As the Hillsdale College women's basketball team prepares to enter the 2026-27 season with big goals, head coach
Brianna Brennan has her coaching staff set for the campaign with the addition of
Kylie Jimenez.
Both a decorated former player and an experienced assistant coach, Jimenez is an impressive addition to the Chargers' staff for the season to come.
"From my first interview with (Coach Brennan) on the phone, I've been inspired by the culture she's building here at Hillsdale and her vision for what the program can be," Jimenez said. "It's a perfect match for the type of program that I want to be a part of, and I'm excited to be here and contribute any way I can."
Jimenez comes to Hillsdale from the Metropolitan University of Denver, where she spent the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach and helped the Roadrunners to a nine win improvement and the program's first RMAC Tournament berth in three seasons. A former point guard herself, Jimenez worked with MSU-Denver star Mikylah Espinoza, helping her double her number of assists while earning first-team All-RMAC honors.
Prior to her year at MSU-Denver, Jimenez got into coaching at Division I program McNeese State, where she spent two seasons as an assistant and helped the Cowgirls to a four-win improvement from year one to year two in the Southland Conference. Jimenez also spent time as an instructor and coach at Point Guard College, helping run camps to develop the skills of current and future college stars.
Jimenez got into coaching after a stellar women's basketball playing career, starting at Portland State University, where she excelled for four years under head coach Lynn Kennedy. Jimenez was a star from the start for the Vikings, earning Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors, as well as being named to the All-Big Sky team twice. In 2018-19, Jimenez was named to the All-Big Sky Tourney team while leading Portland State to just its second NCAA DI Tournament berth in program history and its first in nine seasons. Jimenez finished her Portland State career ranked 12th all-time in program history in career points, fifth in 3-pointers made, and third in assists, while playing in a program record 122 consecutive games. She's one of just three players in Vikings history to finish her career with over 1,000 points, 500 assists and 250 steals.
She finished her collegiate playing career at the University of Nevada-Reno, where she started all 33 games and helped power the Wolfpack to a 20 win season, their best Mountain West finish in program history, and the team's best record in over a decade. Jimenez finished in the top 10 in the Mountain West in steals and assists in her lone season in Reno, and was second in all of NCAA DI in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.19).
After her collegiate playing career Jimenez played one season professionally with Tus Lichterfelde in Berlin, Germany before returning to the United States to begin her coaching career. She was also a member of the "WBCA So You Want to Be a Coach" program in 2022.
Hillsdale will kick off the 2026-27 season with its first official competition on Nov. 13 and 14 in Springfield, Illinois at a Midwest Region Crossover event. Hillsdale will face host Illinois-Springfield and Purdue Northwest in two games with exact dates and times still to be determined. The Chargers will play their home opener in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena against Wayne State on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m.
