Bentley University

The 2026 season marks Joey Pacis' 13th year as Bentley's head volleyball coach. He has led the Falcons to three consecutive NCAA East Regional titles (2023-2025), including a final four appearance in 2024. The 2023 season marked the program's first ever regional title. Bentley has hosted the NCAA East Regional in each of the past two seasons. 

The 2025 Falcons won both the Northeast 10 Regular Season and Northeast 10 Tournament titles. Bentley went undefeated in conference matches that season. Pacis was named the NE10 Coach of the Year, and he was the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) East Region Coach of the Year. The Falcons ended the season ranked No. 22 in the nation by the AVCA.
During the 2025 season, Elizabeth Blinn ’26 was named the NE10’s Defensive Player of the Year, and Tory Vitko ’28 was named the NE10 Setter of the Year. Blinn also became the first player in program history to be named to an All-America Team by the AVCA (Third Team).  

At the 2024 Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Bentley knocked off No. 1 ranked Ferris State in five sets to advance to the Final Four. The Falcons became the first NE10 team to advance to the national semifinals. Bentley ended the season ranked No. 18 by the AVCA. That was the first time in program history the Falcons achieved a national ranking.

Entering the 2026 season, Pacis sports a career record at Bentley of 220-112 overall and 105-33 in NE10 matches. He has 337 career wins overall in 20 seasons as an NCAA head coach.
Pacis has been named the NE10 Sandy Hoffman Coach of the Year four times during his Bentley tenure (2025, 2023, 2019, 2014). He has led the Falcons to seven NCAA Championship appearances (2014, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025).

In 2022 the Falcons were NE10 co-regular season champions, and in 2019 Pacis guided the program to both the NE10 Tournament title and the NE10 Regular Season championship. 

The 2019 season saw Pacis earn both the NE10 Coach of the Year award and the AVCA Division II East Region Coach of the Year. The Falcons went 26-6 overall and posted a 16-match winning streak.

Pacis initially came to Bentley in 2013 as an assistant to AVCA Hall of Famer Sandy Hoffman and took over as head coach when she stepped aside for health reasons prior to the 2014 season. 

Prior to Bentley, The University of Illinois graduate was the head coach at Merrimack College for eight years, from 2003-10. He’s the winningest coach in Merrimack’s volleyball history, with a career record of 117-116, and guided his team to the program’s first two NCAA tournament berths, in 2007 and 2008.

Pacis was the Northeast 10 Coach of the Year in both of those seasons, and his team twice had the highest cumulative GPA among Merrimack’s varsity teams (2007, 2008). His 2009 team set a school record for wins with 21. Prior to being named Merrimack's head coach in February 2003, Pacis served as an assistant with the program for three years.

Pacis was an outstanding player for the University of Illinois, serving as the team’s starting setter for four years. In 1994, he helped the Fighting Illini win its first Big Ten men’s volleyball championship and earned second team All-Tournament honors. Illinois finished No. 17 in the nation.

While attending Illinois, Pacis volunteered as a student coach for the women’s Division I volleyball program under the direction of Mike Hebert and also coached at the Fighting Illini’s summer volleyball camps.

A native of Southern California, Pacis graduated from Illinois with a Bachelor of Science degree in General Engineering. He resides in Watertown with his wife, Holly, their son, Ryan, and their chocolate lab, Jack.