Jaclynn Wilson - Beach Volleyball Coach

wilson_ovc_beach_championship_trophy_300

Jaclynn Wilson

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
jyocum@utm.edu
Phone:
614-230-5763

Jaclynn Wilson is in her eighth season as the University of Tennessee at Martin head beach volleyball coach in 2025. She also serves as the head coach of the Skyhawk indoor volleyball program, having served in that role since May 11, 2015.

Wilson has been an integral part of UT Martin not only debuting a beach volleyball program (which began during the 2016-17 school year) but also developing the Skyhawks into an Ohio Valley Conference powerhouse. UT Martin is the only program in OVC history to sweep the league's regular season and tournament championships in back-to-back seasons (2022 and 2023) as the Skyhawks became the first OVC automatic qualifier to advance to the NCAA Tournament in each of those years. She also added a 2024 OVC regular season crown for the program's fifth straight conference title. For her efforts, she was the only beach volleyball coach to be named to the OVC's 75th Anniversary Team during the summer of 2023.

Wilson has overseen a complete transformation of the UT Martin program. After winning seven combined matches in their first three years of existence (including an 0-15 mark in the debut season), the Skyhawks have gone 94-52 over the last five seasons with a 38-10 mark in OVC play during that stretch.

Last season, the Skyhawks dialed up their second-most victories in a single season, going 24-10 overall with a 7-3 mark in OVC play. UT Martin advanced to the OVC Championship finals as seven different Skyhawks combined for 11 OVC regular season or postseason accolades, including OVC Freshman of the Year Lauren Mariscal. UT Martin also tacked on four more OVC Pair of the Week awards while the Skyhawks collected a school-record three AVCA Top Flight pairs (Kayla Bryant/Olivia O'Keefe, Lauren Mariscal/Jenna Vallée and Sydney Eckhardt/Reagan McGee) in 2025.

In 2024, UT Martin accumulated 16 victories and went 9-1 in the OVC standings for its third straight regular season title and fifth consecutive OVC championship crown. Eight total Skyhawks combined for nine OVC postseason awards, including four All-OVC first teamers, four All-OVC second team honorees and an OVC All-Freshman.

UT Martin's Kayla Carrell and McGee were named as one of only 53 total pairs across NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA levels to bring home the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top Flight Award. The Skyhawk duo of Sydney Eckhardt and Dylan Mott also won two OVC Pair of the Week accolades and were named to the OVC All-Tournament Team.

UT Martin completely dominated during the 2023 beach volleyball campaign - setting an OVC record for most victories (27) in a single season. The Skyhawks became the first OVC program to complete an undefeated season in league play (10-0), winning 48 of their 50 head-to-head matchups along the way. UT Martin knocked off its first two ranked opponents in school history, defeating No. 11 Georgia State and No. 20 Stetson on back-to-back days. As a direct result, the Skyhawks earned votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association top-20 poll for the first time ever. UT Martin also managed a 13-match winning streak, almost doubling the previous school record of seven.

Wilson and associate head coach Julia Noe were crowned as OVC Coaching Staff of the Year for the second time in three seasons. Overall, nine different Skyhawks garnered All-OVC accolades as UT Martin saw four of its five pairs earn postseason hardware. The Skyhawks became the first school to ever land three pairs on the five-pair All-OVC first team, which included 2023 OVC Championship Most Valuable Pair Kambree Lucas and O'Keefe. UT Martin additionally combined for six of the OVC's nine Pair of the Week honorees in 2023 and another AVCA Top Flight pair in Haeleigh Paulino/Vallée.

Outside of the sand, the 2023 beach volleyball squad became the first in school history to nab an AVCA Team Acacemic Award with a 3.44 Grade Point Average.

In 2022, the Skyhawks reeled off 17 victories - the same amount of wins the program had in their first four years combined. UT Martin swept both OVC championships, sharing the league’s regular season title with Austin Peay before going 3-0 in the OVC Championship tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Skyhawks won four OVC Pair of the Week accolades in the span of five weeks while nine different representatives combined for 11 All-OVC postseason awards, including the program’s first ever OVC Freshman of the Year in Mott. In addition, UT Martin landed four players on the OVC All-Tournament team, including Most Valuable Pair Carrell/Addison Conley. The team of Carrell/Conley also earned the AVCA Top Flight Award as they were one of only 62 pairs across NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA levels to garner the prestigious award.

