Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick is no stranger to the Iowa women’s basketball program. As the son of head coach Jan Jensen and her spouse, Julie Fitzpatrick, he has been hanging out at practice and going to games since he was a baby.
Now, the University of Iowa freshman is one of the Hawkeyes’ managers, fulfilling a longtime dream.
“I had been wanting to do it for a while,” he told The IX Sports. “Growing up, especially through high school, I made a pretty early decision to not play college basketball. Instead, I really wanted to be a manager because I’ve been around the managers growing up, and I’ve always been friends with whoever was on the manager staff. So, it was just always a dream of mine to be on it.”
When a manager spot at Iowa opened last spring after the season ended, he put in his application and prepared for an interview with the program’s video coordinator and director of analytics, Ben Lober, who oversees the managers.
Beyond his basketball knowledge, Lober was impressed by Jensen-Fitzpatrick’s soft skills needed for the job.
“He’s worked a customer support job. Knowing how to talk to different types of people as a manager, not only do you have our team, but you kind of interact with other parts of the athletic department,” Lober told The IX Sports. “Also when we go on the road, you’re talking to the hotels and different people from other places.”
And, of course, the lifelong basketball knowledge is a plus.
“We like to get people that have played basketball before, just so they know how to rebound. They can pass. They have some knowledge of, ‘hey, we’re working on this drill.’ We want them to get the lob pass, so you need a front on defense, and they know that terminology without having to fully teach the positioning,” Lober added.
Being a manager certainly isn’t glamorous, but their work keeps the program running smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
“A lot of times we have to get there very early. We have to set up practice, which includes taping the court. We have to fill up all the waters, make the Powerade. We have to get the balls out, pads. There’s a lot of little things that you wouldn’t really think of that we have to do,” Jensen-Fitzpatrick said. “There’s some things in the locker that we have to take care of, like stocking the fridge. Just a bunch of little tasks.”
“A lot of times we have to rebound for the players. We play against the players in practice. We’re the only sport where managers can play against players, which is kind of cool,” he added. “But we do a lot of small things, especially on trips and stuff, like taking the luggage out of the plane, loading the buses. It’s just a lot of the dirty work.”
Jensen isn’t surprised her son wanted to be a manager and is loving every minute of it.
“Jack has been really a manager since he’s been four, in my mind. He’s just been around and always been really interested,” she said. “He’s been a really great kid. I could bring him to practice, and he would sit and watch. I could take him on a road trip, and he would sit and watch. So for him now to get to this part of the journey, and now get to really be part of the business side of things, and so supported is definitely really special.”
One unexpected benefit of becoming a manager has been the opportunity for Jensen-Fitzpatrick to spend more time with his mom while gaining a new perspective on her role as head coach. Having grown up around the program, he now gets a firsthand look at the preparation and behind-the-scenes work that goes into running it.
“I would 100% say that I have seen her a lot more since I’ve left for college than when I used to,” said Jensen-Fitzpatrick, who now lives in the dorms on the University of Iowa campus. “It has been really nice. It’s definitely made the college transition easy, being able to see part of my family pretty much every day.”
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He is also getting a deeper understanding of just what his mom’s job entails.
“I don’t get to really see her hours, but I’ve had more of a close-up on really what she does…the amount of effort she puts in,” he said. “She’s there way before I get there. She’s there for forever, doing all these little things that I would get exhausted of. It definitely has opened my eyes with really what she does more because I’ve been around it a lot more.”
Jensen is glad he gets to see firsthand what she does from a different perspective.
“I do think a coach’s family, they know how many hours you put in and all the things that you’re required to do, and then the things you do extra, the sacrifices you make and your family makes for you to be at work probably too much of the time,” she said. “He would come as a manager when he was little on weekends. Or he’d make some road trips. But when you’re there every day, you see the energy and the meticulous plan that you’re trying to lay out for our program.”
