Sheffield invests in the development of his players as people whose lives extend beyond volleyball.

This may come as a surprise: Kelly Sheffield, the winningest volleyball coach in UW history, has never played the game himself. While Sheffield may never have stared an opponent in the eyes through the weave of a net, he makes up for it with more than 30 years of an arguably more valuable perspective.

Sheffield joined the UW as the head coach of the volleyball team in December 2012, just as the Badgers were coming off one of the lowest slumps in the program’s history.

“I thought that this was a place that could be great in this sport,” Sheffield says. “I thought that with the fan base, and the location, and the academics here, it could be a place that people would want to be a part of — that this could be a monster.”

Today, he’s led the team to four Big Ten Conference championship titles and nine consecutive NCAA tournaments, including three of the program’s four appearances in the NCAA championship, the latest of which resulted in the Badgers’ first national title in 2021. At this point in his career, turning fledgling teams into forces on the court is Sheffield’s signature play.

Sheffield assumed his first head coaching position at the University at Albany in 2001. His first team ended its season 4–20. By the time he left in 2007, the Great Danes had won three regular-season and three conference-tournament championships. He then spent five years as head coach at the University of Dayton before joining UW–Madison, where the Badgers had spent their last five seasons failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament, left out of the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) Top 25 Poll, and ranking in the bottom half of the Big Ten.

Enter Sheffield. In his first season, the Badgers tied for fourth in the Big Ten, were ranked second by the AVCA, and became the lowest NCAA seed to ever qualify for the championship when they made the program’s first appearance in the tournament since 2007 and first championship appearance since 2000.

The secret to these turnarounds, Sheffield says, is no secret at all: shared goals, strong players, and sheer passion.

“You’ve got to give everybody a vision of where it is you want to go. Then, every single day, you’re just working toward it, trying to find ways to get better,” he says. According to his players, he conveys that vision in no uncertain terms.

“[He] tells you how it is whether it’s what you want to hear or not,” says middle blocker Danielle Hart ’21, MSx’24. “In Kelly’s mind, to be anything but honest is to not care enough about that person and their improvement.”

But there’s a little more to it than that for the coach. As much as Sheffield invests in the success of his team on the court, he invests more in the development of his players as people whose lives extend beyond volleyball.

“If it’s just about volleyball, to me, that’s boring,” Sheffield says. “We’ve got the opportunity to teach life skills through sport and through competition. Finding ways to help make a connection between these things won’t only help you become a better volleyball player or a better team, but it will help you through challenging times of your lives.”

In his 10th season with the Badgers, Sheffield’s goals haven’t changed much since his first: be elite and remain elite. (Check and check.) His coaching philosophy also remains the same, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone in favor of changing it.

“I want [players’] time here to catapult them toward their future,” Sheffield says. “I want them to know that I care about them more as a person than what they can do as an athlete. I care about who they are right now, and also about their future. … And along the way, hopefully, we teach them a thing or two about the game of volleyball.”

YouDub Marketplace is helping players like Badger football’s Graham Mertz navigate the new landscape of college athletics after the NCAA adopted a policy to allow student-athletes to profit from their use of name, image, and likeness. Jeff Miller

Good news, Wisconsin sports fans: you can now book your favorite Badger.

In April, UW athletics launched the YouDub Marketplace, where businesses and Badger fans alike can pitch profitable opportunities to UW student-athletes. The online marketplace is helping players and the public navigate the new landscape of college athletics after the NCAA adopted a new policy to allow student-athletes to profit from their use of name, image, and likeness (NIL).

While companies can use the platform to arrange formal sponsorship and advertising deals, fans can pitch any concept — a social media shout-out, an autograph, a special appearance — at a starting rate of $30. The student-athlete then has seven days to review the pitch. UW athletics recently partnered with Altius Sports Partners, an NIL education firm, to provide guidance to student-athletes. The players also have access to free campus resources, including legal advice and contract review from the UW Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic and business coaching from the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center.

YouDub Marketplace visitors are greeted with a photo grid of Badger student-athletes, and clicking on each profile brings up a biography, links to social media accounts, and a list of personal interests. Quarterback Graham Mertz x’23’s profile displays his personal logo and his interest in food, gaming, and music. Volleyball star Devyn Robinson x’24’s profile notes she’s a pet owner.

The marketplace, developed by NIL technology company Opendorse, is one of the first of its kind in college athletics.

Robinson helped lead Badger volleyball to the program’s first national championship in December 2021. Julia Kostopoulos

If you ask Devyn Robinson x’24 to describe herself at the outset of her time as a Badger, she uses words like “quiet,” “shy,” and “reserved.” If you know anything about Robinson now, this may be hard to believe.

The right-side hitter and middle blocker made a name for herself on the court, joining Dana Rettke ’21, MA’22 and Anna Smrek x’25 to form the Badgers’ nearly impenetrable block last season, attacking the ball with the ease of swatting away a fly (and with far more finesse).

