New Jersey Institute of Technology Men's Volleyball

Danny Goncalves, who has a varied background as a coach and player, is entering his 13th season in 2026-27 at the helm of the Highlanders after being selected the choice to lead the NJIT men’s volleyball program in 2014-15. Goncalves has more than 15 years volleyball coaching experience at both the collegiate and high school levels, as well as extensive experience in club volleyball as an organizer, player, and coach. In 2026, NJIT entered the postseason riding strong momentum, earning a spot in the AVCA Top 20 for 11 consecutive weeks and winning 18 of its final 22 matches. The Highlanders finished the season 18–8 overall and 9–3 in EIVA play, going undefeated at home during the regular season—one of just three NCAA Division I programs to do so, alongside UCLA and Maryland Eastern Shore.  The 18 wins mark the program's highest total since 2007, while the nine conference victories are the most since 2022. Individually, Wiktor Nowak was named AVCA Men's DI-II All-America Honorable Mention, becoming the fifth Highlander to earn the honor under Goncalves -- Alvaro Gimeno (2020, AVCA second team), Luca Berger (2020, AVCA Honorable Mention), Jabarry Goodridge (Honorable Mention; 2016, 2017) and Griffin Fieseler (2021, OffTheBlock Freshmen All-American team). Freshman Andre Aleixo was named the 2026 Tom Tait Memorial Freshman of the Year and earned All-EIVA Second Team honors. He was one of six Highlanders recognized by the conference. Bruno Figueiredo, Daniel Latkowski, and Wiktor Nowak earned All-EIVA First Team selections, while Diego Lopez joined Aleixo on the Second Team. Freshman Alex Heins received Honorable Mention recognition. The 2021 Bob Sweeney Coach of the Year led the Highlanders to a 13-6 overall mark and second in the EIVA with a 13-3 record. The 13 wins are the most wins for NJIT since 2017. NJIT made its first appearance in program history in the NVA/AVCA top-10 on March 29, 2021 at No. 10 and finished the season ranked No. 14 in the final rankings. Goncalves' squad broke into the National Volleyball Association (NVA)/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I-II Men's Coaches top-15 poll after splitting a weekend EIVA series with then-ranked No. 11 Penn State on February 14, 2021. The win for the Highlanders marked the first time since 1998 NJIT defeated Penn State. The 11-3 start was the best since 2007, when the Highlanders went 10-4, and the nine consecutive victories are the most in a row since 2017. In 2017, NJIT finished with 13 wins, including a win over then-ranked #15 George Mason (3-2) on February 17. NJIT last defeated a top-ranked opponent five years ago (April 13, 2012) when the Highlanders stunned No. 15 Harvard. Senior Jabarry Goodridge, a two-time AVCA All-American and EIVA Player of the Year, ranked second in the nation in kills per set (4.43) and points per set (5.15) while sitting in the top 5 in attacks per set (9.08). Goodridge concluded his four-year career at NJIT with 1,450 kills. The Highlanders completed its 2016 season with an 8-18 overall mark, 7-7 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) competition. The 2016 season was highlighted by a six-match win streak (longest win streak since 2007). In his first season at the helm of the Highlanders, NJIT finished 11-13, surpassing their wins output from a year ago, when the team finished 10-17. Men’s volleyball marked one of the best performances against the formidable and perennial EIVA champion Penn State on March 28, taking the (then) No. 8 team in the nation to five sets. He was an all-conference player at Shelton (CT) High School before playing collegiate volleyball at the University of New Haven in the early 2000s. After college, he played professionally in Portugal with Castelo da Maia, a first-division team. A versatile player, he saw action as a libero (defensive specialist) and as an outside hitter and opposite hitter (key attacking positions). He began coaching at his high school alma mater, Shelton High, where he helped guide the boys teams to two Connecticut state championships, two undefeated seasons, and three conference titles. Moving on to his college alma mater, New Haven, he was assistant coach, then head coach of the men’s team and assistant coach of the women’s team from 2008 through 2010. In his time coaching at UNH, the women’s team won two Northeast 10 Conference titles and made the NCAA Division II postseason tournament in all three seasons as an assistant coach, including a run to the 2008 NCAA Division II Elite Eight. Next, he headed to another Connecticut institution, Division I Sacred Heart University, where he was an assistant coach with both the men’s and women’s teams, with the women capturing a Northeast Conference championship. Most recently, he has been Volleyball Director at Chelsea Piers Connecticut in Stamford. The volleyball center features instruction, private lessons, youth and adult leagues, tournaments, and summer camps. Chelsea Piers Connecticut is a sports and entertainment complex developed and managed by the same team as Chelsea Piers in New York City. As a college player at New Haven, Goncalves finished his career ranked eighth on the Chargers’ career charts with 680.5 individual points. He is eighth at UNH in career kills (504), seventh in career assists (146), and top 10 in service aces (66), digs (421; fourth), and total blocks (177; 44 solo, 133 assisted). Aside from his professional career in Portugal, he has remained active in the region with some of the top adult men’s volleyball clubs in the New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut region. Updated May 2026

