July 28, 2008

JACKSON – Millsaps athletic director Tim Wise announced today the hiring of new tennis coach Jay Pacelli, who will serve as the men’s and women’s tennis coach for the Majors beginning on August 1.

Pacelli enters his 10th season coaching at the collegiate level and first season with the Majors’ tennis team in 2008, jumping on board with Millsaps after two years as one of the head tennis professionals at the Courthouse Racquet and Fitness Club in Jackson and Byram, Miss.

Pacelli’s coaching background features experience at all NCAA Divisions and with the NJCAA. As the newest head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Millsaps, Pacelli will look to reenergize the women's squad and continue the climb up the SCAC standings of the men's team - a program that has shown steady progress the previous five seasons.

Pacelli is no stranger to success on and off the court, helping guide his teams to hefty turnarounds in a matter of seasons, while recently being named USPTA MS Rookie Professional of the Year.

At his last collegiate team, Southeast Missouri State from 2003-06, Pacelli’s Redhawks stumbled to a 1-21 record in his first year before posting the Redhawks' first winning season since 1997 two years later at 12-11. In the 2006 campaign, Pacelli coached the duo of Bryce and Drew Kristal to the most Ohio Valley Conference doubles wins (17) and Julia Masotti to the most OVC overall singles wins (18). The Redhawks were also an ITA All-Academic Team recipient from 2004-05 and 2005-06.

His first coaching job was as a graduate assistant at Northern Iowa with men’s and women’s tennis from 1995-97, while working on his master’s in physical education with a specialization in exercise science.

In between, Pacelli spent time at Olivet College (Olivet, Mich.), Pratt Community College (Pratt, Kan.) and Mississippi University for Women (Columbus, Miss.), helping those teams to big improvements on a collegiate and national level.

At Pratt CC in 2001 as the head men’s and women’s coach, Pacelli guided the Beaver men's team to their first ever NJCAA national ranking (No. 26) while helping a trio of players earn individual national rankings. As the head women’s coach at MUW from 2001-03, Pacelli guided a trio of players to All-Gulf South honors and helped MUW to a 6-game turnaround from 2002 (3-12) to 2003 (9-13).

Away from his coaching, Pacelli has spent time as a sports psychology consultant at the University of Iowa helping develop performance enhancement strategies for UI track athletes and ROTC students, served as the director for several free tennis clinics around Mississippi and is currently finishing up his first term as secretary on the United States Professional Tennis Association Board - MS Chapter.

Pacelli received his bachelor’s from Moravian College in social sciences in 1986 where he also split time at No’s 1-3 singles on the men’s tennis team from 1982-86 and served as team captain his senior year.

He is married to Katy Pacelli, the associate director of admissions at Millsaps, and the two will celebrate their four-year anniversary on July 31, 2008.