jensen walked in from a side door and took a seat next to the wall. Jensen offered to exit, but Stuelke proceeded, her words leaving the player and coach in tears.
“Coach J puts a lot of pressure on herself because she wants to be the absolute best for us, and I think that’s been really special for me to see,” Stuelke said. “Because she cares just so much that she loses sleep over any mistakes, and she gets better every single day.”
“I’m just really proud of her,” she concluded before wrapping Jensen in a hug next to the press conference podium. With that, Jensen took center stage while Stuelke departed, the head coach’s career on a steady climb to fame while Stuelke’s stellar collegiate playing career nears its end.
Such is the case of the Iowa women’s basketball team this season, which departs four seniors who stuck around after Lisa Bluder’s retirement and witnessed the next era under Jensen. The group – Stuelke, Kylie Feuerbach, Jada Gyamfi, and Taylor McCabe – experienced consecutive national championship appearances before leading the Caitlin Clark-less Hawkeyes back to the postseason in their final two seasons, an achievement some didn’t expect.
After a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament against Oklahoma, Iowa is back dancing in March, this time as a No. 2 seed. The Hawkeyes placed second in the Big Ten regular season despite neither coaches or media selecting them in the top five in the preseason polls back in October.
“Of course, I’m motivated to play as long as we can, but I think what they’ve done already was probably more than a lot of people were going to maybe bet on,” Jensen said.
While Iowa exceeded expectations from an outside perception, the internal view from Jensen and the seniors is the Hawkeyes are right where they need to be. While health betrayed a perfect on-court ending for some seniors, they take pride in leaving a legacy. They lived the “glory days,” but their twilight shines just as bright.
“They got to have their own identity,” Jensen said. “They got to play the game they needed and wanted to play.”
McCabe never thought her career would end in January when she tore the ACL and meniscus in her left knee in the opening minute against Ohio State. One of the best three-point shooters in program history, McCabe now finds progress not along the arc, but on the sidelines and social media.
The guard gave her senior exit interview on Feb. 25, almost three weeks removed from surgery. McCabe admitted she doesn’t have her range of motion and still walks “really weird,” but doesn’t shy away from her milestones.
“I got off crutches after about 10 days which I feel is pretty impressive,” she said.
McCabe chronicled such recovery through Instagram. A coach recommended she take up the endeavor, and McCabe, who holds more than 29,000 followers on the platform, reached six-figure views on her first video. A civil engineering major with a minor in art, McCabe lets her creativity shine.
Her first vlog covers the first four days of her rehab, featuring everyday activities like a trip to Target, Kitty Korner Social Club, and the Seamans Center on campus. McCabe edits in sound effects, like a groan or cheer for more of a humorous feel. Aware of her social influence, McCabe wants to be a role model for others experiencing similar setbacks, or at the very least, make people smile.
“Some people have asked me if I’m the one making them, because they’re like, ‘There’s no way she’s making this,’” McCabe said. “And it is me. I try to put a little cinematic and artistic feel on it.”
Now, McCabe trails behind her teammates taking the court for warmups. With a brace around her leg, she walks under the basket and then to the second row behind the Iowa bench, where she’s adopted a new perspective. Former Hawkeye Sydney Affolter joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant this season, and such a future is possible for McCabe.
When she discovered the team’s stat-tracking system, she became more analytical while also learning to control her emotions. Gyamfi said her teammate “knows a lot more than people give her credit for.” When McCabe hobbles to the huddle, as she did in Iowa’s victory over Michigan, her voice matters.
“I got to be there, and it was too fun not to be,” McCabe said. “I know that I said some things sometimes that people needed to hear.”
When McCabe joined Iowa’s unofficial coaching staff, Gyamfi welcomed her with open arms. A forward from Johnston, Iowa, Gyamfi never saw consistent minutes as a Hawkeye, appearing in just 39 games over her previous three seasons. She’s embraced the bench role and the versatility it requires, whether it be giving advice, making a joke, or maintaining positive vibes.
After a knee injury wiped out the rest of the regular season in December, Gyamfi said she took a step back from her playing identity.
An elementary education major, Gyamfi will student teach in Des Moines starting in August, but until then, wants to be the “good cop” for the Hawkeyes.
“I’m in the classroom all the time, and I feel like I take that role there as well,” she said. “Like, ‘I know we’re supposed to be having fun, but this is what we do.’”
Having played for six years, it may feel like Feuerbach played at Iowa her whole career, but her origins began at rival Iowa State. Her first year with the Hawkeyes saw her play in all 32 games, but an injury held her out all the next season when Iowa reached its first national championship.
Like McCabe and Gyamfi, Feuerbach learned from the new viewpoint. While injury is uncontrollable, defensive effort is always manageable, and Feuerbach thrived when she returned, leading Iowa in steals last season and earning a spot on the Big Ten’s all-defensive team this year. A marketing major, Feuerbach said she doesn’t know exactly what her future will look like, but if she’s happy, that’s all she needs.
“I’ve been through pretty much everything,” she said. “So just handling it, taking everything day-to-day, and just staying positive.”
Playing time or injuries has never been an issue with Stuelke, who led the team’s freshmen in minutes in her first season and has started all but three games since. After earning the Big Ten’s Sixth Player of the Year when she first arrived on campus, the spotlight on Stuelke never faded — she just learned to be more comfortable in its glow. Appearing in several commercials, she’s now thankful for all the cameras and microphones in her face.
“I used to be so uncomfortable and shy, and now I can carry a conversation,” she said.
The talk around Stuelke is now a professional playing career. She declared for the WNBA Draft, where she aims to join Clark and other past teammates like Lucy Olsen and Kate Martin.
Former Hawkeye and current pro Megan Gustafson congratulated Stuelke when she first committed to the Hawkeyes and has been a mentor to Stuelke throughout her career. The duo could become competitors or teammates, but for now Stuelke remains impressed by Gustafson’s rise and her work ethic, traits she incorporates within her own identity.
“The amount of growth you can make with hard work is really important,” Stuelke said.
