Lauren Carlini to take on assistant coaching role with Badger volleyball in 2025

Olympian and professional indoor volleyball player Lauren Carlini will take on an assistant coaching role at her alma mater, Wisconsin, in 2025. Last season, Carlini served on the Badger volleyball staff as an offensive analyst and strategy consultant while playing on LOVB Madison.  

“We are moving Lauren Carlini into a coaching role, which I think is a really big deal for all of our players,” head coach Kelly Sheffield said Tuesday at Big Ten Volleyball Media Days in Chicago. “She's got so much to offer, not only because she's been where they want to go, but she is passionate. She's got a work ethic that there's just so much to tap into, and being able to get her more involved was certainly a goal.”

A setter for the Badgers from 2013-2016, Carlini was a four-time All-American. She went on to play professional volleyball on the international circuit and was named to multiple national squads. Carlini is considered one of the best American indoor volleyball players of all time. 

In addition to Carlini, Sheffield also added John Shondell in an assistant role. Shondell joins Wisconsin from Purdue, where he coached under his older brother, Dave Shondell, for all 19 seasons of his career thus far.

“Then the opportunity of bringing in John, who I've known for over 40 years and who is one of the best trainers in our sport, to be able to bring him in, again, he'll be an amazing fit for our staff,” Sheffield said. “And I think our players, once they get to know him, because he's only been around for a week, I think he'll be able to benefit them.”

Wisconsin’s performance last season was respectable — the Badgers finished third in the Big Ten with a 26-7 (17-3) record. Despite a solid performance, Sheffield felt he was out of touch with his team. 

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“I felt like last year there was a lot of things that I was handling that I felt took me away from our players,” Sheffield said. “The changing of what is happening in college athletics and being on top of that, with revenue sharing, with NIL, because it's not just -- there's a lot of, ‘well, what if I do this’ or ‘what if we do this’and a lot of brainstorming. The more that you're spending on things that aren't volleyball or not your people, for me, it's a mistake.”