Lisa Bluder

ATLANTA — Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder was named a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award on Monday. She was a semifinalist a year ago and the recipient of the award in 2019.

The 2024 Werner Ladder Naismith Trophy for Women’s Coach of the Year will be awarded on April 3 during the Women’s Final Four in Cleveland.

Bluder’s Hawkeyes are a No. 1 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament and are 31-4 after Monday’s win over West Virginia. It’s Iowa’s eighth-straight season with 20 or more wins.

The other finalists for the award are Tara VanDerveer of Stanford, Dawn Staley of South Carolina, and Lindsay Gottlieb of USC.