MADISON, WI — John Shondell clearly got the better of his nephew on the golf course earlier in the summer. “I kind of took him to the woodshed,” the Wisconsin volleyball assistant coach said. “We played match play, and the match was over after about 12 holes. … I’m going to let him know about it. I’m not going to forget about that one.” His nephew will seek a more competitive result on the volleyball court when the Kyle Shondell-led Butler Bulldogs visit the Badgers for an Aug. 14 exhibition – and quasi-reunion for the state of Indiana’s famous family of volleyball coaches. “It’ll be a different experience than coaching against my dad,” Kyle said, referencing Purdue coach Dave Shondell. “But in a lot of same ways, it’ll be pretty similar. I know I got to bring my ‘A’ game and do all the things that us Shondells’ teams do well just to have a chance.” Kyle has long been close to his uncle on and off the volleyball court. He worked with the volleyball program when he was a student at Purdue, where his father was the head coach and John was the associate head coach. “A lot of people – and probably rightfully so – will credit my father for a lot of my coaching philosophy, my style, who I am as a coach,” Kyle said. “But most probably don’t realize just how much of who I am as an in-gym trainer, who I am coaching a player, I’ve gotten from my Uncle John.”
Kyle spent plenty of time with John in the film room and designing and executing various training sessions. He firmly believes that the UW assistant is “one of the more technically savvy coaches in America.” “The way that he trains the game – it’s a lot like his older brother, where it’s very technically broken down – but it’s also at a level that college athletes can appreciate,” Kyle said. “It’s not so elementary that they lose interest.” Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield – whose connections to the Shondell family date back to growing up and coaching in Muncie, Indiana – has seen John and Dave Shondell’s wisdom rub off on Kyle. “He’s been around some of the best coaches in our sport’s history,” Sheffield said. “He’s competitive, like everybody in that family is. He’s a very good trainer, like John. And he’s a great motivator, like his dad, Dave.” Coming soon to Fishers: Inaugural Big Ten volleyball tournament coming to state that 'really cares about the sport' Butler’s roster includes a few of John’s former club players, and they have noticed the similarities between the uncle-nephew and mentor-mentee pair as well. “One of our passers that used to play for John called me out, letting me know that this week and last week – especially this week early – I’ve been a lot more like John than ever before,” Kyle said.
The uncle-nephew and mentor-mentee familiarity may have helped sell Kyle on bringing his team to the UW Field House. Both teams were in need of another exhibition as Kyle and John talked at an AAU tournament in Orlando. “Of course, he was a little weary about it because Purdue’s his other one,” John said. “That’s two top-10 teams in his preseason. He’s got a good young team, but that’s got to be pretty daunting. But I told him you’ll get to play in front of 5,000-6,000 people. … I think that kind of talked him into it a little bit.” Sheffield and John Shondell’s Badgers and Dave Shondell’s Boilermakers, who Butler plays in exhibition Aug. 21, have historically been much more competitive than the Butler program that Kyle Shondell took over ahead of the 2023 season. B1G challenges: Coaches vote Purdue volleyball as preseason top-10 team in rankings Butler’s last NCAA tournament appearance was in 2010. Wisconsin, on the other hand, has advanced to the second weekend of the tournament in each of the last 13 seasons. Purdue has been to the second weekend of the tournament in seven consecutive seasons. The Bulldogs are coming off a 12-17 season in 2025. They went 5-11 in Big East play, which was ninth-best in the 11-team league. Kyle’s Bulldogs gave Dave’s Boilermakers a scare in the following spring, though, forcing a fifth set in an exhibition at Purdue’s Holloway Gymnasium. “It was really close, and I know that Dave was sweating going five sets with his son, Kyle,” John said. “That would have been tough for him to drop that one, but Dave somehow found a way to win in five sets.” From last year: Dave Shondell was ready to retire, how 'ever grateful' Purdue reenergized him Kyle was the 2022 national coach of the year in NAIA men’s volleyball before taking over the Butler program. The Bulldogs are still seeking their first winning season under his leadership, but his coaching counterparts in Madison are bullish on his potential. “He finally now has a lot of his players at Butler, and he’s got some players I think that can really take their team to the top of the league,” John said of Kyle’s Big East program. John envisions fan support swelling in Indianapolis as his nephew experiences more on-court success, and the Bulldogs will be “right there with Marquette” in two years.
Scheduling challenging exhibitions like the test at Wisconsin – a program that went deeper in last year’s NCAA tournament than any of the three Big East teams that earned berths – may help with that aspiration. “Any chance my team can get to compete with high-level competition, I think it’s worth my time,” Kyle said. “Especially in the Big East, we’ve got to be able to find some people to play that are going to challenge us.” John is hoping for more of a challenge from Kyle’s Bulldogs, too, than what he experienced with his nephew on the golf course. “We need them to play well to challenge our team,” John said. “We still have things we’re looking at, and we need to see which players can step up and play at a high level. And the higher level they play at, the higher level we’re going to have to play at.” This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler volleyball coach Kyle Shondell gets family reunions against top-10 teams