Jacob Lee enters into his fourth year as assistant coach for the women's gymnastics program.

The Orange and Blue saw a vast improvement on the bars apparatus during Lee's third season as the primary bars coach for Illinois. After only eclipsing the 49.000 mark twice during 2016, Illinois produced scored above 49.000 six times in 2017. The Illini's hit a season-high 49.225 mark twice last season. Five Illini scored career-high marks on the apparatus in 2017 with Mary Jane Horth leading the way with a 9.950 at the B1G Five Meet and a 9.925 mark at the Big Ten Championships. Horth's scores are good for the fifth and tenth-highest individual scores in program history. The redshirt-junior also earned the Big Ten Bars title at the Big Ten Championships on March 18 at Rutgers. 

In his second season with the Fighting Illini, Lee helped the women's gymnastics program qualify for the NCAA Regionals in Salt Lake City. The Illini  garnered six bars individual titles. 

In his first season, Lee improved the bars regional qualifying score to 49.305. Lee led two Illini to All-American status on bars, with Mary Jane Horth earning NACGC/W First-Team All-American and Sunny Kato earning NACGC/W Second-Team All-American. Illinois posted six scores on bars that rank in the top-10 all-time list, attaining the third highest total (49.425) at the Big Ten Championships. In addition, the Illini was one of only seven schools to  never posted a team total on bars less than 49.000 all season, while also claiming nine individual titles on the event. 

Lee came to Illinois after spending the last two years as an assistant at the University of Iowa. Lee is quite familiar with the Big Ten, as he competed for four years in gymnastics with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

In his short time with Iowa, Lee made an immediate impact leading the Hawkeyes to their sixth straight NCAA postseason appearance in his first year in Iowa City. Lee, who coached both floor and vault, led the floor lineup to a No. 21 national ranking and 49.140 RQS. In his second year, Lee guided six Hawkeyes into qualifying for NCAA Regionals.

While competing at Minnesota, Lee was a three-time All-American (twice for all-around and once for parallel bars), two-time All-Big Ten First Team honoree and Big Ten Freshman Gymnast of the Year. After graduating in 2007 with an Applied Economics degree, Lee went on to coaching at TAGS Gymnastics in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Prior to competing at the University of Minnesota, Lee was an elite gymnsat who regularly competed at the USA National Championships, where he won a Junior Vault National Championship. Both of Lee's parents were gymnasts at Ohio State and coached Miss Marlow to the 1988 Olympic Games.