Dyer joined the NJIT coaching staff as an assistant to new head coach Danny Goncalves in Fall 2014.   Born and raised in California (Santa Barbara), Dyer was most recently coaching at Santa Barbara City College, a two-year program where the head coach was former NJIT opponent and Harvard star Matt Jones.   Between college and embarking on his career as a coach, Dyer played professionally in the top league in Austria in 2011 and 2012.   Dyers tree of coaching mentors includes some of the top names in the sport, starting with volleyball Hall of Famer Carl McGown, a two-time National Coach of the Year for Brigham Young University. McGown, father of current BYU coach Chris McGown, has coached for the United States in seven different Olympic Games. The elder McGown created the Gold Medal Squared coaching technique and Dyer has applied it in his own coaching career.   At Hawaii, Dyer was coached by Mike Wilton, Warrior head coach from 1993 to 2009; Dan Fisher, current womens head coach at Pitt and former associate mens coach at HawaiI; and, Robyn Santos, a former All-American setter with the Hawaii womens volleyball team who went on to play for the United States in the 2008 Olympics and was best setter in the 2001 FIVB World Grand Prix.   A 2011 graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dyer has coached the sport in his native California, in Hawaii and in Austria.   Although Dyer will be coaching on the East Coast for the first time, he is not altogether unfamiliar with NJIT. Like Highlanders head coach Danny Goncalves, who competed against NJIT while in college at the University of New Haven, Dyer, too, faced the Highlanders.   On March 20 and March 21, 2009, NJIT visited Hawaii for two matches, both of which were 3-0 wins for the home team. On the first night, Dyer came off the bench and notched 10 kills in just two sets to finish second on his team in kills and made just two errors on 18 swings for a .444 hitting percentage. The next night, he started and again played only two of the three sets, but shared match-high honors with 10 kills. He also served one of his teams 7 aces.  

Dan Reilly has joined the NJIT men’s volleyball staff in October 2020 as an assistant under head coach Danny Goncalves. Reilly comes to NJIT after one stint at Ohio State University as the volunteer assistant for the men’s volleyball program.  Prior to joining the men’s staff, he worked as the video coordinator for the women’s program in 2018. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Reilly served as an Assistant Coach at University of Charleston, assisting the men’s and women’s volleyball programs.  During his time as the women’s assistant coach from 2016-2018, Reilly helped lead the squad to a 42-29 record, second-place finish in the Mountain East Conference and coached three first team All-MEC players. Reilly’s time with the men’s volleyball program in the Spring of 2018 led to a 16-10 record, with a 5-9 mark in the EIVA, both of which are program records. He provided skill instruction to players, analyzed video and prepared scouting reports. A 2015 graduate of Penn State Altoona, Reilly was a four-year member of the men’s volleyball program.  During his fifth year, Reilly served as an undergraduate assistant coach for the Penn State men’s volleyball program while finishing his degree in Kinesiology and minor in Psychology.  He received his master’s degree in Strategic Leadership from the University of Charleston in 2017. Reilly resides in Jersey City, NJ with his fiance Nicole.

Jackie Ahlers, a three-time AVCA All-American Honorable Mention and AVCA All-Northeast Region selection, re-joined the NJIT women’s volleyball coaching staff for her second stint as a full-time assistant coach in May of 2022. One of the best volleyball players to come out of New York, the 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Stony Point, NY, first gained notice in high school as a key player for North Rockland High School, guiding North Rockland to a State Championship in 2000 and three straight league championships. Ahlers then starred at St. John's, where she became one of the most decorated players in Red Storm history, playing from 2002-05 and getting inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in January, 2020. Ahlers served as as assistant coach at NJIT during the 2017 season and then moved back to the BIG EAST, serving as the top assistant coach at recruiting coordinator at Georgetown. After helping lead the Hoyas to a 17-12 record in 2018, Ahlers was named Head Coach at Pace University in the spring of 2019 and coached the Setters for two seasons over a three-year stint as the 2020 campaign was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. A 2006 graduate from St. John’s with a bachelor’s in Communications, Ahlers is also no stranger to the America East as she played her fifth season at Stony Brook, while working towards a master's in professional studies. Ahlers helped lead the Seawolves to a 24-win season and was named the America East Player of the Year, topping the conference and finishing 14th nationally with 5.08 kills per set. An immediate fixture in the starting lineup for the Red Storm, Ahlers was a two-time First Team All-Big East selection during her three-year Hall of Fame career at St. John's. Ahlers' name is etched throughout the program's record books as she sits atop the single-season kills (646) list and is the all-time single-season leader in attempts (1,399). Additionally, Ahlers ranks second in career kills (1,766), third in all-time in career-attempts (3,803), and eighth in career hitting percentage (.257). Ahlers earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American Honorable Mention in 2003, becoming the first player in St. John’s history to receive the honor, including AVCA All-Northeast Region. Prior to her initial arrival at NJIT in 2017, Ahlers was the head volleyball coach at The Masters School (2014 to 2017), in Dobbs Ferry, NY, for both Boys & Girls varsity and middle school teams.  She also coached club for the Downstate Juniors Volleyball Club in Peekskill, New York. Ahlers' first college coaching position was as an assistant coach for Dominican College in 2014.  The Chargers reached 16 wins and advanced to the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference (CACC) quarterfinals.   Updated March 2023