Off the court, she’s notorious for hamming it up on TikTok, where she shares behind-the-scenes volleyball tidbits and snapshots of life as a student-athlete with more than 11,000 followers. Visibility is important to Robinson, and it’s a spotlight she’s seeking to grow and share, though she picked up hard-learned lessons while getting there.

Robinson graduated early from high school in January 2020 to start training with the Badgers. At 17, she had already won several national and world volleyball championships before arriving at the UW. She was also the team’s youngest player.

“I’d never been in a position where I wasn’t the best in the gym. I automatically had that respect from people [in high school], so I felt like I just always had a voice,” Robinson says. “Then I come here, and everybody’s good. I’m playing with Dana Rettke. I was like, ‘I’m just going to sit back and watch and maybe speak up if I have the chance.’ ”

That chance was cut short by a pandemic that sent all Badgers home. Three months later, the team returned to campus to give training a tentative go. Around the same time, George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. Age was no longer the most salient part of Robinson’s identity.

“I couldn’t just separate what was going on outside of volleyball from volleyball,” Robinson says. “It gets to the point where it actually affects how I’m feeling and how I’m playing.”

In a meeting convened by head coach Kelly Sheffield, the Badgers discussed the gravity of the news and their respective roles within the growing Black Lives Matter movement. Robinson, Sydney Reed x’24, and Jade Demps x’24 led the conversation, encouraging their teammates to get involved.

“It gave me a voice that I feel like I didn’t have initially,” Robinson says. “It was a chance for me to speak up, and the way [my teammates] responded made me feel like they do care what I have to say. There’s no point in being small when everyone is respecting everybody.”

Instead of kicking up their feet after practices, the Badgers traded their jerseys for poster board and joined the thousands of people marching on Madison’s streets. Afterward, some of the players, including Robinson, painted murals on boarded-up shop windows.

Gone were her days of holding back. When the Badgers got the green light to play their delayed 2020 season during the spring of 2021, Robinson made a strong debut: her performances in her first matches were featured among NCAA Women’s Volleyball’s top plays of the week, and she went on to be named to the all–Big Ten first team. Later that year, their 2021 season culminated in a historic win for Wisconsin volleyball with the program’s first national championship title.

“I was on the sidelines when we won, and I literally couldn’t breathe,” she says. “I don’t think I took a breath until the game was over.”

Robinson’s post-Wisconsin career is never far from her mind. Sure, she’d love to play professionally — maybe in Spain or Brazil — but when her time on the court comes to an end, she’d rather pick up a microphone than a clipboard and a whistle.

“I want to be a sportscaster because I don’t see enough representation of women’s sports on TV, especially volleyball,” Robinson says. “I want to be someone little Black girls can look up to and see that, ‘Oh, if she can do it on TV, then I can do it.’ ”

Fortunately, Robinson is with the Badgers for a few more years. You should catch a game while she’s here. If she’s not on the court, you’ll surely spot her on the sidelines. She’ll be the one dancing like no one’s watching, though all eyes are on her. She didn’t wait this long or work this hard for them to be anywhere else.

Fortunately, the former Badger football star and native of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, seems up to the task. Measured and even-keeled, McIntosh isn’t fazed by change. He welcomes it.

“I’m really proud of the way our staff and our administration have worked through this change,” says McIntosh, who returned to the UW in 2014 after a successful business career and quickly rose through the administrative ranks. “I’m even more proud of the way our student-athletes have dealt with it. They’re the ones who are the most inspiring out of this.”

What has been your approach to dealing with all the uncertainties?

Our focus is to embrace the change. Don’t resist it. Advocate for what we think is most important, which is education. And then seek opportunity to enhance our program in ways that we couldn’t have prior to this change.

The graduation rate of student-athletes is more than 90 percent. What is the department doing to maintain that level of academic success?

We talk about coming to the University of Wisconsin as a 40-year decision, not a four-year decision. The experience that our student-athletes have here within their sport and within the classroom are two major components of it. But then there’s this other dimension, which is the human being. And we’ve got an incredible team of people who help position our student-athletes to be successful in the long game, in their lives and in their careers.

Last year was a difficult one for men’s basketball coach Greg Gard, culminating in a leaked locker room recording of senior players criticizing him. You stuck by him in the aftermath. Why was that the right decision?

I’ve been on some successful teams that have had difficult conversations throughout the year. I think it’s a healthy thing when players feel comfortable having real conversations. Those are closed-door meetings, meant for the team and for the coaches. It was an incredible breach of trust that those conversations were shared. And I thought it was important to support Coach Gard through that. He’s done a great job turning that experience into something that has helped this team achieve their success.

In December, the women’s volleyball team won its first NCAA title. How did you feel watching that five-set championship match?

My short answer is that it was torture. I’m kidding, obviously, but there were very few moments of those games that were comfortable. And that’s because it was competition at its highest. It was everything you could have asked for in a volleyball match. I was so happy for the players and for the coaches and for our staff. There have been so many sacrifices made, so many decisions over the course of years and years that have led to the culmination in winning a national championship. And I was just moved to be there and to witness the joy they experienced.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Title IX legislation. What do you see as its lasting impact on college athletics?

