Dani Busboom Kelly - Setting Up Your Setter for Success/Team Drills

The Coach

Texas High School Coaches Association

HELPING COACHES TO HELP KIDS - Since 1930

Follow

Dani Busboom Kelly, the 2021 AVCA National Coach of the Year, took the helm of the Louisville staff in late 2016 and has kept the Cardinals on a rocket trajectory every year since.
In 2022, Coach Busboom Kelly took the Cardinals to yet another program first. As the No. 2 overall seed, the No. 2-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team (31-3, 17-1) advanced to its second-straight Final Four appearance. After beating ACC rival Pittsburgh in the NCAA National Semi-finals, the Cardinals advanced to their first-ever NCAA Championships match before falling to top-seeded Texas. As an athlete, Busboom Kelly was a captain at Nebraska and moved from setter to libero in 2006 to help Nebraska’s defense and finished her career as one of only two players to rank among NU’s all-time leaders in both digs (1,281, second) and assists (2,873, eighth). She was a four-year starter for Cook, guiding NU to a 124-10 record, the best four-year mark in school history, three Big 12 titles, two NCAA finals appearances and a national title in 2006. Busboom Kelly was considered the Big 12’s best libero in 2006, as she helped NU limit opponents to a Big 12-low .144 hitting percentage. She set Nebraska’s single-season digs record (580) in her first year as a libero, breaking the previous mark of 480 by Amanda McCormick in 2004. As a senior she reached double figures in digs in 32 of 34 matches, including 21 straight matches with at least 10 digs. She notched her best defensive performance at the NCAA semifinals against UCLA, totaling a career-high 29 digs, which still ranks as the second-best postseason performance in school history.

Following her graduation, Busboom Kelly spent time with the U.S. Women’s National Training Team before working as a sales representative for an Omaha insurance company. She coached the Team USA A2 Select team and was a member of the 2007 USA Training Roster, where she played with former UofL standout Sarah Drury Petkovic.  She has worked as a sideline reporter for radio broadcasts of Nebraska volleyball matches on the Husker Sports Network and also as an assistant coach with USA Volleyball’s Select A2 Program. Dani and her husband, former Nebraska football player Lane Kelly, were married in the summer of 2010 and have a son, Boone.