Familiar Faces: Hawkeyes in Sports Media

PHOTO: HAWKEYESPORTS.COM/Brian Ray Lisa Bluder (center) and Mark Hall interview Jan Jensen, Iowa’s P. Sue Beckwith, MD, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, after the Hawkeyes’ win over Drake. Bluder debuted as a color commentator for the Big Ten Network in November.

It’s a new chapter for Lisa Bluder.

The former Iowa women’s basketball head coach made her debut as a color commentator on the Big Ten Network this past fall when the Hawkeyes beat Drake at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In January, she started working as a studio analyst for NBC and Peacock.

After 40 years on the sidelines, Bluder says it’s an adjustment going from coaching to behind the camera.

“I’m going home happy every night, and that’s the great part about working on TV,” she says. “I have absolutely no impact on the game, and that’s something I’m still getting used to as a color commentator.”

When Bluder retired in 2024 after back-to-back national title game appearances, she wasn’t expecting to find herself in sports media. However, once the offers started to come, she liked the idea of continuing to work in the game.

“Being on TV is certainly new for me, but what’s not new is talking basketball,” she says. “I’ve been doing that for a long time.”

While Bluder is adjusting to her new winter pastime, she’s not the only Hawkeye who is charting a path in sports media.

Submitted Photo Jess Settles (98BA, 05MA) and Paul Burmeister (94BA, 97MA) report from the sidelines for NBC/Peacock during a Creighton men’s basketball game in Omaha, Nebraska, earlier this season.

Jess Settles: From Hawkeye Star to Long-Standing Color Commentator

Jess Settles (98BA, 05MA) has long had a love for basketball. Growing up in southeast Iowa, he led Winfield-Mount Union High School to two state tournament appearances, earned Iowa’s Mr. Basketball in 1993, and wrote about his experiences in the local newspaper.

When Settles joined the Iowa men’s basketball squad in 1993, he became an integral part of Coach Tom Davis’ squad and was named Big Ten Conference freshman of the year. Starting 99 games over his six-year career, Settles concluded his time as a Hawkeye by leading Iowa to the Sweet 16 in 1999.

Since then, Settles has worked on his family farm in southeast Iowa and become a mainstay on numerous sports broadcasts throughout the winter as a color commentator for Big Ten Network, FloSports, ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and FS1.

Settles works around 40 games a year, using his background as a Hawkeye to enrich the production.

“Audiences are really interested in what value you can add to a broadcast,” says Settles. “That’s more important than a big name. I strive to reach, explain, and entertain them by connecting the past to the future. People love stories, and if I’m covering an Iowa men’s basketball game, you know I’m going to share a lot of stories.”

To prepare for a game, Settles watches previous matchups and builds a board with player names and statistics. He says, “You want to be able to glance down quickly and find what you need.”

He’ll also attend practices, meet with network staff to talk about storylines, and watch shootaround before the game. “You have to do your research, find the stories, and study the matchups,” says Settles, who now calls Pella, Iowa, home.

Throughout any given game, Settles—as a color commentator— shares his opinions, insights, and stories with viewers. However, much more is going on behind the scenes.

During a broadcast, Settles is constantly hitting the talk back button, which means he can speak to the producer while the game is happening—and the audience can’t hear it. Settles is relaying what he’s seeing so that after a timeout, he can walk viewers through a key play or moment.

“There’s constant in-game communication,” he says. “People are talking in your ear while you’re live on TV—and that can be really hard to manage if you’re not used to it.”

Once the game is over, the process starts again.

“You have all this research and notes, and within 20 seconds of the game being over, you slide everything into a trash can next to the courtside table,” says Settles. “Coaches and players might be celebrating, but for me, it’s onto the next game.”

In a competitive industry, Settles and Bluder have built relationships with others in sports media to improve and grow. Settles has received advice from Coach Davis, ESPN’s Jay Bilas, and his wife, Joanna Woepking Settles (00MA, 12PhD), who also works part-time in the industry. Bluder has relied on ESPN’s Debbie Antonelli and the Big Ten Network’s Shimmy Miller to adjust to being on camera.

“Being on TV for a couple hours straight is something I’m getting used to—it was a little terrifying the first time,” says Bluder. “But it’s still like coaching. You can’t always prepare for what’s going to happen, but you still have to do your homework, watch film, and figure out the keys to the game.”

Submitted Photo Joanna and Jess Settles sit courtside during a game between Miami and Oklahoma State at the Cayman Islands Women’s Basketball Classic in November. Joanna Settles, a middle school STEM teacher at Indianola Middle School, does part-time broadcasting for Central College and for Iowa high school basketball and volleyball state tournaments.