diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/BUILD b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/BUILD
index b780c1e47ea..0166a4c6f20 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/BUILD
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/BUILD
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/listers/core/v1:go_default_library",
-        "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/tools/record:go_default_library",
     ],
 )
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core/BUILD b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core/BUILD
index a6c32d9f866..305ce865879 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core/BUILD
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core/BUILD
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ go_library(
         "equivalence_cache.go",
         "extender.go",
         "generic_scheduler.go",
+        "scheduling_queue.go",
     ],
     importpath = "k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core",
     deps = [
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/trace:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/rest:go_default_library",
+        "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/util/workqueue:go_default_library",
     ],
 )
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core/scheduling_queue.go b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core/scheduling_queue.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..969a4360071
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core/scheduling_queue.go
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2017 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+// This file contains structures that implement scheduling queue types.
+// Scheduling queues hold pending pods waiting to be scheduled.
+
+package core
+
+import (
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
+)
+
+// SchedulingQueue is an interface for a queue to store pods waiting to be scheduled.
+// The interface follows a pattern similar to cache.FIFO and cache.Heap and
+// makes it easy to use those data structures as a SchedulingQueue.
+type SchedulingQueue interface {
+	Add(obj interface{}) error
+	AddIfNotPresent(obj interface{}) error
+	Pop() (interface{}, error)
+	Update(obj interface{}) error
+	Delete(obj interface{}) error
+	List() []interface{}
+	ListKeys() []string
+	Get(obj interface{}) (item interface{}, exists bool, err error)
+	GetByKey(key string) (item interface{}, exists bool, err error)
+}
+
+// FIFO is only used to add a Pop() method to cache.FIFO so that it can be
+// used as a SchedulingQueue interface.
+type FIFO struct {
+	*cache.FIFO
+}
+
+// Pop removes the head of FIFO and returns it.
+// This is just a copy/paste of cache.Pop(queue Queue) from fifo.go that scheduler
+// has always been using. There is a comment in that file saying that this method
+// shouldn't be used in production code, but scheduler has always been using it.
+// This function does minimal error checking.
+func (f *FIFO) Pop() (interface{}, error) {
+	var result interface{}
+	f.FIFO.Pop(func(obj interface{}) error {
+		result = obj
+		return nil
+	})
+	return result, nil
+}
+
+var _ = SchedulingQueue(&FIFO{}) // Making sure that FIFO implements SchedulingQueue.
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/BUILD b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/BUILD
index a3b970ef2fa..f17409bd11e 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/BUILD
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/BUILD
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ go_test(
         "//plugin/pkg/scheduler/algorithm:go_default_library",
         "//plugin/pkg/scheduler/api:go_default_library",
         "//plugin/pkg/scheduler/api/latest:go_default_library",
+        "//plugin/pkg/scheduler/core:go_default_library",
         "//plugin/pkg/scheduler/schedulercache:go_default_library",
         "//plugin/pkg/scheduler/testing:go_default_library",
         "//plugin/pkg/scheduler/util:go_default_library",
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory.go b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory.go
index b83010eda54..67610deb521 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory.go
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory.go
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ var (
 type configFactory struct {
 	client clientset.Interface
 	// queue for pods that need scheduling
-	podQueue *cache.FIFO
+	podQueue core.SchedulingQueue
 	// a means to list all known scheduled pods.
 	scheduledPodLister corelisters.PodLister
 	// a means to list all known scheduled pods and pods assumed to have been scheduled.
@@ -142,10 +142,11 @@ func NewConfigFactory(
 	stopEverything := make(chan struct{})
 	schedulerCache := schedulercache.New(30*time.Second, stopEverything)
 