Basketball background
Jensen and Fitzpatrick, who first met in the late 1980s when they both played at Drake, welcomed Jack in 2007 and daughter Janie in 2010.
While both of their children have grown up around the Iowa women’s basketball program that Jensen joined in 2000 as Lisa Bluder’s assistant, Jack has especially been interested from an early age.
“During the games, he sat on my lap from the moment he was born and never left it until he was old enough to sit in his own seat, and he literally absorbed every ounce of what was going on,” Fitzpatrick said.
Jensen recalls a game at Nebraska when Jack was just four years old.
“He was sitting right behind us with the managers, and we had to call a timeout. We were down big in that first timeout, probably like down 12. I told him before we went on these trips, ‘Remember, you can’t bother Mom when I’m coaching,’” she said. “After that timeout, I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I turn around and it was Jack, and he’s like, ‘Mom, we need better defense.’ And he was four. I said, ‘We do. Thank you for that, but remember, you can’t always tap me.’ And he just looked up at me and shook his head.”
Growing up around the program, Jensen-Fitzpatrick has learned more than just about basketball. The camaraderie and culture have left a lasting impression on him.
“Iowa always recruits great people, so it’s always a fun environment to be around, no matter the team. There’s always good people within our team, support staff, everyone,” he said. “But I would say even the environment…The support for women’s basketball in the state, and especially this community, is unmatched. It’s been a blessing to be a part of, and I cherish every moment of it.”
Watching Iowa’s trajectory rise in 2019 when Megan (Gustafson) DiLeo was named National Player of the Year and then explode off the charts with Caitlin Clark right after, has been quite a ride, he said.
“Our fans are incredible, especially in the last eight years or so. Ever since Megan, going into COVID with Caitlin, we’ve had just incredible support,” he said. “I remember Caitlin’s sophomore year, it kind of started to explode on the road when I traveled with them. You would notice the fans really starting to be like, ‘Oh man, this is going to be something special.’ But that junior and senior year, I mean, it was sold out everywhere we went. It was just a nutty time to be around, and the fans have stuck around. We’ve sold out the last two seasons that Jan’s been the head coach post-Caitlin, and they sold out season tickets this year…It’s been so fun.”
It has also been fun watching his cousin rise through the ranks to become a very popular pro player.
Former Hawkeye Kate Martin’s mother, Jill Martin, is Fitzpatrick’s sister. While many basketball fans have enjoyed watching her play at Iowa and in the WNBA at Las Vegas, Golden State, Los Angeles and Chicago, to Jensen-Fitzpatrick she is still just his humble cousin who just wants to play ball.
“Kate being my cousin is just the coolest thing ever. I’m obviously younger, but I basically watched her grow up through high school…and I would have never imagined that she’d be a very popular basketball player in the WNBA,” he said. “Going to games and having just random WNBA fans everywhere just come up to my mom and be like, ‘We love your team. We love Kate. We love Caitlin.’”
“I feel like Iowa’s like just a big building block for women’s basketball and women’s sports in general,” he added. “So, to kind of be a small part of that has just been so cool. And seeing all the players in the WNBA, it’s awesome.”
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Jensen-Fitzpatrick isn’t sure yet if he wants to follow in his mom’s footsteps into coaching. But being a manager is building his appreciation for all aspects of the game and preparing him for the future.
“I major in sport and rec management here at Iowa, and I’m either majoring in finance or business analytics. So, I’m a dual major,” he said “I’m also on the business side because I really enjoy the business side of things, and that’s probably what I’ll end up doing. But I’ll definitely keep the coaching option open.”
For now his family is enjoying watching him live out his dream.
“I’m really proud of him. I feel like his life from childhood until now has been a kind of an internship of sorts of preparation for this moment,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s studying sports management, which is something he’s been interested in since I think he was three years old. He has always loved being a part of the women’s basketball team through our family, and he’s really having a great time. So, it’s just fun to see him so happy.”
