Kelly Sheffield has been unabashed over the years about growing the game of women's college volleyball. He's been pushing for more coverage, more network TV, more reporting, and just a general growth of the game. One of the strategies that volleyball has used, and Sheffield has leaned into more than any other coach, is aggressive scheduling. Football coaches and programs shy away from this.
Volleyball does something no other college sport does: schedule as many hard non-conference games as possible. Wisconsin is the banner-waver of this strategy with a schedule that features every single preseason top-10 team. Kelly Sheffield then dropped a quote bomb on the Big Ten Network: "Why go easy with the schedule if this is going to bring out the best in your players?"
Having all these top matches and the highest level of volleyball possible brings in fans by the droves, elevates the volleyball market, and TV networks make money. It's a win-win. But it's something football coaches avoid as much as possible. They will often even blame scheduling for a bad season (cough, cough), or why the team missed the playoffs. For Sheffield, it's a must, and he's excited about it even if it means an early loss or maybe even a few.
"Why go easy with the schedule if this is going to bring out the best in your players."
— Big Ten Volleyball (@B1GVolleyball) August 21, 2026
HC Kelly Sheffield on @BadgerVB's loaded 2026 slate 👇#B1GToday pic.twitter.com/IxTRG7Mx8s
Kelly Sheffield is unabashed about the Wisconsin schedule and is eager for it
"I don't know if I want to get on here and judge other sports and how they [other coaches] go about things." Sheffield explains, "This may be a thing where a month or two down the line, we are questioning what we are doing here." Then goes on to say it's good for the players. It's the events the players want to be in, and players want to take on the best.
Sheffield loves to talk about having players with a killer instinct, who don't play scared and are fearless in competition. That applies to the scheduling too. If the coach is scared of teams, then that trickles to the players.
Related: Kelly Sheffield identifies what could decide Wisconsin's massive Kentucky test
Ultimately, volleyball is doing something more sports need to do. Schedule big-time competition, for it's great for each sport, great for the players, great for the fans, but maybe not great for the record. Yet, the best teams want to play the best and beat the best. That's how it works.
For football, one loss may be the difference between the College Football Playoff and not. But for volleyball, basketball, and other sports with longer seasons, playing top-level competition only ends up helping. This isn't to give football a free pass, but that would be the rationale of the football coach.
Wisconsin may end up going down early this season, with four straight top-10 teams and five straight top-20 teams. But Sheffield and the Badgers aren't scared. And if the script is flipped and Wisconsin grabs a handful or even a dream scenario with wins against all of them, the Badgers not only will be better as a team but will be set up really well for the postseason. Maybe the best-prepared team in all of volleyball.
Take notice, Wisconsin volleyball isn't scared of anyone, and Kelly Sheffield has set up the growth of women's college volleyball for extreme success.
Add us as a preferred source on Google