Meet KU’s new volleyball coach. He has ‘top-10 type credentials,’ says AD Travis Goff

In search of a replacement for popular, highly-successful volleyball coach Ray Bechard, who on Dec. 27 announced his decision to retire after 27 years at Kansas, athletic director Travis Goff reached out to dozens of his trusted colleagues in college athletics.

“The interest and the buzz throughout an incredibly diligent search was high from the start,” Goff said. “Multiple names were mentioned multiple times. I can be as sincere as I could possibly be in saying this one name was mentioned every single time.”

That name?

“It was Matt Ulmer,” Goff declared Tuesday at a news conference at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, introducing 40-year-old former University of Oregon coach Ulmer as the seventh head coach in KU volleyball history.

“(His) track record speaks for itself,” Goff added.

Ulmer in his eight seasons at Oregon directed the Ducks to three NCAA Tournament Elite Eights and five Sweet 16s and won at least one game in six of the program’s seven postseason appearances. His teams finished inside the top 10 of the AVCA Division I poll each of the last three seasons.

At Long Beach State, where he coached five seasons, Ulmer led his squad to the 2013 NCAA beach volleyball title.

“The resume stands apart in the highest levels of intercollegiate athletics — top-10 type credentials,” Goff said. “When you think about his success at the University of Oregon, the kind of human he is, with integrity, with character ... his commitment to developing, supporting and catapulting young women in the next chapters of their lives has been long documented.

“You can hear story after story about this idea that the Oregon volleyball family was truly that. It was a family that letter-winners would converge and convene upon Eugene (Oregon) every single fall to have a chance just to be back together.”

Ulmer, a 2006 graduate of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin (where he was a first-team All-America his senior year), signed a six-year contract with KU that will run through the 2030 season.

He was supported at Tuesday’s news conference by his wife, Kara, and four children: Camden (11), Harper (9), Harlow (3) and Easton (1).

Goff said that the hiring of the Oregon coach “brought to life to some extent waves through the college volleyball world. That wasn’t the intent. The intent was to find precisely the right leader and the right fit for KU and we are all supremely confident those will not be the final waves created through Kansas volleyball in the next chapter. It’s time for one of the best programs in the country to take another step forward. And undoubtedly, we have the right person at the helm.”

Ulmer, who stands 6-foot-7 and looks as if he still could compete at a high level, began his portion of the news conference thanking former KU coach Bechard, who spent 27 seasons at KU. The Jayhawks went 25-5 overall, 15-3 in the Big 12 (placing second in the standings) and 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament in Bechard’s final season.

“I promise my staff, my family and I will do everything that we can to continue on what you’ve done and impact student-athletes’ lives in a positive way, and (like Bechard) be involved in the community,” Ulmer said.

He was speaking directly to Bechard, who was in an audience that included many members of the athletic department and supporters of the program. “It’s the example that you (Bechard) show. This is why I do what I do. I’m going to lean on you, so don’t change that cell phone number,” he added, smiling.

Explaining his reasoning for making the move to KU from a strong Big Ten program such as Oregon, Ulmer mentioned a great recruiting area in Kansas City and Kansas, the fact Horejsi Center is a state-of-the art facility, the success the Jayhawks have had under Bechard and confidence he has in AD Goff and Nicole Corcoran, volleyball sport supervisor/deputy athletic director for sports administration and student-athlete well-being/senior women’s administrator.

“We weren’t looking to do it (leave Oregon),” Ulmer said. “We had a great life. Our family was very happy. We love our student-athletes and the people that we work with in Oregon. But we’re from the Midwest (Chicago suburbs) and we’re raising our family, and we want to be able to provide a life that my wife and I grew up with in our Midwest town.

“We’re closer to family. The grandparents are thrilled we’re a short flight away or a drive. We get to live that life with a leader (Goff) who has great vision and who really is supporting women’s volleyball, who wants to put these student-athletes at the forefront and give them every opportunity to have the great success and achieve their goals and achieve their dreams.”

Ulmer said there is work to do hiring assistant coaches and staff members and completing the 2025-26 roster. Players remain available in the transfer portal and some high school prospects remain unsigned. Teams will be allowed up to 18 scholarship players starting in 2025-26.

“I’m overwhelmed because I just feel so lucky. If I could pinch myself, I feel like everything that we were hoping would happen is (happening),” Ulmer said. “I want to be a great steward.”

To the KU players at the news conference he said: “We will try to give you everything that we have to give you your best opportunity to reach your goals and enjoy your student experience the way you should, and I’m just really grateful for this opportunity.”

He’s eager to begin recruiting in the area.

“It is so great,” he said of talent near Lawrence. “I have a lot of relationships already in the community here, just haven’t been able to spend as much time as I normally would (yet). So I’m very excited for that. There’s a lot of great talent, many of whom have been Jayhawks, some that have gone to other places, but yes, I’m excited to get out.

“I mean, it’ll be nice to be able to drive to recruit a little bit. In Oregon, everything was a flight. So pretty much everything was a flight. So that’ll be a nice change for our family, that I get to do that and more quickly be at home. Some of those little things that really add up. I’m excited for that.”

Bechard on Tuesday said he’s looking forward to watching Ulmer’s teams from the stands and be as supportive as he can to the new Jayhawk coach. KU, by the way, defeated Ulmer’s Ducks in the 2021 NCAA Tournament in Omaha.

“There were other candidates as well. I knew his name was going to be at the top of the top,” Bechard said.