Staff Directory

Denise Jilka

Title:
Executive Director of Basketball Operations
Year At Tennessee:
13th (1st With Lady Vol Basketball)
Alma Mater (Year):
Bradley (2011)

Denise Jilka is in her first season as the executive director of basketball operations for Lady Vol Basketball, after Kim Caldwell announced her addition to the staff on May 15, 2026.

Jilka has a wealth of experience working in college athletics and playing a variety of roles that involve communication and coordination with student-athletes as well as with other team and university personnel. She has been at UT for nearly 12 years and has spent much of that time working with Lady Vol hoops in the area of academics. She will join Maggie Stanley, the assistant director of women's basketball operations/special assistant to the head coach, in handling program logistics, academics, daily scheduling, travel and more.

“I could not be happier to announce Denise Jilka as our executive director of basketball operations,” Caldwell said. “Because of her work ethic and her familiarity with our program, our staff and personnel around the university and SEC, I expect this to be a seamless transition. Her energetic personality and spirit, her organizational skills and her ability to connect with people will serve her and our program well in this role.”

Joining the University of Tennessee’s Thornton Athletic Student Life Center as an assistant academic counselor in 2014, Jilka was promoted to academic counselor/tutor coordinator in 2015 and served as a counselor until 2021. She was elevated to assistant director of academic services in 2021 and then director of academic services for Olympic sports in 2023. She has served in that role for the rebranded Tennessee Tailored academic department since then.

A key contributor in Tennessee Tailored’s push for record-breaking academic success in recent years, Jilka has overseen the Lady Vols’ strong work in the classroom and helped continue the program’s 100-percent graduation rate for those who have completed their eligibility here. She also has experience with international student-athlete onboarding/programming and has had oversight of women’s basketball’s “Guest Coach” program.

Jilka, a native of the Midwest, played softball at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, earning a B.S. in psychology from BU in 2011. She later completed an M.A. in sport and performance psychology from the University of Denver in 2013 and earned an M.S. in sport management from Tennessee in 2017.