Kelly Sheffield discusses NCAA volleyball transfer portal window

• Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield believes the timing of the NCAA transfer portal is a “damn shame.”
• The portal opened on Dec. 7, while top teams like Wisconsin are still competing in the NCAA tournament.
• Sheffield explains why the timing works against both players and teams’ best interests.

MADISON — Wisconsin volleyball is a few days away from its most important match so far of the 2025 season.

The third-seeded Badgers will face the second-seeded Stanford Cardinal in the NCAA tournament regional semifinals on Friday, Dec. 12. If they win against the Cardinal and again two days later against Texas or Indiana, they would go to the Final Four.

It also is the start of a key phase of the offseason. The transfer portal window for volleyball opened on Dec. 7 — a day after the second round of the tournament wrapped up — and will remain open through Jan. 5.

To Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield, that timing is a “damn shame” on a couple different levels.

“Teams that are still playing — they want to focus on their current teams and their current rosters,” Sheffield said in his Dec. 8 press conference. “Players that are potentially still playing that think they’re wanting to leave are being torn between being in the moment. But also the longer that you wait, you could possibly be losing out on opportunities. Schools that may need your position that no longer do once you’re gone.”

Sheffield, in his 13th season at the helm at Wisconsin, also said this is an “emotional time” for many players.

“It’s not just playing, but you’ve got finals and things like that,” Sheffield said. “Homesickness for some of the younger ones. I think we’d be a lot better off, we’d be thinking about the players if there was a little bit more space than what it is right now.”

On3’s Talia Goodman reported that Penn State’s Izzy Starck and Florida’s Alexis Stucky and Jaela Auguste are among the power-conference players who have already entered the transfer portal. (Starck is the only one of the three to make that announcement on social media, though, as of the evening of Dec. 8.)

Those headlines have emerged while the top 16 teams in the country — and theoretically 16 appealing landing spots for top portal talent — are still vying for a national championship.

“You’d like this time of the year to be about the volleyball, the stuff on the court, where the spotlight is on that,” Sheffield said. “I think hopefully we’re heading toward the time where we’re going to put in a window that makes a little bit more sense. I’ve got confidence that we’ll eventually get to that.”

Sheffield said it is “only a distraction if you allow it to be a distraction.” But given its importance in roster construction, it is not something the Badgers can ignore either. After all, the 2025 group has relied heavily on contributions from Oregon transfer Mimi Colyer, Baylor transfer Alicia Andrew and others. With Andrew and Carter Booth graduating, middle blocker may be one of the positions to watch in this year’s portal cycle.

“You have to have somebody on staff that’s kind of paying attention to that,” Sheffield said. “The future will be at your door step at some point, and you better be prepared for that. So the key is how do you organize your staff, your people, and, so yeah, there’s somebody that’s certainly doing that.”

That somebody is Gary White, UW’s director of player personnel and analytics. It is a new role on Sheffield’s staff after White previously served as an assistant coach at UW from 2013-21 and an associate head coach from 2022-24.

“We’re fortunate that we’ve got somebody that can kind of pay attention and kind of is knowing when those things are happening,” Sheffield said. “And then if we need to have a conversation, we’ll have a conversation.”

But for now, Sheffield has his 13th consecutive regional semifinal match to worry about.

“The people that need to be focused on the task at hand in front of us on the court are certainly able to do that,” Sheffield said.