Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield gets well deserved contract extension
Lost in all the Luke Fickell extension drama yesterday is the fact that three other coaches also got their extensions: Paula Wilkins for women’s soccer, Neil Jones for men’s soccer, and Kelly Sheffield for volleyball. The ongoing discussion about these extensions from yesterday is that they are part of a yearly cycle of performance reviews and extensions.
While some outlets were reporting that they are automatic, they are not, but they are normal for Wisconsin athletics. If the athletics department and athletic director Christ McIntosh deem the coach to have a “satisfactory performance,” they would get their extension put before the board, and the extension would be approved. For Fickell, it’s a bit mind-boggling, but not so for Sheffield, who has been instrumental in Wisconsin being one of the best teams in all of college volleyball.
Luke Fickell contract extended through 2032.#Badgers pic.twitter.com/KlglpSGVTG
— Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) February 19, 2025
Kelly Sheffield’s contract with Wisconsin is now until 2030 after the board approved his extension
Sheffield has been at the helm for going on 12 years now, and he has accumulated quite the success story for the women’s volleyball program.
Look at this list of accolades from Wisconsin Athletics on Sheffield’s coaching bio page:
- 2021 NCAA Championship
- 2013, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023 NCAA Final Fours
- 11-straight NCAA Sweet 16-or-better tournament finishes
- 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 Big Ten Champions
- Ended the last 11 seasons ranked in the top 12 nationally
- 42 All-America honors
- 43 All-Big Ten honors
- Ranked second nationally in attendance in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023
- Two Olympians (Lauren Carlini, Dana Rettke)
- Two AVCA National Players of the Year (Sarah Franklin, 2023; Dana Rettke, 2021)
This is an impressive list and something that Sheffield should be very proud of. However, he’s already got his heart set on another NCAA Championship, as it’s been nearly 4 years since the last one. While he had an impressive team in 2024, they fell short of those major goals, and Sheffield is re-tooling to take another shot at it this season in 2025.
Extending him makes all the sense in the world, in fact, it would be nice to lock him up for even longer.