It would have been impossible for me, a long time ago as a student-athlete, to appreciate the impact of Title IX. It’s not impossible for me now as a father of three, including two daughters. My oldest is going to go play college volleyball next year [at Colorado State]. My youngest daughter, who’s a sophomore, aspires to do so. And my wife, Deann [’99], was an athlete here in our rowing program. So it’s personal to me. I’ve talked a lot about what access to a world-class education did in terms of developing me as a person and what it meant for the trajectory of my life. And Title IX has made that opportunity available to tens of thousands of women athletes here who are just as deserving.

In your introductory press conference, Chancellor Rebecca Blank talked about the Wisconsin way and the charge to maintain that culture here. How do you define that phrase?

In its simplest form, it’s about being successful in the classroom and competitive in our sport programs. And it’s as much about doing it the right way. That means doing it with integrity as an extension of this university. It’s shepherding a program that has been here for a long time before I came along and will be here for a long time after I’m done.

How do you think the NCAA’s new NIL policy has played out here?

I think it’s been very healthy, and I’m really supportive of it. It’s been a great opportunity for our student-athletes to capitalize on these new flexibilities. It’s a great learning experience for them, one they can take with them once they leave here. We continue to enhance our programming so that they can both be successful and avoid some of the pitfalls that may exist.

You’ve helped to develop the new Department of Clinical and Sport Psychology. Why is supporting the mental health of student-athletes important to you?

Mental health is just as important as physical health. It’s only been relatively recently that it’s been treated that way. And it’s the right thing to do. I’ve been public about my own experience here as a student-athlete. It was taboo to admit [mental health issues]. If you were talking to somebody or seeking help, you didn’t want it to be found out. And I’m proud of the fact that’s not the case today.

Did you receive any advice from former Athletic Director Barry Alvarez that sticks with you today?

Barry has always been there for me, in different ways, in different roles. All I have to do is pick up the phone and give him a call. The first question that Barry would always ask in every decision is, “What’s best for the kids?” And I don’t think that asking that question will ever serve us wrong.

Camp Randall Stadium’s new south end zone will allow fans to enjoy luxury seating while also soaking up the legendary “bleachers” vibe, rather than sitting behind glass. Wisconsin Athletics

In Camp Randall’s south end zone, fans have long sat in the shadow of the Wisconsin Field House. Soon, ticket-holders in that section will have a closer relationship to the Field House, and a more luxurious place to sit.

The Camp Randall south end zone improvement project kicked off right after the 2021 football season ended, and when complete, it will offer what senior associate athletic director Jason King calls a “premium experience” that keeps fans connected to the rollicking action in Camp Randall’s bleachers.

“What we heard from [our fans is that] they were looking for an outdoor premium experience [where] you could feel like you’re a part of the game action,” King says. “Right now, virtually all of our premium opportunities are behind glass and aren’t a part of the bowl. The new south end zone project is primarily open airspace. You’re going to be in the seating bowl.”

Originally built in 1917, Camp Randall is the fifth-oldest college football stadium in the country. This will be at least its eighth significant renovation, though the first since 2005 and only the second to cut down on the number of seats: the south end zone project will reduce capacity by more than 3,000 seats to create the new section.

“Reducing the total number of seats in the stadium is, frankly, a trend in college athletics right now. More people are wanting a premium experience,” says King, adding that the new south end zone will offer a variety of improved views and amenities. “There will be loge boxes, outdoor ledge seating, [and] multiple club spaces. On the very top level, there’s a large terrace space.”

That loge level ties in with one of this project’s unusual aspects: it will unite the stadium with the neighboring Field House.

“You’ll actually be able to go back and forth through [what are now the Field House] windows,” King says. “We’ll be able to use the Field House on football game days and use Camp Randall on volleyball and wrestling game days.”

Construction should be complete prior to the 2022 football season.

It was hours after the Badgers capped his fourth season as football coach by defeating Michigan State 41–20 in the Tokyo Dome in December 1993. The team had captured Wisconsin’s first Rose Bowl berth in 31 years.

“We’re going to the Rose Bowl,” a grinning Alvarez said. A belly laugh welled up as he shook his head in amazement. “It’s ridiculous.”

Alvarez and his team had just engineered a turnaround that propelled a college football laughingstock to long-lasting success. Twenty-seven years later, the view from his Kellner Hall office window is just as impressive. It offers Wisconsin’s athletic director a panoramic view of Camp Randall Stadium, today one of football’s iconic venues — thanks in large part to Alvarez’s leadership. His pride in 31 years of accomplishment at Wisconsin is palpable.

“I’m proud of the culture we’ve built,” says Alvarez. “That’s allowed us to be one of the country’s most consistent programs. You go from never going to a bowl game to going every year; from never being in the NCAA basketball tournament to doing it every year. That’s our culture.”

Alvarez’s coaching career spanned 16 seasons and produced three Rose Bowl victories. He transitioned to a remarkable run as athletic director, resulting in major facility improvements, 74 conference championships, 16 national team championships, and 25 individual titles.