+	schedulingQueue := &core.FIFO{FIFO: cache.NewFIFO(cache.MetaNamespaceKeyFunc)}
 	c := &configFactory{
 		client:                         client,
 		podLister:                      schedulerCache,
-		podQueue:                       cache.NewFIFO(cache.MetaNamespaceKeyFunc),
+		podQueue:                       schedulingQueue,
 		pVLister:                       pvInformer.Lister(),
 		pVCLister:                      pvcInformer.Lister(),
 		serviceLister:                  serviceInformer.Lister(),
@@ -901,9 +902,14 @@ func (f *configFactory) getPluginArgs() (*PluginFactoryArgs, error) {
 }
 
 func (f *configFactory) getNextPod() *v1.Pod {
-	pod := cache.Pop(f.podQueue).(*v1.Pod)
-	glog.V(4).Infof("About to try and schedule pod %v", pod.Name)
-	return pod
+	if obj, err := f.podQueue.Pop(); err == nil {
+		pod := obj.(*v1.Pod)
+		glog.V(4).Infof("About to try and schedule pod %v", pod.Name)
+		return pod
+	} else {
+		glog.Errorf("Error while retrieving next pod from scheduling queue: %v", err)
+		return nil
+	}
 }
 
 // unassignedNonTerminatedPod selects pods that are unassigned and non-terminal.
@@ -1011,7 +1017,7 @@ func NewPodInformer(client clientset.Interface, resyncPeriod time.Duration, sche
 	}
 }
 
-func (factory *configFactory) MakeDefaultErrorFunc(backoff *util.PodBackoff, podQueue *cache.FIFO) func(pod *v1.Pod, err error) {
+func (factory *configFactory) MakeDefaultErrorFunc(backoff *util.PodBackoff, podQueue core.SchedulingQueue) func(pod *v1.Pod, err error) {
 	return func(pod *v1.Pod, err error) {
 		if err == core.ErrNoNodesAvailable {
 			glog.V(4).Infof("Unable to schedule %v %v: no nodes are registered to the cluster; waiting", pod.Namespace, pod.Name)
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory_test.go b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory_test.go
index 2769fa27b9f..66b87a686da 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory_test.go
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/factory/factory_test.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/algorithm"
 	schedulerapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/api"
 	latestschedulerapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/api/latest"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/schedulercache"
 	schedulertesting "k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/testing"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/util"
@@ -280,7 +281,7 @@ func TestDefaultErrorFunc(t *testing.T) {
 		v1.DefaultHardPodAffinitySymmetricWeight,
 		enableEquivalenceCache,
 	)
-	queue := cache.NewFIFO(cache.MetaNamespaceKeyFunc)
+	queue := &core.FIFO{FIFO: cache.NewFIFO(cache.MetaNamespaceKeyFunc)}
 	podBackoff := util.CreatePodBackoff(1*time.Millisecond, 1*time.Second)
 	errFunc := factory.MakeDefaultErrorFunc(podBackoff, queue)
 
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go
index 33f60241c12..fcc6eec039f 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/scheduler.go
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import (
 	utilfeature "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature"
 	clientset "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	corelisters "k8s.io/client-go/listers/core/v1"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/record"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/features"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/algorithm"
@@ -80,7 +79,7 @@ type Configurator interface {
 	GetPredicates(predicateKeys sets.String) (map[string]algorithm.FitPredicate, error)
 	GetHardPodAffinitySymmetricWeight() int
 	GetSchedulerName() string
-	MakeDefaultErrorFunc(backoff *util.PodBackoff, podQueue *cache.FIFO) func(pod *v1.Pod, err error)
+	MakeDefaultErrorFunc(backoff *util.PodBackoff, podQueue core.SchedulingQueue) func(pod *v1.Pod, err error)
 
 	// Needs to be exposed for things like integration tests where we want to make fake nodes.
 	GetNodeLister() corelisters.NodeLister
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/testutil.go b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/testutil.go
index d4bd356aff6..b5a01e99b38 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/scheduler/testutil.go
+++ b/plugin/pkg/scheduler/testutil.go
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
 	clientset "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	corelisters "k8s.io/client-go/listers/core/v1"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/algorithm"
 	schedulerapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/api"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/core"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/scheduler/util"
 )
 
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ func (fc *FakeConfigurator) GetSchedulerName() string {
 }
 
 // MakeDefaultErrorFunc is not implemented yet.
-func (fc *FakeConfigurator) MakeDefaultErrorFunc(backoff *util.PodBackoff, podQueue *cache.FIFO) func(pod *v1.Pod, err error) {
+func (fc *FakeConfigurator) MakeDefaultErrorFunc(backoff *util.PodBackoff, podQueue core.SchedulingQueue) func(pod *v1.Pod, err error) {
 	return nil
 }