Christian Pace - Assistant Coach, Offensive Line - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Christian Pace

Title:
Assistant Coach, Offensive Line
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Assistant Coach Christian Pace returns to UConn for his fourth season in 2025 and will move to coaching the Husky offensive line this season. Pace was elevated to an assistant coach in the spring of 2023 and spent two seasons working with the tight ends.

Pace came to UConn in 2022 and served in an offensive analyst role on head coach Jim Mora’s staff after spending the previous five seasons at Lafayette College working with the offensive line.

In 2023, Pace’s tight end group was led by sophomore Justin Joly who led the team in receiving with 56 catches for 578 yards and two touchdowns to earn All-New England honors. Joly took a leap in his second season, going from 18 catches as a freshman to 56 his sophomore campaign, setting a new UConn single season record for receptions by a tight end. He ranked second among all FBS tight ends in catches and yards last season.

In the spring of 2021, Pace presided over an offensive line that produced two All-Patriot League Second-Team selections in senior John Burk and Gavin Barclay for Lafayette. Pace will have Barclay, who has started every game during his career, back for a fifth season to anchor the offensive line.

His first season in charge of the Leopard front five saw senior Jake Marotti earn All-Patriot League First Team honors while juniors Gavin Barclay and John Burk achieved second-team status. That trio was integral to the offense's success, including finishing second in the Patriot League with 137.7 rushing yards per game in conference play. The Leopard offense added 5.4 points, 26.2 rushing yards and 51.4 passing yards per game from its 2018 output.

Pace spent 2017 and 2018 as the Leopards' tight ends/fullbacks coach. His inaugural campaign on College Hill oversaw the continued development of tight end Dylan Wadsworth, the team's offensive MVP, and fullback Will Eisler. Both earned All-Patriot League First-Team honors in 2017 while Eisler again garnered All-Patriot First-Team honors in 2018.

Pace came to Lafayette fresh off a two-year coaching stint at the University of Florida. The Avon Lake, Ohio native coached the tight ends in 2016 and the offensive line in 2015 as a graduate assistant coach on Jim McElwain's staff in Gainesville, Fla. The Gators won the SEC East Division in 2015 and 2016, making appearances in the 2016 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and the 2017 Outback Bowl.

Pace played football at the University of Michigan, but injuries kept him off the field. He stayed with the program as a student assistant coach on the offensive line (2011-13) and with the running backs (2014). Pace coached current Green Bay Packers fullback Joe Kerridge and aided in the development of Associated Press First-Team All-Americans, David Molk and Taylor Lewan (currently with the Tennessee Titans) and Denver Broncos' third-round pick Michael Schofield. During his time in Ann Arbor, Mich., the Wolverines advanced to the 2012 Sugar Bowl, 2013 Outback Bowl and the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

Pace graduated From Michigan with a bachelor's degree in Movement Science in 2014 and completed his master's degree in Sport Management from Florida in 2017. His brother, Ian, spent seven seasons on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Fordham, before coaching at Mississippi State. He is currently the offensive coordinator at St. John Fisher.