In April, Alvarez announced that he would retire this summer, signaling the end of an era for Badger athletics. What are the highlights of his Wisconsin career? Fans will debate that question for years to come, but here are the top picks from the man himself.

An Era Dawns

After a disastrous three-year run that ended in a 6–27 record, former chancellor Donna Shalala and newly appointed athletic director Pat Richter ’64, JD’71 turned to Alvarez to return the luster to Wisconsin’s moribund football program.

Richter traveled to Miami, where Alvarez, Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, was preparing for the 1990 Orange Bowl versus top-ranked Colorado. While Alvarez was in a pregame meeting, Richter called his hotel room and got his father.

“Pat told my dad he was going to offer me the job, and my dad broke down crying,” Alvarez recalls. “When we ended the staff meeting, dad pulled me over and was still crying. My dad never got very emotional.”

Notre Dame won the game, and celebrations lasted until 3 a.m. Alvarez got two hours of sleep, then boarded a plane bound for Madison and a McClain Center news conference announcing his hiring.

“I was running on fumes. Late in the press conference, I said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m just fried.’ I was emotionally zapped, and the adrenaline just ran out,” Alvarez says. “Just an incredible day.”

Legitimacy at Last

After three years of methodically building a football program as coach, evangelist, and ticket-seller, Alvarez led his team to Pasadena in 1994. On a postcard-brilliant day, the Badgers achieved legitimacy with a 21–16 Rose Bowl victory over UCLA.

“We were on our way, and the fans finally had something to cheer for,” Alvarez says.

And there were plenty of fans — about 70,000 of the stadium’s 101,237 seats were filled with red and white.

As players stretched on the field before the game, Alvarez asked, “Doesn’t Camp Randall look lovely today?”

None of it would have been possible without Alvarez’s first recruiting class, assembled quickly and with an emphasis on in-state athletes. It included running back Brent Moss x’95, receiver J. C. Dawkins ’95, and defensive lineman Mike Thompson x’95.

A salesman visiting Alvarez’s uncle at his grocery store in Pennsylvania touted Joe Rudolph ’95, an offensive lineman who ended up on Alvarez’s roster — and who today is the Badgers’ associate head coach under Paul Chryst ’88.

“I told those guys that I’d always be indebted to them because they bought in,” says Alvarez, whose teams returned to Pasadena to score back-to-back victories in 1999 and 2000. “They had so much to do with what we’ve accomplished.”

A Life-and-Death Situation

At the north end zone of Camp Randall Stadium, giddy triumph turned to tragedy on the way to the 1994 Rose Bowl. Moments after Wisconsin defeated the Michigan Wolverines 13–10, a railing broke under the crush of students eager to storm the field.

The uncontrolled rush left dozens injured and the Astroturf strewn with helpless fans turning blue from a lack of oxygen. Many players, including Moss, Rudolph, and Joe Panos ’94, helped free people from the heap.

“It looked like a war zone. Our guys thought they were carrying dead students out of there,” Alvarez says. “I had gone up the tunnel when things started. I saw Joe Rudolph come up and he was crying. I said, ‘Rudy, you’re that happy?’ and he said, ‘Coach, there’s dead people out there.’ ”

Fortunately, no one died, but 69 people were hospitalized, four in critical condition.

Walk-on receiver Mike Brin ’96 saw an injured student bent over a fence. Brin grabbed her by the leg, hauled her into a stadium tunnel, and made sure she was breathing and conscious. Then he helped two other victims by administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Today, Brin is an emergency room doctor.

“When you see how your student-athletes respond in a life-and-death situation, it’s awfully impressive,” Alvarez says.

The Dayne Game

They called Ron Dayne ’17 the “reluctant hero.” Soft-spoken off the field and a battering-ram running back on it, Dayne was the center of attention as the Badgers played Iowa on November 13, 1999.

It was Senior Day at Camp Randall, and Dayne was 99 yards from becoming college football’s all-time leading rusher. The buildup for the game was unprecedented, and fans in the stadium waved white towels bearing Dayne’s name and number — 33.

“The atmosphere for that game was second to none,” Alvarez says.

With less than five minutes left in the first half, quarterback Brooks Bollinger ’03 handed the ball to Dayne on a play called “23 Zone.” Dayne cut back in the hole gashed open by the offensive line, juked defenders, and picked up 31 yards to break the record before a roaring crowd. He went on to amass 216 yards, help lock up a Big Ten title, win the Heisman Trophy, and embark on an NFL career.

“I don’t care where I go; when I run into a fan, they usually bring up the Rose Bowls or Ronnie’s game,” says Alvarez.

Eighteen years later, Dayne graduated from UW–Madison. He credits Alvarez for prodding him to get his degree. “When we recruit, we tell families that we want kids to walk out of here with a degree, a meaningful degree, from a world-class university,” Alvarez says.

A Special Way to Go Out

Few believed Wisconsin could prevail in Alvarez’s final game as coach in the 2006 Capital One Bowl in Orlando — except the Badgers. Alvarez’s friend Bob Davie, the former Notre Dame coach and TV broadcaster, warned him privately that number-seven Auburn was unbelievably talented. Boosters told Alvarez they felt sorry for him because his last game was against Auburn. Even his wife was doubtful.

