With Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell taking time away from the team due to the birth of her first child, there will be a new coach in charge of the team for the duration of her leave.
The acting head coach will be assistant Jenna Burdette.
Here’s what you need to know about her.
Burdette is in her first year with Tennessee but not her first alongside Caldwell. She was an assistant coach with Caldwell at Division II Glenville State from 2018-20. In that span, the Pioneers went 56-8, including a 40-4 record in conference play.
In the three years, the duo won two Mountain East Conference regular season titles, three MEC Tournament titles and made three NCAA Tournament appearances.
For the 2020-21 season, Burdette stepped away from her role at Glenville State. She took the job as director of basketball operations at Northern Kentucky for one season. Then, she went to Marshall beginning in the 2021-22 campaign.
Burdette was still an assistant with the Thundering Herd heading into the 2022-23 season when Caldwell was hired to be head coach. She retained Burdette as the pair reunited at the Division I level.
In the lone season at Marshall, Caldwell and Burdette led the team to a 26-7 overall and 17-1 conference record as they went on to win the Sun Belt regular season and tournament championships. This gave them a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
After this year, Caldwell was hired by the Lady Vols where she brought Burdette and Angel Rizor with her as assistant coaches.
As a player, Burdette spent 2014-18 with Dayton. She earned a degree in exercise science while appearing in 120 games. She averaged 11.2 points per game and was the 25th player in program history to hit the 1,000-point mark.
She was a two-time All-A-10 player including a first team nod as a senior. That final year, she averaged 16.2 points and 3.9 assists per game while hitting on 44.5% of her 3-point attempts.
As a junior, she was named the A-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Performer. In that year’s NCAA Tournament, her Dayton team met Tennessee in the Round of 64. The 5-seed Lady Vols beat the 12-seed Flyers 66-57 despite a tie at 29 at halftime.
Burdette scored seven points, grabbed three rebounds and passed for three assists in 28 minutes on the floor.
At Reedsville Eastern High School in Coolville, Ohio, Burdette was named a three-time First Team Ohio selection. She is her school’s career leading scorer.
She was named Associated Press Division IV Southeastern District Player of the Year for three years and was the No. 19 player at her position according to ESPNW. She was given a 90 scout grade which was enough to earn a five-star designation while being the No. 8 player in the state.
