Jen Tamas is in her ninth season on the Illinois volleyball coaching staff after joining the Illini as a volunteer assistant coach in March 2017. With the NCAA eliminating the volunteer coach designation in July of 2023, Tamas (pronounced Thomas) was elevated to assistant coach.

Tamas helped Illinois to vast improvement in 2025, with the team owning an 18-13 overall record and a 10-10 mark against 18 Big Ten foes. Racking up the accolades once again was Terry, who was a unanimous All-Big Ten First Team honoree, an AVCA All-Region selection, and an AVCA All-American during her final campaign donning the Orange and Blue. 

Terry closed out her career with 2,138 kills, 2,522.0 points, and 220 aces. All three marks rank first in the Illinois volleyball record book. Terry wasn't the only Illini to earn an all-conference nod as middle blocker Ashlyn Philpot was named to the All-Freshman Team. Philpot became a mainstay in the Fighting Illini lineup since the first match of the season, as the middle blocker started all 30 contests for the Orange and Blue in 2024. In her first match at Huff Hall, the North Carolina native tallied a double-double, amassing 11 kills and 10 blocks. The last time a middle blocker achieved such a feat was Kennedy Collins in 2021. The last freshman middle to post such numbers was Illini All-American and Ali Bastianelli in 2015. Philpot tallied double-digit kills in four Big Ten matches in her debut season, including 17 kills in a five-set triumph over No. 20 USC. The following night, she recorded 11 kills while hitting .667 against Ohio State. Such marks accompanied with nine roofs on the weekend helped Philpot earn her first-ever Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor. 

During the 2022 season, Tamas saw the Fighting Illini go 15-15 overall and 10-10 against Big Ten opponents. Junior outside hitter Raina Terry was named a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten First Team and also received AVCA All-Region honors. Brooke Mosher was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team that season as well. Illinois improved to 16-14 in 2023 with an 11-9 Big Ten mark. Terry, once again, received All-Big Ten First Team honors and garnered AVCA All-Region accolades for a second-straight year.

In 2021, Tamas helped Illinois to its third trip to the Round of 16 in five seasons following back-to-back wins to open the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Illini finished the 2021 season ranked No. 16 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll with a 22-12 overall record and finished seventh with a 12-8 mark in the Big Ten Conference.  

Illinois experienced one of its most successful seasons ever in 2018 as the Illini made the program’s fourth-ever appearance in the NCAA National Semifinals as the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament – riding a 17-match win streak into the Final Four – and ended the season ranked No. 3 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The team registered a 32-4 overall record and finished in second place in the Big Ten Conference with a 17-3 mark, with the 32 victories ranking tied for fourth-most wins in a single season in school history.

Under Tamas’ leadership, the Illini have collected a number of individual honors, highlighted by AVCA All-America First-Team selections in Jordyn Poulter and Jacqueline Quade. Middle blocker Ali Bastianelli also garnered All-America honors. The middle blocker was the first Illini player to reach 700 career blocks, owning 750 for her career.

In her first season at Illinois, Tamas helped the Illini back to the NCAA Regionals for the program’s 17th Round of 16 appearance in its history. The Illini finished the 2017 season with a 23-11 overall record, including a fifth-place showing in the Big Ten Conference with a 12-8 mark, as well as a final ranking of No. 17 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Tamas joined her husband at Illinois following volunteer assistant stints with him at Nebraska from 2015-2017 and at Cal Poly from 2013-14.

The former Jen Joines was a four-time All-American middle blocker at Pacific (2000-03). She played professionally for eight years in Japan, Italy, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Puerto Rico and was the U.S. Women’s National Team captain for four years.  

As a middle blocker with the United States Women’s National Team, Jen Tamas made more than 60 appearances in eight years. She assisted the U.S. to silver at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and helped lift the country to gold at the 2012 Pan-American Cup.

She was the 2003 Big West Conference Player of the Year and 2000 Big West Freshman of the Year at Pacific, where she led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament each year. Tamas earned communication and business degrees at Pacific. Tamas was inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.

A native of Santa Clara, California, Tamas and her husband have three children: Jimmy, Josephine, and Carly.