Jessica Yanz was about to complete her Master’s Degree at the University of Dayton in the spring of 2011, but she still had one important assignment to go.

It wasn’t even from a professor or a teaching assistant, but from her volleyball coach, Kelly Sheffield.

After Yanz approached Sheffield seeking the newly-created director of operations position at Dayton, Sheffield assigned Yanz her final assignment.

The task? Sheffield instructed Yanz to call three other directors of operations at various programs across the country, interview them about the daily obligations the position entails and then report back to him — by writing a paper.

“Once she got all the facts, she was interested,” Sheffield, now the Wisconsin volleyball head coach, said. “I knew she had the right personality and ended up being really good. She’s somebody that likes to take charge. She’s an attention to detail type of person. She’s somebody I knew I enjoyed being in the office with everyday.”

Yanz developed her “in charge” mentality as a setter on the volleyball court. She was a highly-touted recruit, earning Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year honors out of Naperville Central High School.

Yanz began her collegiate career at national-powerhouse Penn State, but saw little playing time her first two seasons. She was a member of the 2007 National Championship squad. Following that season, she transferred to Nebraska, but sat behind All-American setter Sydney Anderson.

Yanz kept up her playing dreams after completing her undergraduate studies, and pursued her Master’s at Dayton, where Sheffield coached her for a season because she still had eligibility after redshirting for a season at Nebraska.

Yanz and the Flyers experienced great success that season, going undefeated in Atlantic-10 conference play and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Yanz earned A-10 Setter of the Year honors and was named an honorable mention All-American.

That spring, Yanz continued to attend practices and realized she still wanted to be a part of volleyball.

“I’m a volleyball junkie at heart,” Yanz said. “It was kind of natural to stay within the realm of athletics, if not a volleyball team.”

She had applied to director of operations jobs for a basketball and volleyball team, but didn’t get either.

Then, the Dayton Athletic Department created the position after Sheffield had fought for the founding of the job. Yanz had the job.

“Typical Kelly fashion, making me work to get the job,” Yanz joked describing the ‘application’ process he made her complete.

After Sheffield took the Wisconsin job in December 2011, he moved the bulk of his staff to Madison, including Yanz.

Yanz’s job has several facets. In addition to being in charge of and planning the team’s travel, she oversees the team’s budget and academic scheduling.

“My job allows the coaches to coach and recruit,” Yanz said. “I do everything else to take the responsibility of everyday life that just happens. If I do my job right, they’re not stressed at all. It’s kind of a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff.”

Behind-the-scenes it is. During matches, she sits in the upper-level of the UW Field House coding every hit for the team. Fans can barely see her.

Yanz is in charge when the team is on the road. She makes sure the team is on time to board buses, ensures that meals are ready to be served upon the team’s arrival to a restaurant, tells players the exact flight duration so they know how long to charge devices and coordinates late-checkout with hotels when road games are later.

Yanz’s key to successful travel is an itinerary planned to the minute. She puts herself five steps ahead of the itinerary to ensure everything runs smoothly.

“If they’re [players and coaches] not worried about anything, I’m doing my job right,” Yanz said.

“She makes the coaches lives easier. She makes the players lives easier,” Sheffield said. “She’s the connecter.”

Sometimes, Yanz has the opportunity to incorporate activities if the team is on the road long enough. For example, this past weekend in between matches against Michigan and Michigan State, the team saw Matthew McConaughey’s new movie “Interstellar” during the team’s off day. Earlier this season in Seattle to play Washington, the team went to the Space Needle.

Last season, when the Badgers made it to the Final Four in Seattle, it was Yanz who made sure players had flights back to their hometowns to celebrate the holidays and start winter break. Not only did she have to plan the flights so the team could focus on volleyball, but had to coordinate with the player’s families to make sure someone could get them from the airport.

Last week, just another example of Yanz taking care of what needs to get done, she drove from Bloomington (where the team was prepping to play Indiana) to Indianapolis to pick up sophomore middle blocker Haleigh Nelson from the airport, after Nelson tended to family matters in Tennessee and didn’t travel with the team.

“She doesn’t coach us and doesn’t tell us which shots are open in a game, but she kind of just keeps us in line,” Nelson said. “It’s a different kind of guidance.”

Yanz, who is engaged and planning a wedding on top of road trips, will talk to players about that among other things, while making sure the player’s main focuses are volleyball and schoolwork.

“She runs a tight ship so that we don’t have to think about anything else,” Nelson said.

Yanz has embraced her role from the shadows, something she began to learn about during her playing days. Now, giving young women an opportunity to succeed as student-athletes makes it all worth it.

“Seeing them have success, and knowing I played some small role in that by making their lives easier,” Yanz said.