Jacob Girard was hired as the Keene State College volleyball head coach in 2024.
Girard brings extensive experience at both the collegiate and club levels. Most recently, he was an assistant coach at Emerson College, working with the Lions for three seasons (the 2021 season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic), where the team compiled a record of 55-21 (.724), and reached the conference final in 2019.
During his time at Emerson he helped coach Caroline Bond, who was the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year in 2019 and Caroline Davis, the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2021.
Girard was an assistant coach at Massachusetts Maritime Academy from 2017-19, while completing his undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and was a student-assistant for the Corsairs in 2014-15.
Girard has been the head coach of 18's Attack for SMASH Volleyball club since 2022 and prior to that he has coached club for 10 years with stops at Max Performance, Coastal, and Blast. He has also been the lead coach for North East Beach Volleyball for six seasons.
Girard graduated from UMass Dartmouth with a degree in economics, and is working on a master's degree in Physical Education, with a concentration in Coaching, from Bridgewater State University.