2024 AAC Coach of the Year has led the Bulls to a conference title and NCAA Tournament

TAMPA, FEB. 25, 2026 – University of South Florida CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins today announced a contract extension for Women's Volleyball Head Coach Jolene Shepardson that runs through the 2029 season.

Shepardson has guided the Bulls to remarkable success in six seasons since returning to her alma mater in January 2020. Following a COVID-shortened debut campaign, her program has made steady and significant strides — capturing a division title in 2023, winning a regular-season conference championship in 2024, and returning to the NCAA Tournament in 2025 for the first time in 23 years.

"USF women's volleyball has been elevated to a perennial conference championship contender under Jolene's leadership and has returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in more than two decades," Higgins said. "Nobody is more passionate about the success of USF women's volleyball or excited to continue to elevate the volleyball community in the Bay area than Jolene. We are thrilled to recognize her accomplishments and extend her tremendous leadership of our program into an exciting future."

In 2025, Shepardson's Bulls navigated a demanding non-conference schedule that helped secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament — the program's first appearance since 2002. USF finished second in the American Athletic Conference regular-season standings and posted a 17-13 overall record, concluding the year with a four-set loss to No. 8 seed Penn State in the opening round. The NCAA berth marked the program's first since Shepardson herself competed in the tournament as a player.

Maria Clara Andrade earned All-America honors for the second time in her career and was named AAC Player of the Year for the second time. She became just the second Bull to win back-to-back player of the year honors, joining USF Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Erica Berggren (1995–96).

"When I returned to South Florida in 2020, I said there are no limits to what we can do at USF," Shepardson said. "I truly believe that, and we have even more momentum now with visionary leaders like Rob Higgins and the tremendous support of our university and community. I'm very proud of our players and staff and the work they have put in to return USF Volleyball to the top of our conference and the NCAA Tournament. We have much more to do and I'm very excited for what the future holds for Bulls Volleyball."

Shepardson was named the 2024 American Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Bulls to a regular season conference championship, the program's first since 2002. The Bulls finished 19-10 (14-2 in the AAC), including a five-set victory at No. 10 Florida – the Bulls' first win over the Gators since 1990, the program's first win in Gainesville and the highest ranked opponent defeated in program history. Andrade earned AAC Player of the Year and AVCA All-America honors and Caroline Dykes was named the AAC Setter of the Year.

In 2023, the Bulls posted a 22-12 record and won the AAC East Division. The team earned an invitation to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship and put together the longest postseason run in program history, winning three games to reach the Fab Four of the NVIC. Andrade earned first team All-AAC honors.

Under Shepardson, the Bulls have also excelled in the classroom. Three Bulls – Imani Hartfield, Miya Thomas and Addy Brus – earned CSC Academic All-District honors in 2025. The volleyball team posted a best-ever semester grade-point average of 3.60 in the fall of 2024.

Born in Live Oak, Fla., and a native of Tampa, Shepardson returned to USF with nine years of head coaching experience after engineering turnarounds at San Jose State and Cal State Bakersfield. The 2002 USF graduate was a standout on Bulls teams that won two conference championships and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. As a player at Tampa Prep, she was named Gatorade Florida Player of the Year in 1997.

About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 21 varsity teams, with 20 competing at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference, including the recent additions of women's lacrosse and women's beach volleyball. The Bulls' athletic program, founded in 1965, celebrates its 60^thseason in 2025-26.

Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the Tampa General Hospital Athletics District on the east end of USF's Tampa campus. The Bulls have won 154 conference titles across 16 sports, with 82 men's championships and 72 women's championships. Men's tennis and men's soccer lead with 20 titles each, while women's programs have been headlined by women's tennis (14) and volleyball (13). Since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2013, USF has secured 36 conference team titles.
 
Academically, USF student-athletes have achieved a program record of 22 consecutive semesters with a combined GPA of 3.0 or above as of fall 2025. Since 2015, more than 800 Bulls have earned their degrees.
 
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