“We finished a pregame news conference and Cindy said, ‘You did a great job. The media down here loves you, but you’re probably going to get beat,’ ” Alvarez recalls.

John Stocco at the 2006 Capital One Bowl. UW Athletics

With that negative feedback, Alvarez pointedly sold his players on the idea that it was a great matchup and that they could win. On the Badgers’ last full practice day — dreaded by players because of its intensity — Alvarez gave them the day off, something he’d never done.

Wisconsin defeated the Tigers 24–10, ending the game with a kneel-down at the Auburn one-yard line.

“They went in with a great attitude and the belief we could win,” Alvarez says. “The way the guys played was amazing — a pretty special way to go out.”

A Big Win for Women’s Hockey

The Badger women’s hockey team skated to a national championship in 2019 at the People’s United Center in Hamden, Connecticut, defeating border rival Minnesota 2–0 for the fifth NCAA title of coach Mark Johnson ’94’s career. The others came in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2011, plus another this year.

Though Alvarez couldn’t attend the game, he took particular pride that day in how Johnson and his athletes forged success.

“He has such a nice manner, and it’s obvious that the women love playing for him,” Alvarez says. “That’s hard to do, year in and year out, without some complacency. They are so productive and successful and consistent.”

Badger women’s hockey skates to a national championship in 2019. UW Athletics

Johnson, a star on the USA’s “Miracle on Ice” team that won Olympic gold in 1980, was feted as part of the 40th anniversary of the achievement. “For all of us to be able to relive that moment and honor him was so exciting and meaningful,” Alvarez says.

Final Four Fever

For Alvarez, winning is meant to be savored. “I tell everyone: don’t ever take success for granted. Winning is hard.”

That’s one reason the 2015 men’s basketball season, in which Coach Bo Ryan’s Badgers went to the NCAA title game against Duke, stands out for Alvarez. “For a long time, we didn’t experience tournament games, let alone playing for a national championship,” he says. “When you’re part of that, and you’re there for the shoot-around and a part of the inner circle, that’s fun.”

The Badgers, who made it to the Final Four in 2014 but lost to previously unbeaten Kentucky 74–73 in the semifinal game, came back to defeat the Wildcats 71–64 to advance to the marquee game. But Duke proved too much for the Badgers at Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium, defeating Wisconsin 68–63. The game was a pinnacle for Wisconsin basketball, which under Stu Jackson went to the NCAA tournament in 1994 for the first time in 47 years. Alvarez notes that Dick Bennett followed up by fashioning a winning tradition that took Wisconsin to the Final Four in 2000. Ryan built on that foundation.

“There’s no better basketball coach than Bo,” says Alvarez. “The guys knew exactly what he wanted, and they delivered. He could play a lot of different ways, but his swing offense was effective. And they played good defense.”

Alvarez calls the 2015 squad a close-knit, fun-loving group. After the game, a downcast Frank Kaminsky ’15, the nation’s college player of the year, said: “These guys are my family. … It’s going to be hard to say goodbye.”

Some Real Coaching

Coach Kelly Sheffield’s volleyball team earned a berth at the national semifinals in Pittsburgh in December 2019, building on a record of excellence.

After the Badgers defeated top-ranked Baylor to advance to the NCAA title game, a jubilant Alvarez gave a brief, thunderous locker-room pep talk: “You made us all proud. And, man, did you COMPETE!”

Although the Badgers lost to Stanford in the title game, Alvarez greatly admires Sheffield’s coaching ability and drive for consistency. In 2013, Sheffield’s Badgers surprised the nation by advancing to the NCAA championship game, and Sheffield has been on a steady course since.

“That’s some real coaching,” Alvarez says. “That’s what it’s all about — developing kids and taking them to the highest level.”

Scoring a Hat Trick

In 2016, Alvarez was looking to hire a men’s hockey coach. He was intrigued by the idea of picking Tony Granato ’17, a former Badger and NHL star who was an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings.

“Every hockey guy I talked to said, ‘You can’t hire Tony. He’s an NHL guy,’ ” Alvarez says.

But he called Granato to ask about good candidates for the Badgers’ opening. Among others, Granato suggested his brother, Don ’93, along with Mark Osiecki ’94 — both former Badgers with strong résumés. Then Granato asked, “What about me?”

“He said, ‘If I come, I’m really close to Don and Oz,’ and those were the guys people were recommending,” Alvarez says. “We hit the trifecta when we hired Tony and got all three. That was exciting.”

Osiecki remains on Granato’s staff as associate head coach, while his brother moved on to the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres.

“Tony’s a guy who’s going to get it done,” Alvarez says of Granato’s quest to rebuild the program.

The Biggest Thrill

At the end of his career, Alvarez is also proud of the administrative team he’s built, including its response to the challenging landscape for college athletics brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For him, the deepest fulfillment came not from the scoreboards or the record books. It came from his teaching role.

