Ava Denton - Women's Basketball Coach - Central Michigan University Athletics

Ava Denton

Title:
Director of Basketball Operations
E-Mail Address:
dento1a@cmich.edu
Year at CMU:
5th
Hometown:
Utica, Mich.
Alma Mater/Year:
Central Michigan '24
Experience:
1st

Ava Denton was retained for a full-time role as Central Michigan Women's Basketball's Director of Basketball Operations in the summer of 2025 upon graduating with master of arts in sports administration from CMU.

As the program’s DOBO, she organizes the team’s logistics, coordinates team meals, aids in running camps, oversees student managers and more. A longtime team student assistant for the program, Denton took on a graduate assistant role as the DOBO for the Chippewas in the summer of 2024.

A unique role for Denton has been organizing the program’s annual Hoops for Hunger contest since the 2022-23 season. The event invites local school districts to attend a midweek contest after a coordinated canned food drive between the districts and the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Denton has taken the lead for both events, conducting meetings with relevant staff and coaches at CMU in executing the event. The two drives she helped organize combined to raise over 30,000 pounds of food.

Denton’s relationship with the program began almost as soon as she stepped foot on campus after she graduated from Utica High School in 2021. As the head student manager for the program, she helped with game and practice setup, was the lead among the student assistants, took bench stats and cut practice and game film.

The Utica, Mich.-native completed her bachelor’s degree in sport management in 2024 while already in the sports administration graduate program at CMU.