Out goes the legendary head coach Matt Ulmer, in comes Trent Kersten.

In December 2024, Oregon secured its third-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen and its fifth in Ulmer’s eight seasons in charge. The Ducks had a roster full of outgoing seniors, but the crop of young talent that saw little time on-court last season hoped to continue the positive momentum.

Then, suddenly, forced change struck the program.

On Jan. 17, just over a month after the Ducks’ successful tournament run, Ulmer left Eugene for greener pastures (and a larger paycheck) in Lawrence, Kansas.

Along with the renowned head coach, University of Kansas hired the technically savvy Erika Dillard (Ulmer’s associate head coach in Eugene) to the same role for the Jayhawks. KU also poached Oregon’s starting setter and 2024 leader in assists Cristin Cline for good measure.

Oregon wasted little time because it had found its replacement just weeks later – Kersten, who had served the last two seasons as the head coach at Loyola Marymount University.

During his time in Southern California, Kersten secured a 45-12 overall record and went 29-5 in West Coast Conference play. He led LMU to its first West Coast Conference title since 1996 and won the 2024 WCC Coach of the Year.

“(I) can’t wait to get rolling this year,” Kersten said at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. “We’ve got 16 people that haven’t played together before, so what an opportunity for us to collaborate and figure out how we can discover our best volleyball.”

Kersten approaches an interesting challenge in his first season in Eugene, as 15 of the 16 players on the roster are new. Senior libero and defensive specialist Maya De Los Reyes is the only returnee from 2024’s roster.

Along with that, Kersten brought over two players from his LMU team; graduate senior outside hitter Sophia Meyers and senior opposite Marlee Arrington. Kersten brought in three other Division-I transfers and one from Belgrade, Serbia.

Ten players on the roster are entering 2025 with no experience playing at the collegiate level, as Kersten welcomed nine true freshmen into the team this offseason. The lone redshirt-freshman, libero Orian Drore, transferred in from the University of Tennessee after not playing in 2024.

However, that’s also 10 of the 16 rostered players that have all four years of eligibility left, which creates an ideal situation for Kersten and the program going forward. Those positives might not show up immediately, which forces the Ducks to enter the 2025 season with a massive question mark as they aim to take on a powerful Big Ten.

Nonetheless, Oregon’s program has to find a way to continue without the guiding hand of Ulmer and become one of the powerhouses in the conference by discovering success with a different head coach.

The initial season under Kersten can be a tremendous opportunity for him and a plethora of new faces make their mark on an up and coming program. One of the nation’s brightest programs was shot into a tailspin in the offseason, and it’s up to the new crop of Ducks to make sure they are heading in the right direction.