Jacob Hepp began his coaching career at Atherton High in 2011 in his hometown of Louisville, Ky. He soon moved across town to help powerhouse Sacred Heart Academy where he and head coach Eric Garvey dominated the national prep ranks over the next few seasons, finishing in the top-25 nationally every year. Hepp moved into the collegiate ranks in 2016 at Lindsey Wilson College where his team finished 35-2 (.945) and completed their season at the national championship finishing 7th overall.
After Lindsey Wilson, Hepp moved back to Louisville to coach at KIVA volleyball club. Coaching their 17-Red team, his team won 3 national tournaments before taking a 3rd place finish at the AAU Nationals.
Knowing his place needed to be back in college, in 2018 Hepp accepted a position at Jacksonville State University with fellow Louisvillian Todd Garvey. Coach Hepp assisted in steering the JSU program through turbulent times as an EF-3 tornado struck campus just before his hire. Using a temporary facility from JSU's physical recreation program, he finished his debut season 17-13 and 9-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Gamecocks went on to beat SIUE for the program's first postseason win in nine years.
Two seasons later, following the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic in early 2020, his second season at JSU was also challenging, but his squad responded by beginning an abbreviated spring schedule with a 15-0 start. JSU held the second-longest winning-streak in Div. I volleyball at one point and held a top-20 RPI throughout the season. They finished the regular-season 15-1 and claimed their second consecutive OVC crown. JSU then reached the OVC title match for the first time since 2009 before falling to MSU to close the season at 16-2.
Coach Hepp also coaches club alongside college and was most recently the Technical Director at Union Volleyball Club - before taking on the head coaching position here at Lindsey Wilson - where he has coached on-and-off for 8 years since 2011. He was the master coaching director for all Under Armor teams, the skills training leader for UA team’s outsides, middle blockers, and defensive specialists, and responsible for camps, clinics, and curriculum planning.
Hepp is a Louisville native, with his BA in Psychology from the University of Louisville. In his time off the court, coach Hepp enjoys playing volleyball, the piano, ice skating, and escape rooms. He leads a discipleship group and co-leads a community group at Highview Baptist Church, where he has been attending for 10 years.
