Texas Volleyball Coach Urges NCAA to Revamp Tournament, Capitalize on Sport’s Rising Popularity

Jerritt Elliott spoke about how the NCAA can change and improve postseason play to capitalize on the growing popularity of college volleyball.

Dec 16, 2022; Omaha, Nebraska, US; Texas Longhorns head coach Jerritt Elliott answers questions during the press conference the day before the championship match at the CHI Health Center. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports / USA TODAY Sports

Texas volleyball head coach Jerritt Elliott has called on the NCAA to revamp the postseason tournament.

There are more eyes on collegiate volleyball than ever, and Elliott feels that the NCAA is in a position to capitalize and promote the sport in a way that can benefit both the teams and the organization itself.

Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott wants the NCAA to capitalize on the growth of women’s volleyball. pic.twitter.com/VcrXdVIg7p

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"What I'm hoping is that the NCAA really opens their eyes and saying, 'Hey, there's something really going on here,'" Elliott said. "You're starting to see TV ratings, and then the next step for this is generating ad spend and being able to create revenue through that."

Just last year, ESPN announced that 2025 was the most-watched women's college volleyball season on record. Over 1.3 billion minutes of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament were watched, while 190,000 viewers tuned into the regular season.

It seemed like 2025 was when the world started to shift and consume more women's sports.

The 2026 Women's College World Series averaged 1.6 million viewers across 16 games, peaking at 3 million during game two of the finals between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. This summer, ESPN debuted a nine-week summer primetime programming block, designated as Women's Sports Sundays. The promotion featured matchups from the WNBA, the National Women's Soccer League, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League and more.

With all these new sets of eyes, Elliott feels that the NCAA should extend the postseason.

While keeping the first two rounds the same, he advocates that in the later rounds of the bracket, the NCAA should transition into a best-of-three format.

"What I would like to see is the first and second rounds the same, single eliminations," Elliott said. "If he gets to a regional final, it's best two out of three, and another there are eight teams that can legitimately play the game, that's how good this sport has gotten, and I think we need to go to two pools of four and play over the week and then the top two seeds that come out of that become a Final Four."

Elliott referenced the attention collegiate softball has gotten as a justification for advocating for a new tournament format. With how elite multiple teams are now, the one-and-done format is not working, Elliott claims.

"The one-and-done is not great for the sport," Elliott said.