Drake pride.

State of Iowa pride.

Women’s sports pride.

Women empowering women.

When it comes to the Glazer family and Drake University — Monday was proof that few do it better.

When philanthropist Suzie Glazer-Burt handed over $5 million to the women’s basketball program that Jennie Baranczyk runs so successfully, it was a historic moment. Not just here, but nationally.

Drake athletics chief Brian Hardin said this tied the largest non-capital donation ever for a women's basketball program — matching an amount previously given to Notre Dame women's basketball. Such donations are meant specifically for the program, as opposed to a brick-and-mortar facilities project.

For perspective, Notre Dame is a year removed from a national championship and appeared again in the Final Four this spring.

When "Drake athletics" and "$5 million gift" are used in the same sentence — that’s significant.

It’s a major headline that shows Baranczyk’s respected program is becoming one to recognize nationally. It also shows how important it is that she continue to be the Bulldogs’ coach, even as other major programs may try to lure the Dowling Catholic and University of Iowa grad away.

She already knows the grass isn't always greener. This only further cements that reality.

“The day after we lost our game against Missouri in the NCAA Tournament, Jennie had people knocking at her door,” Glazer-Burt told the Register. “The next day, they were here. They offered her an enormous amount of money.”

Word on the street was that Marquette came calling, to which Baranczyk said she interviewed with no one.

“Jennie does not make very much money,” Glazer-Burt continued after Monday’s formal announcement. “There are professors on this campus that make more money than Jennie.”

Glazer-Burt is a trustee on the university's board and part of a family involved in marketing and finance.

“These women have empowered me,” Glazer-Burt said. “A portion of my gift will be to transform Jennie’s salary — to keep her in Des Moines."

Hardin said a new contract is in the works, “with a salary commensurateto what a Top 25 program should be worth,” he said.

He declined to be specific, but it will be considerably more than the $180,000 she earned this year. What about $300,000 annually?

He responded: “We’ll be north of that. It’s a significant improvement for someone who’s very deserving if it."

Drake has played in three NCAA Tournaments in a row, after winning the Missouri Valley Conference each of those seasons. Baranczyk’s program has ranked in the Top 10 nationally in team grade-point average each of the past five seasons. It has performed 1,000 or more community service hours in the Drake and Des Moines communities during each of Baranczyk's seven seasons as the coach.

Baranczyk, 37, was mentioned among a long list of prospects to be the new coach at Tennessee last month. That job went to Missouri Valley peer Kellie Harper, a former UT standout who most recently coached at Missouri State.

Her name has popped up elsewhere — like Marquette — and there’s always been the thought among some people that she’s the coach that eventually will replace Iowa’s Lisa Bluder.

“You hear everything,” Baranczyk said. “Everyone wants me to go somewhere else. I don’t know where somewhere else is.

“How many people do you know that get to raise their kids around their family? I’m raising my kids where I grew up. It’s not always about chasing a paycheck. You can’t take that for granted.

“This isn’t about keeping me; it’s about saying, 'Drake women’s basketball matters here.' That’s the important thing to me.”

It’s important to Glazer-Burt, too. She has deep ties to the Drake community and Des Moines. Her father, Edward, was the former CEO of Des Moines-based Dial Financial Services, and the sale of his company helped bring Wells Fargo to the city.

“Jennie is passionate about Drake athletics,” Glazer-Burt said. “I feel that this will seal the deal. I want us to be the very, very best that we can. We’re already competing at a national level, but I want to give the girls the tools, so that they can have the best facility, the very best in their training and their coaching.”

Part of the money will be used to improve travel, substituting long bus trips with either commercial or chartered flights. Part of the money will go to the staff. Some will go to facilities upgrades. It will go toward scheduling higher-level opponents, besides annual games against Iowa State and Iowa.

“The first million dollars is to go to Jennie and to let her spend it however she wants," Glazer-Burt said. “I said, 'If you want to buy a new house — then go and buy a new house. I want you to have fun.'

“The other $4 million will be to improve salaries of her staff, and upgrade things inside the program. The team will be on airplanes from now on, and not buses.

“That’s the big thing for me — making it good for them. They don’t need to be on the road in a bus for 2½ days for playing a 3-hour game.”

Baranczyk came back to the theme of women empowering women.

“The biggest thing it does, is that it shows the significant impact that these women continue to have in this community and on lives,” the coach said. “You hope (the $5 million) is going to turn into something that will help us to operate at a high level, but it’s so much more than that.

“It’s about the way that these women have impacted lives.”

Sports columnist Randy Peterson has been with the Register for parts of five decades. Randy writes opinion and analysis of college sports. You can reach Randy at rpeterson@dmreg.com or on Twitter at @RandyPete.