What makes Kentucky volleyball’s Craig Skinner a master of the coach’s challenge?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Skinner consults staff and players' court reactions before issuing video challenges.
- He converted 41 of 50 coach challenges this season, producing an 82% success rate.
- Most NCAA Regional teams do not track coach challenge stats, limiting comparisons.
During any given Kentucky volleyball match, you may see head coach Craig Skinner confer with his players and staff after a controversial call.
Skinner — who is about to lead the No. 1 Wildcats (27-2) in their NCAA regional matchup against Cal Poly (27-7) on Thursday afternoon — will glance at his coaching staff, the players on the court and the locked-in collection of players standing off to the side, cheering for their teammates.
“I mean, there’s some that I feel pretty confident, they’re obvious, that I personally see,” Skinner said. “But then there’s plenty that I don’t have a good angle. They have a better angle at the line. Or they might see the baseline better. Our staff might see something.”
Only then, once he’s gathered all the information, will Skinner make a decision whether to challenge the call.
“Usually, the biggest indicator is the reaction of the players on the court and the closest person to where that ball was,” Skinner said. “So I think you’ve got to get a little information from all of them before you make your final decision to challenge.”
It’s a strategy that’s paid off, as Skinner enters Thursday’s match with 41 successful challenges on 50 attempts this season — an 82% success rate.
Since the 2022 season, women’s college volleyball coaches have begun every match with two video coach’s challenges, and are granted another in the event the match reaches a fifth set — with the caveat that a coach can only hold two challenges in that fifth set.
Similarly to in college basketball, if a coach is successful in their challenge — and the call in question is reversed — the coach gets to keep the challenge. In the event the original call stands, the challenge is lost.
Through the opening weekend of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Big Blue Nation has already seen Skinner on both ends of the equation; in UK’s 3-0 sweep of Wofford on Thursday, Skinner won his sole issued challenge of the night.
During the 3-1 victory over No. 8 UCLA, however, the Wildcats’ didn’t have much success, losing each of their challenges for the first time this season.
Skinner went 1 of 3 on challenges during the second-round win, but he said he’d make the choice to issue both of the lost challenges again, given how close he and his team perceived the calls to be.
“Ran out tonight,” Skinner said. “And I would have done that again on both of those, but they were pretty close.”
In just three of the team’s 29 matches this season — sweeps Sept. 6 against New Hampshire, Oct. 3 vs. Ole Miss and Oct. 26 against Alabama — has Skinner opted not to issue a challenge.
Skinner went 12 of 15 against ranked opponents during the regular season, and 7 of 8 during the SEC Tournament — including 3 of 4 in the reverse sweep of Texas in the SEC Tournament Championship.
Based on an unofficial survey conducted by the Herald-Leader this week, coaches’ challenges are not necessarily a statistic of which many of this year’s top teams are keeping track.
Of the 15 other teams to punch their ticket to this week’s regional round of the NCAA Tournament, only No. 4 Indiana reported its coach’s challenge data; Hoosiers head coach Steve Aird is 20 of 43 on challenges this season, including a season-high three successful challenges in Indiana’s 3-1 win at UCLA on Oct. 4.
Aird has yet to issue a challenge in the team’s two NCAA Tournament matches.
No. 2 Arizona State didn’t keep track of head coach JJ Van Niel’s challenges during this year’s Big 12-winning regular season, but reported that Van Niel went 1 of 1 during last week’s opening rounds.
No. 3 Creighton also doesn’t keep track of head coach Brian Rosen’s challenges but reported that, for the second time in three years, the Bluejays won their second-round NCAA Tournament match on a failed challenge by their opponent.
Creighton defeated Northern Iowa 3-1 in last week’s second-round matchup and was awarded its 25th point in the fourth set on a failed challenge by UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen; at match point, Northern Iowa outside hitter Lily Dykstra committed an attack error. Petersen challenged the call but lost the challenge, sending the Bluejays to their third consecutive regional appearance, and fifth trip in program history.
Representatives from Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Stanford, Minnesota and Cal Poly said they didn’t track the statistic. The remaining six Sweet Sixteen programs did not respond to the specific data request.
In issuing 50 challenges, Skinner puts confidence in the tens of sets of extra eyes around the floor.
And his reasoning? A standard of staying present regardless of the situation. It’s a mentality baked into the culture of Kentucky volleyball.
“Volleyball is a massive game of momentum,” Skinner said. “And every point is a chance for that momentum to change. I think the teams that are focused the most on the next point have the best chance to go on runs. Because if you run two in a row and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself because you won those two, you’re probably going to lose the next point.”
That confidence is earned. Skinner works to establish the importance of small details and staying present as soon as his athletes get on campus, he said, in order to best “manufacture a group of people that is solely focused on what they are going to do now.”
“You just can’t walk in the court, ‘Hey guys, let’s focus on this point,’” Skinner said. “That has to be developed and evolved over the course of a year, years when these guys come here. When they first get here, they’re like, ‘Why are we doing this? What’s this matter about staying in the present moment?’ and all of those things. But when you get into a game of volleyball and you have thunder coming at you, like UCLA is, and you’re worried about what they just did three points ago, there’s no chance you’re going to win the next point.”
So if the Wildcats closest to where the call occurred are sure of what they’ve seen, Skinner is more than happy to take a chance in the moment. One never knows if it could result in the start of a momentum shift, or open the door to advance further towards a coveted title.
“From point 1 to point 25, they all have equal value,” Skinner said. “So point 17 still means as much as point 1. That’s just a different point in the set.”
Kentucky volleyball tips off in a regional semifinal against Cal Poly on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET following the conclusion of No. 2 Arizona State vs. No. 3 Creighton at 1 p.m.
Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN2.
UK Athletics has issued a reminder that Thursday is the first of a two-day “Reading Period” for the university, so ample parking is expected for the match in the students’ absence.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM.
