Staff Directory
- Title:
- Associate Director, Football Performance Nutrition
- Phone:
- 217-333-1400
Jordan Giese enters his sixth season with the Illinois football program and first as Associate Director, Football Performance Nutrition in 2026.
This past season, as assistant performance dietitian, he worked with more than 50 football athletes while also managing nutrition oversight for three Olympic sports. He mentored the nutrition fellow in addition to 20 interns.
From 2024 to 2025, he served as the Football Sports Nutrition Fellow, coordinating with the team and catering staff to develop multiple meals a day for more than 200 people. He also provided regular nutrition counsel and meal plans for more than 40 football athletes, and traveled with the advance staff to prepare for the team’s arrival on the road.
During the past two seasons in Champaign, Giese has helped the Illini to its winningest two-year run in program history from 2024-25, including 19 wins, 11 Big Ten wins, six ranked wins, and two victories over SEC opponents in the 2024 Citrus Bowl vs. #14 South Carolina and 2025 Music City Bowl vs. #23 Tennessee. With Giese on staff, Illinois has the fourth-most Power-4 wins (15) over the last two seasons among Big Ten teams, behind only Ohio State (21), Oregon (20), and Indiana (19). The Illini are one of 15 Power-4 programs to win 9+ games in each of the last two seasons.
In the spring of 2024, he served as interim Director of Football Nutrition, during which he presented educational material to the team, managed the budget for the nutrition department, and advised on athlete injury protocol.
From 2023 to 2024, Giese served as a graduate assistant for football sports nutrition, managing fuel station inventory, product ordering, and organization. In this role, Giese also conducted USG hydration testing and body composition scans for all 120 football athletes.
In 2022, Giese was hired on as a student manager for football sports nutrition, managing onboarding, weekly scheduling, and communication for 20 student volunteers. He began as a volunteer with the program in August 2021, helping to prepare smoothies and other products for more than 120 football student-athletes.
Giese graduated from Illinois in 2023 with his bachelor’s degree in food science and human nutrition. In 2025, he earned a master’s degree from Illinois, also in food science and human nutrition.
A member of the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitian Association, Giese resides in Urbana.
