Who Is Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder’s Husband? All About David Bluder

Lisa Bluder has supported the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team during March Madness, but at home, she has a solid support system herself.

The head coach for Caitlin Clark, Gabbie Marshall and more Iowa players has been married to her husband David Bluder for almost four decades. 

Together, they have three children, daughters Hannah and Emma and a son named David Jr., and affectionately refer to themselves as the “Bluder Bunch.” 

Though David isn’t in the spotlight as much as Bluder is, the coach has given glimpses of their relationship and life on social media over the years. 

In addition to sharing family photos, she has also championed his career, which has included publishing his novel The Great Gamble in 2020. 

From how they were introduced to how they support each other, here’s everything to know about Bluder’s husband. 

His parents introduced them

Bluder and David first connected during her senior year of high school in 1979 when she was working at his parents’ restaurant Country Kitchen in Marion, Iowa, per the Des Moines Register. 

“My mom wrote a letter and said, ‘I’ve found a girlfriend for you,’” David recalled to the publication. “'She’s cute and bubbly and blonde.’ My mom was like the Fiddler on the Roof matchmaker.”

They got married in 1984

After David’s mom played Cupid, the couple tied the knot in 1984, according to the Des Moines Register. Their wedding came a year after Bluder graduated from the University of Northern Iowa, where she played for the women's basketball team, per the school’s athletic website. 

They have three children 

Since getting married, the couple has welcomed three children together, daughters Hannah and Emma and a son named David Jr.

Bluder’s eldest daughter Hannah followed in her footsteps by attending the University of Iowa, eventually graduating with a degree in sport and recreational management with a business emphasis, per her bio on the university website. Upon her graduation, she was hired as the director of operations for the women’s basketball team under her mother. 

Like her sister, Emma studied at the University of Iowa, where she majored in elementary education. During her time at the university, she sang the National Anthem for a handful of Iowa Hawkeyes games, including the 2019 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. 

Bluder and David’s youngest, David Jr., also has the basketball gene. He is currently a junior at Grinnell College in Iowa, where he plays for the men’s basketball team as a guard, according to the school’s website. 

He put his career on hold to take care of their kids after a life-changing accident 

In 1997, David was driving to see the Hale Bopp comet when a driver crashed into his car, causing him to fly through his windshield and land in a ditch, according to the Des Moines Register. 

The accident left David in a coma for three days. When he awoke, he decided to put his career on hold to prioritize taking care of his three children. A former banker at Iowa Transfer system, David gave up the world of finance to be a full-time dad. 

He’s an author 

Though David left his career in finance behind, he has followed other career pursuits in recent years. In 2020, he released a novel titled The Great Gamble, which centers around the “deceptive and corrupt universe of gambling and sports,” per the official logline. 

Speaking with The Athletic about David’s novel, Bluder noted how proud she was of her husband as it “gave him a great sense of purpose.” 

“He quit his job to kind of take care of our kids,” she noted. “And when we moved to Iowa City, he didn’t have as many connections here in Iowa City. So, I thought it was a good opportunity to kind of keep him focused on something, and it was exciting. It was something totally different and new and I really admired him for taking on something entirely new at this stage in our life. It’s really, I think, commendable.” 

The novel centers around a basketball player for the University of Iowa, where Bluder coaches — and though she did make sure to give her boss a heads-up about the novel, she stressed to The Athletic that the story is entirely fictional. 

“It’s a fictitious novel, and it’s stated right up front that it’s fictitious,” she explained. “I think that all the Iowa connections actually make it just more enjoyable for anybody from the state of Iowa or has ever visited Iowa City. I just think for Iowa people it just makes it more relatable."

(She did add, jokingly, "I’m glad it was a men’s player and not a women’s player.”)