Kelly Sheffield built the Dayton women’s volleyball team into a perennial Atlantic 10 champion and NCAA tourney participant over the last five years and thought he’d be spending the rest of his coaching career with the Flyers.

He and his wife Cathy had their first child here about two years ago and have another due in April. They had planted such deep roots in the community that Sheffield’s parents and even his sister and her family moved to town to support him.

But while he’s turned down other job offers, he was intrigued by the opening at Wisconsin, which is considered a sleeping giant in volleyball circles.

After a trip to the campus and a visit with Athletic Director Barry Alvarez — and being assured about facility enhancements and a commitment to increase staff — Sheffield decided to take over a Badger program sorely in need of new energy.

“This is a unique opportunity, I think,” he said. “It’s a place where they’re able to compete at the absolute highest level. It’s a program where you can bring in people to put you in that national championship discussion. And that’s certainly attractive to me.”

While the Flyers have been a consistent top-25 team, they probably can’t reasonably expect to compete with the Penn States and Nebraskas in the sport. The Atlantic 10 has been a one-bid league, while the Big Ten puts about a half-dozen teams in the NCAA tourney.

The Badgers, despite hovering around the .500 mark the last five years, have been to Final Fours and are in the top five nationally in attendance, drawing about 3,200 fans per game last season. They’ve also signed the country’s top recruit, Lauren Carlini.

“We’ve had quite a few kids in our program that could play just about anywhere, but they’re getting more of those in that conference, no question,” Sheffield said. “The kind of school Dayton is, it’s a ‘fit’ school. You can have some of the top kids in the country who visit here and say, ‘This just fits me, I want to be here.’ But you’re probably getting a deeper roster of those types of players at Wisconsin. … It’s a different animal.”

Sheffield, who has reached the NCAA eight times during his 12-year career at UD and Albany, notified his players and staff by phone before the announcement of his move was made Friday. He’s leaving the program in great shape with a returning All-American in Megan Campbell and a solid core around her.

UD also has made extensive investments in the sport. When the Cronin Center was remodeled about a year ago, the volleyball team moved into new offices as plush as those for men’s basketball.

The Frericks Center was long ago turned into the home facility for the squad, too.

All of that means UD should be able to find a coach to build on what Sheffield has done.

“The job itself has got everything with the new offices and a volleyball-only venue,” Dayton AD Tim Wabler said. “We’ve been able to attract very good candidates. The expectation is to keep this going.

“We feel we’re a top-25 volleyball program, and we want to hire a top-25 coach.”