The Santa Barbara City College Men’s Volleyball program is excited to announce the hiring of Dillan Bennett as its new head coach for the upcoming 2027 season.
Bennett brings a plethora of experience from the Division I, community college, and high school levels. Perhaps most notably, he was an assistant for the prestigious Penn State men’s volleyball program, where he developed scouting reports, worked with the defense, and led practices for athletes returning from injury. He also handled team administrative operations, including monitoring academic eligibility.
Naturally, his day job is in education. He currently serves as a full-time social studies teacher—Government/Economics, Business & Entrepreneurship, and Sports Medicine—at Bishop Diego High School.
Volleyball-wise, he leads both the boys’ and girls’ varsity programs at Bishop Diego. He is a two-time CIF-Southern Section Coach of the Year and two-time CIF champion (2021, 2026)—at a school with fewer than 220 students, nonetheless. At last season’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table’s (SBART) Evening with the Athletes, Bennett was named 2025-26 High School Coach of the Year.
He is a former director at Santa Barbara Volleyball Club and had coaching stints at Dos Pueblos and Laguna Blanca; the latter of which he helped fundraise and build the first-ever beach volleyball facility on a Santa Barbara high school campus.
At SBCC, Bennett previously served as an assistant coach for the women’s team under longtime coach Ed Gover. He views this as a return to the school rather than an outside hire.
“SBCC is where I got my start on the coaching and recruiting side of this game, so this feels less like a new job and more like coming home,” Bennett said. “I know this program, I know what it’s capable of, and I’m ready to build on that foundation.”
Bennett inherits a program at its highest point in recent history. The Vaqueros went 18-4 last year on the way to their second consecutive state final four appearance, winning their first conference championship since 2005 in the process. After such a successful tenure, previous head coach Bridget Kulesh departed for an assistant’s role at MIVA powerhouse Ball State.
“I don’t think there’s a better fit for where I am in my career,” Bennett added. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead this program into its next chapter.”
Bennett concluded by saying he is excited to help SBCC’s student-athletes grow as players, compete for championships, and prepare for their next step—whether that is at a four-year program or life beyond volleyball.