(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder has done a phenomenal job and her pay should reflect that.

Reynolds, though, is not suggesting what Bluder’s salary should be. Fran McCaffrey’s been coach of the men’s team at Iowa for 13 seasons and his annual salary this year is about three-point-two MILLION. Bluder, in her 24th season as the Iowa women’s coach, is earning 310-thousand dollars worth of bonuses due to her team’s run in this year’s N-C-Double-A tournament. That’s on top of her one-point-four MILLION dollar salary for this season.

Governor Reynolds spoke with reporters outside her Iowa Capitol office on April 9, 2024. (RI photo)

Iowa’s governor says the Hawkeye women have changed the landscape of women’s sports, capped by a championship game that was the most-watched basketball game since 2019 — surpassing college men’s basketball and N-B-A games over the past five seasons.

While speaking with reporters earlier today (Tuesday), Reynolds praised National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark and her Hawkeye teammates.

Reynolds played six-on-six girl’s basketball for Interstate 35 and graduated from the high school in Truro in 1977. Bluder graduated from high school two years later after playing six-on-six basketball at Linn-Mar. Bluder went on to be a three-year starter for the University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team.