“The thing that gives me the biggest thrill is when former players come back and say, ‘Coach, I still use the principles that I learned from you in how I raised my family or how I run my business. Some of the things you taught us echo in my mind, and you had so much influence.’

“I always answer, ‘This is why I was in the business. This means more to me than anything.’ ” •

The UW’s First-Team All-American volleyball star originally planned to play basketball in college.

UW volleyball player Dana Rettke x’21 is six-foot-eight. It’s easy to marvel at her height, but even that doesn’t measure up to her love for and dedication to her sport.

As Rettke, a middle blocker, practices with her teammates in the UW Field House on a warm August morning, she’s in her element. Her calm and steady demeanor drives her movements. She acts swiftly, and her focus doesn’t waver. She’s also having a ton of fun, cheering on and huddling up with her teammates — even breaking into a subtle dance when a song by Usher bursts through the loudspeaker between plays.

It’s hard to believe that Rettke, named the 2017 National Freshman of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and a two-time First-Team All-American, didn’t start playing volleyball until her freshman year of high school. At the time, she was planning to play basketball in college.

Although she declined her mother’s suggestions to give volleyball a try before entering high school, Rettke changed her mind when her best friend decided to play.

“I was like, ‘Okay, she’s playing — I kind of want to be cool, too, and play with her,’ ” Rettke says. “I just fell in love with the sport.”

Then came a fateful pickup game with the University of Illinois’s basketball team during a campus visit.

“I was that scrawny, tall kid,” Rettke says. “[I] did an open gym with them, and I got annihilated.”

This experience, in conjunction with knee issues, led her to decide that basketball was not her future. Although she’d gone on more recruiting visits for basketball than for volleyball, she knew volleyball was the sport she wanted to pursue as a career — and she didn’t waste any time pivoting to it. Early in her sophomore year of high school, Rettke committed to playing for Wisconsin. By her junior year, she’d given up basketball entirely.

“[Volleyball] was a new challenge for me. It was something that I didn’t know a lot about, and I just loved to learn about this sport. I can’t really say I loved learning about basketball as much,” she says.

Rettke, a native of Riverside, Illinois, had come to UW–Madison for her first volleyball campus visit. After that, other campuses didn’t compare. A business major, Rettke was drawn to the university’s strong academic reputation and loved its volleyball culture. She admired the way players communicated with each other on and off the court.

“[The coaches and teammates] want you to be better people more than volleyball players. So, yes, volleyball’s very important, but I know from being here I’m going to walk away with so many more skills and so many more things to be proud of,” she says.

This past summer, Rettke joined the U.S. Women’s National Team to play in the Volleyball Nations League — where the team won gold — and helped the U.S. secure its spot for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“It’s awesome just to say I helped get this team to the Olympics,” says Rettke, who plans to try out for the Olympic team next summer.

She says a piece of advice from the U.S. team’s coach — Karch Kiraly, an Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball and inductee to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame — has stuck with her.

“It’s going to sound weird. It’s having low expectations for yourself because it brings a lot more joy and you don’t expect anything to happen,” Rettke says, noting that she holds low expectations and instead sets a standard for herself. “Like, ‘I don’t expect to do this, I am going to work at this.’ It just makes you work harder.”

She was also reunited with fellow Badger Lauren Carlini ’17 during the experience.

“[Carlini] is laser-focused on everything, but she’s also very team-oriented,” Rettke says, adding that finding that balance can be difficult, but Carlini does it well.

This season, the Badger team is aiming to win the Big Ten and national championships, and Rettke is excited to be a part of a roster that has its sights set at the top.

“That’s not going to all come overnight,” she says. “We have to take that game by game, so I’m just excited to be in the battle and the grind with this team this season.”

The success of the women’s volleyball team at the Wisconsin Field House is a highlight of Gawlik’s tenure as a top UW athletics administrator. Bryce Richter

Terry Gawlik remembers the day when Title IX became federal law in 1972. She was a successful multisport athlete at her Texas middle school, where her coach broke the news: “This is a great day for women’s sports.”

It would be hard for her to forget. As a UW senior associate athletic director, Gawlik oversees 10 sports programs and is in charge of the athletics department’s ongoing compliance with Title IX — the sweeping statute that prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program that receives federal funding. Although there were efforts early on to exempt athletics, the mandate is now fully entrenched in intercollegiate competition: men and women must have equal opportunities.

The stacks of reports sprawled on Gawlik’s desk serve as a tangible reminder of her task. To comply with Title IX, athletics departments must provide equitable access to sports offerings, athletic scholarships, and all other program areas, such as equipment, travel, facilities, and coaching. The first criterion can be met in several ways. The UW applies the proportionality rule — demonstrating that its sports opportunities for men and women are “substantially proportionate” to its respective enrollment numbers. Enrollment by gender is roughly equal, but it fluctuates each year.

“People have a misconception that Title IX tells you to drop sports,” Gawlik says, noting that the UW’s baseball team was terminated in 1991 only because of a department-wide budget crisis. “No, it doesn’t. It tells you to be in compliance.”

