Colleen Gillis - Rowing Coach - University of Tennessee Athletics

Colleen Gillis

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
cgillis3@utk.edu

Gillis arrived on Rocky Top prior to the 2023-24 season, having served as a graduate assistant for one season under head coach Kim Cupini at SMU. There, she helped lead the Mustangs’ surge to a ninth-place finish at the 2023 NCAA Rowing Championship and a sweep at the AAC Championship.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to be joining the Rocky Top family,” Gillis said. “I believe that Kim’s commitment to excellence on and off the water, combined with the talented incoming staff, sets the stage for a new era of Tennessee Rowing. I am thrilled to get to work and to help build Tennessee Rowing into a powerhouse team.”

In her first season on Rocky Top, Gillis helped lead Tennessee to its best season in program history. The Lady Vols ascended to No. 3 in the CRCA national rankings by season’s end, and placed third nationally—a program-best finish—at the 2024 NCAA Championships.

Gillis and the rest of the Tennessee coaching staff earned the CRCA National Staff of the Year Award for their remarkable efforts in 2023-24.

At the 2024 Big 12 Championships, the Lady Vols tied their best-ever finish, placing second as a team and medaling in all five boats. Tennessee’s five CRCA All-Americans in 2023-24 marked a program record, as UT upped its all-time First Team All-American count from three to seven.

In her one year on staff at SMU, Gillis aided the Mustangs to a wealth of success. The Varsity 8 recorded its best finish, having an outstanding finish to win the Petite Final and place seventh in the country. SMU advanced all three boats to the A/B semifinals at the NCAA Championship for the first time in program history and finished the Championship with 85 points—the most ever for SMU and highest finish by an AAC program. The Mustangs ended the year ranked No. 9 in the Pocock CRCA Coaches Poll, which marked the highest ranking in team history.

A former student-athlete for the Mustangs, Gillis was a member of the SMU rowing team from 2019-2021. As the Mustangs’ coxswain of the 1V8+ boat in 2020 and 2021, Gillis’ fifth-year campaign at SMU in 2021 saw her cox the 1V8+ boat that finished 13th overall in its class at the program's first trip to the NCAA Championships. Prior to that, the Mustangs won the program’s first AAC Championship as Gillis’ 1V8+ boat logged a first-place finish in 2021, being named the AAC 1V8+ Boat of the Year that season. Gillis was named to the 2021 All-AAC First Team. In 2020 Gillis earned a nomination to the CRCA Pocock All-American list after the season ended due to COVID-19.

“Colleen was a tremendous collegiate coxswain and has carried that into her coaching over the last few years,” Cupini said. “She has proven her ability to connect with the student-athletes and it has been impressive to see her develop exceptional coxswains. Inspiring those coxswains and other rowers at Tennessee will help us foster a cohesive and synchronized team dynamic.”

After graduating from SMU, she spent a season as an assistant coach and coxswain coach at Treasure Coast Rowing Club in Stuart, Florida, before returning to the Hilltop as graduate assistant at conclusion of the 2022 season.

Prior to her stinit at SMU, Gillis coxed at Miami (2017-19), helping lead the program to its best ever ACC Championship finish in the 1V8+.

A native of Freehold, N.J., Gillis earned her bachelor's degree in applied physiology and sport management from SMU in 2021 and earned her master's in sport management in 2023.