In addition, the Skyhawks also won the OVC Team Academic Achievement Award for the second straight season in 2022. Receiving the honor that is presented annually in each Conference-sponsored sport to the member institution’s team with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes who achieved a 3.25 Grade Point Average or higher, UT Martin posted a 3.49 cumulative GPA in 2022 and a 3.59 cumulative GPA in 2021.

The Skyhawks posted a 10-7 overall record during the shortened 2021 season and advanced to the first-ever OVC Championship finals, which were held on the UT Martin campus. The Skyhawks swept both OVC Pair of the Week mentions during the two-week regular season as eight different UT Martin representatives combined to register 10 overall OVC postseason accolades. Wilson and Noe were voted as OVC Coaching Staff of the Year by their peers.

Building the program from scratch, Wilson assisted in the planning and building of a state-of-the-art facility on campus. UT Martin hosted its first-ever home beach volleyball match on March 13, 2019 - a double dual against Southern Miss.

In addition to her success in beach volleyball, Wilson has also elevated the Skyhawk indoor volleyball program as she is the program's all-time wins leader in the NCAA Division I Era (since 1992). In the fall of 2022, she helped guide UT Martin to its first OVC regular season championship in two decades, setting a school record for OVC wins (15 against just three losses) while also earning its first-ever postseason victory at the National Invitational Volleyball Championship event. During the 2021 fall campaign, the Skyhawks posted their highest winning percentage (.611) in league play since 2002. That came after the Skyhawks finished with a 9-7 OVC record in 2019, sporting a winning record in league play for the first time since 2011.

Wilson passed both the 200-career win plateau and the 100-win mark at UT Martin in the fall of 2022. Overall, her tenure includes four seasons as head coach at Columbus State Community College in Ohio as she amassed a 118-29 record (.803 winning percentage) and won 92 percent of her conference matches (46-4) from 2011-14. She guided the Cougars to a pair of Ohio Community College Athletic Conference championships, winning back-to-back OCCAC Coach of the Year accolades in the process. Columbus State reached the top-10 in the national standings in each of her final three years.

Wilson was named to the prestigious “Thirty Under 30” list compiled by the AVCA in 2015. She was one of just four Division-I head coaches to earn a spot on that list. Entering the 2025-26 academic year, she owns a 231-210 career record in indoor volleyball and 101-92 mark as a beach volleyball head coach.

Before taking over as head coach at Columbus State, Wilson spent one season as an assistant for the Cougars under head coach Kevin Burch. She also spent time as an adjunct professor for the sports and exercise science department at Columbus State.

Wilson played collegiately at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. She suffered a shoulder injury following her freshman season (2004) which was thought to be career-ending but she remarkably returned to the court in 2009 at Columbus State, where she was a star for a Cougar team that won the OCCAC title, the Region XII championship and reached the No. 7 spot at the national tournament under head coach Scott Nichols.

At the prep level, Wilson was a four-year letterwinner at Jonathan Alder High School, where she earned first team all-Ohio accolades. She was a two-time all-district honoree, a three-time all-county recipient and was the county and district player of the year as a senior in 2003. In addition to her volleyball prowess, she was also an All-Madison County honoree in both basketball and softball, becoming the first athlete in JAHS history to be named to three district All-Star contests.

Following her collegiate career, Wilson played professionally as an outside hitter and libero for the Arizona Sizzle of the USA Premier Volleyball League. In addition to her duties at Columbus State, she also coached the Buckeye Volleyball Club from 2008-14.

Wilson happily married Paul Wilson in July 2017 and the couple has two daughters. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in communications and journalism from Coastal Carolina in 2008. She then graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master’s in sports and exercise science/athletic administration from Concordia University-Irvine in 2013.