The UW added women’s athletics, which had existed as club teams, to its intercollegiate program in 1974. Although the budget grew from $118,000 to $1.1 million by 1989, a complaint was filed with the regional Office of Civil Rights (OCR) against the athletics department, citing slow implementation — one of the first such measures in the nation. Gawlik, who arrived at the UW in 1994, helped to develop various plans for compliance while meeting financial concerns. The university and OCR went back and forth for 12 years. “They told us, ‘You better be spot on,’ ” Gawlik says, referring to the proportionality numbers.

By 2001, the UW had instituted strict roster management — calculating target participation numbers for each team — and had added women’s lightweight rowing, softball, and ice hockey. Women made up 52.6 percent of the UW’s student-athletes, effectively matching the 53.3 percent of total enrollment. OCR then dropped the complaint.

The right mix of sports and roster sizes is delicate. Rosters fluctuate, and even a practice player counts as a participant. Gawlik tracks the numbers closely — not only participation, but also practice times, support services, and expenses for travel, recruiting, and equipment.

There is no plan to add or subtract sports. “Right now, our numbers match up,” she says. “We’re offering the sports that we would like to offer.” She references assistant women’s rowing coach Monica Whitehouse ’14, who walked on to the UW rowing team her freshman year and then represented Team USA at the 2016 World Rowing Championships. “That, to me, is what participation opportunity is,” Gawlik says.

As the highest-ranking female administrator in the athletics department, Gawlik has had a front-row seat to the exponential growth in women’s sports. Before arriving at the UW, Gawlik coached collegiate women’s basketball, volleyball, tennis, and track. Her introduction was in the early 1980s at the University of Mary Hardin–Baylor in Texas, where she coached two sports while earning her master’s degree. “I didn’t have any assistants. I also taught classes, half the time I was the trainer, I always drove the van, and I was doing all the recruiting and film,” Gawlik recalls, laughing.

Since Title IX, there’s been a 260 percent increase in the number of female athletes at the UW. The women’s sports budget has grown to $24.5 million, more than 50 coaches are on staff, and the 12 teams have more than a dozen national championships combined (including ice hockey earlier this year). When asked where women’s athletics would be today without Title IX, Gawlik takes a moment to ponder.

“Unfortunately, there’d be a lot of women and young girls out there not having the opportunity to play,” she says. “But I also think that we would have found a way. Maybe not at this type of level. But women are competitors — we don’t like to sit the bench.”

Student-athletes face the same unpredictability. But many know, from practice and preparation, that there’s comfort in repetition and predictability in routine. Some do it through food, others by the way they dress, the music they listen to, or how they prepare. Ritual and superstition offer a sense of control. And as long as the student-athletes are winning, those routines are hard to surrender.

Claudia Reardon ’01, MD’06, a UW assistant professor of psychiatry, says that ritualized superstition is prevalent among athletes for just these reasons.

“There is so much in sports that is beyond the athletes’ control. You can’t control what your opponent does, you can’t control the weather, and you can’t fully control the way you slept the night before,” says Reardon, who has treated UW and pro athletes for a variety of psychiatric issues. “But the ritual — that you can control.”

Reardon says the overwhelming majority of these superstitions are harmless and even helpful, but she warns that they have the potential to evolve into obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

“Athletes need to be aware of the trajectory of their rituals,” she says. “Do you become more and more rigid about the rituals? Maybe it starts with a ritual before the game, but then it takes up a whole day before the game or the whole week before.”

While some may find the rituals odd, they often say a lot about an athlete’s drive, Reardon adds: “The kinds of temperament that make it likely that athletes would engage in superstitious ritual are the kinds of aspects of their personality that make them successful — being really attentive to detail, perfectionism, and being wedded to routine.”

Brittany Ammerman 

Back to Basics

Brittany Ammerman ’15 has tasted the power of a gluten-free chocolate brownie.

Before each weekend series, the forward on the women’s hockey team would whip up the same dinner — gluten-free pasta with pesto and chicken, topped off with a dessert of gluten-free brownies. And before every series, she would cut a brand new hockey stick to the perfect size. Dressing before a game, Ammerman made sure to put on her left skate first.

“I like to have a routine,” she says. “It keeps you focused and I think it does help.”

Where’s the proof? Last January, the Badgers were mired in a three-game winless streak, and Ammerman hadn’t scored in eight games when she decided to ditch her routine to shake things up before a home series against Bemidji State University. On Friday night, the UW lost 2–1 as Ammerman went scoreless again.

Before that Saturday’s game, she reversed course and fired up all of her long-held rituals. The brownies and all the rest were back. Call it coincidence or call it karma, but when she hit the ice, there was a breakthrough. Ammerman drilled a short shot past the Bemidji State goalie forty-six seconds into overtime to win the game. Her jubilant teammates mobbed her on the ice.

“I was like, ‘All right — back to pasta and brownies!’ ” she says.

