Dear Iowa Women’s Basketball,

This has been a while in coming. Today seemed most fitting after that amazing comeback against Nebraska to mark a three-peat for your program in the Big 10 Women’s Tournament.

In the background of our lives, basketball has been with us. My wife and I coached varsity basketball with a run and gun team in Alaska. We moved to Missouri, and I coached a couple of middle school teams and started learning what it meant to coach. Our paths took us back to Iowa in 1999 for us to see a new era in Iowa Women’s Basketball begin with hire of Coach Bluder. We’ve taken a number of teams to Iowa City to watch you play. The girls loved it, and I loved seeing their eyes get big as we’d walk around the court and they saw those girls who they looked up to. Whether it was Jamie Printy, Melissa Dixon and Sam Logic, Macinzie Meyer, or Megan Gustavson, the girls walked out with that look of “Wow” on their faces and a little bit different mind set on what their game could be.

As the dad of daughters, the coach of middle school girls, I love what the nation has seen from this team. Last year’s games gave the world a view into this team. You see players who are joyful on the court. You see teammates who are more than just teammates, they are friends. And as your team gained national attention, that culture spreads. Little girls (and middle aged coaches) are spellbound by each shot, each high five, and each win.

And this year, that culture was on full display. Signs everywhere, a sold out Carver, along with sold out stadiums every game gave the nation a view of a culture that we Iowa fans have seen for year. And we drank it in. We saw the stumbles and miscues (few and far between) turn this team into three time Big Ten Tournament Champions. We saw role players step up time and time again. We saw the smiles, the passion, we saw you perform! And we saw what a culture of caring for your teammates and those around you can bring if you buy in, heart and soul.

So, thank you. Thank you for this amazing regular season and Big 10 Tournament. Thank you for proving, time and time again, that winning and losing can be done with class, style, and little bit of attitude. Thank you for giving us memories that we can talk about with teams for years to come. And thank you for being the role models that so many young girls can look up to. We don’t see your names in the paper for doing something stupid. We don’t see pushing and shoving and tomfoolery on or off the court. What we see are young women, doing their best to represent themselves and this amazing team the best they can.

And if you’ve read this far, from this old middle school girls’ coach, thank you for getting me excited about NEXT season! We’ll have a pretty good 8th grade team and a 7th grade team with potential! Lots to do before then! 🙂

Now, get some rest. There’s one more tournament run to make and one more statement to make!

Let’s go!!

#GoHawks!