Babson College

Eric Neely is in his 15th season as Babson’s head women’s volleyball coach in 2025.

The only coach in program history with more than 200 wins, Neely boasts a .724 career winning percentage and has led the program to unparalleled success since arriving prior to the 2011 campaign. He has guided Green and White to 20 or more victories 10 times, has helped the Beavers capture four NEWMAC Tournament championships and has led his squads to eight NCAA Tournament berths.

Babson registered six consecutive NCAA Tournament berths from 2017-23 and four straight second round appearances. The Beavers posted first round victories over UMass Boston in 2019, Endicott in 2021, Swarthmore in 2022 (before taking Tufts to a fifth set in the second round) and Stevenson in 2023.

Following a 2017 campaign that saw the Beavers advance to the Potsdam Regional final after earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, Neely guided his program to uncharted territory in 2018. Babson captured its third conference tournament title in five years and was selected as one of eight NCAA regional hosts. The Green and White swept three straight matches on the way to capturing the Babson Park Regional championship before seeing its historic season come to an end in the national quarterfinals. 

For its success, Babson cracked the top 25 for the first time in program history finishing at No. 20 in the AVCA Division III poll. The Green and White followed up its historic success by setting a new school record with 33 wins while earning the top seed in the NEWMAC Tournament for the first time in school history in 2019.

Neely earned the first of his two NEWMAC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Beavers to a 22-8 mark in 2012, and followed it up by helping Babson secure its first home conference tournament match in two decades in 2013. In 2014, the Green and White won 27 matches, tied for a share of the league’s regular season title, and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time after claiming the program’s first NEWMAC Tournament championship. His 2015 squad was even better, winning a then-school-record 28 matches on the way to capturing a second consecutive conference title and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

Under his tutelage, Neely's players have earned 14 AVCA All-America honorable mention honors and 24 all-region awards. He has also coached one NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year, two conference rookies of the year, and has seen 27 athletes garner all-league accolades during his tenure.

Neely came to Babson after a successful six-year tenure as the head volleyball coach at Ursuline Academy in nearby Dedham. He was selected as the Boston Globe coach of the Year in 2008, and his teams won four sectional titles while going 94-40 during his tenure.

A 1998 graduate of the University of Rochester, Neely has served as a coach with the Smash Volleyball Club since 2006, and coached the women’s club team at Northeastern University in 2011. Additionally, he earned his law degree from the University of Georgia in 2003.