Nigel Hayes 

Predictably Spontaneous

Some student-athletes take pains to avoid developing a routine or slipping into a reliance on superstition. Badger basketball player Nigel Hayes x’17 discovered that superstition can become a burden, so he goes out of his way to be unpredictable. “The thing with superstitions is, if you miss doing it, you’re thinking, ‘Oh, boy, this could be a bad day.’ Then it can grow into something terrible,” he says.

As a wide receiver at Whitmer High School in Toledo, Ohio, Hayes’s superstitious rituals ballooned. Doing warm-up stretches, he would count to ten, but one day he counted to seven by mistake, and then felt like he had to continue that practice for the rest of the season. During Tuesday’s practice, he had to catch a pass in the corner of the end zone. On Thursdays, he stayed after practice to run routes. “You don’t want to do that to yourself,” says Hayes. “Now, I try not to get into a routine. I try to be as un-routine as possible.”

Zak Showalter 

Change It Up

Like his teammate Nigel Hayes, basketball guard Zak Showalter x’17 also pooh-poohs superstition. “If I get into a ritual and miss it one time,” he says, “I won’t be able to get it out of my head. I try to change my routine for every game.”

Jacki Gulczynski 

Keeping Memories Close

Women’s basketball player Jacki Gulczynski x’16’s pregame ritual is always tinged with the sadness of a stinging personal loss.

“I eat, shower, relax. I like to watch TV and get my mind off of everything,” she says. “Then, I have to perfectly place my wristband on my left wrist. On the inside, I have my brother’s initials written out, because my brother Lenny was killed in Iraq.”

Vince Biegel 

Cookie Monster

The R&B beats of Alicia Keys and reggae are often the backdrop for outside linebacker Vince Biegel x’16 as he runs through his game-day preparation. The hard-hitting Biegel avoids the aggressive rhythms that you might expect to be part of his routine. “I’ve got a fiery personality to begin with, and if you pour fire on fire, you’ll have a big storm there,” says Biegel, who also brings diet into the picture, eating pasta with shrimp or chicken the night before a game and topping it off with a bedtime snack of a cookie and ice cream.

Cayla McMorris and Michala Johnson  

Eating to Win

These Badger women’s basketball teammates build rituals around food. McMorris x’18 goes for chicken Alfredo before games, a habit that was born at a restaurant in her hometown of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. And Johnson ’14, x’16 stashes food — such as apples, bananas, and protein bars — under her locker room chair, so she can power up during halftime.

Chase Drake 

Plugged In

For Chase Drake ’15, a defenseman and team captain on the 2014 Badger hockey team, a video game was at the heart of his pregame routine.

“I would say that I’m pretty superstitious,” Drake says. “I like to eat at Panera [Bread] before the game, then come back to the Kohl Center and play eighteen holes of Tiger Woods golf on the Xbox with [my teammate] Grant Besse x’17. Then I take an hour-long nap and get up at the same time. Then I put on my gear from left to right.”

Duje Dukan 

The Road Taken

Men’s basketball player Duje Dukan ’14, x’16 found comfort on his way to home games. Dukan, who finished out his Badger basketball career in 2015, says he made it a point to get to the Kohl Center two hours before each game to get taped and listen to music. Riding his scooter to the arena, he never varied his route. “It works, so I do it,” Dukan says.

Drew Meyer 

Good Tunes

Repetition is reflected in Drew Meyer x’16’s game-day playlist. On the bus ride to the stadium, the Badger football punter reads Bible passages while listening to hip-hop. When the team reaches the stadium, he switches to country music. In the locker room, Meyer shifts gears again, to classical music. “I just want to calm myself, because what I do is more like what a golfer does. I don’t need to be breathing fire,” Meyer says.

Sojourn Shelton 

Go with What You Know

If clothes make the man, then cleats make the defender, believes Sojourn Shelton x’17, a cornerback on the Badger football team. Halfway through the 2014 season, Shelton got a new jolt of confidence from an old pair of shoes.

“I was struggling a little early last year,” Shelton says. “I had these cleats that I wore in my freshman year, and once I started playing in those cleats, I was playing a lot better. I’m probably going to have to stay with those cleats.”

Taylor Morey 

That’s a Wrap

For UW volleyball player Taylor Morey x’16, injuries are a bugaboo. When people mention injuries, Morey knocks on wood. During the Badgers’ run in the 2013 NCAA volleyball tournament, which took them to the championship match, Morey scraped her knee early in the tournament and had it wrapped by the team trainer. But even after Morey’s knee healed, she continued having it wrapped throughout the tournament.

“I just couldn’t break the juju,” she says.

Haleigh Nelson 

Put a Bow On it

Haleigh Nelson x’17 shares a ritual with volleyball teammate Taylor Morey. Without fail, they snap a cell-phone selfie together. Serious faces, funny faces, and goofy captions are all part of the mix. When Nelson had a chance to move her locker, Morey talked her out of it, figuring, why mess with the mojo?

Nelson has her own set of pregame rituals. She showers, blow-dries her hair, and has a teammate braid it. Then, she puts a bow in it.

“I don’t live and die by superstition, but I would never change my number,” Nelson adds. “It’s the luckiest number, isn’t it?”

Nelson, of course, wears number 13.