photo by: Indy Ignite

Indy Ignite setter Ainise Havili serves against the Dallas Pulse on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Dallas.

Ainise Havili, the former AVCA All-American setter whose jersey is retired at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, is headed back to Kansas to serve as an assistant coach.

KU made the announcement on Sunday morning. The addition is the second hire of the offseason for head coach Matt Ulmer, whose staff previously lost assistant coaches Arica Nassar and Matt Werle.

Nassar, who had been KU’s recruiting coordinator, left for a similar position at Minnesota; Werle, a former head coach at Grand Canyon men’s volleyball, took the helm of the UCLA women’s program. The Jayhawks still have Erika Dillard as associate head coach and defensive coordinator, and they hired Connor Wexter from James Madison as an associate head coach on Feb. 13.

Havili has been playing this season for the Indy Ignite of Major League Volleyball, her third year overall as a domestic professional in what was formerly known as the Pro Volleyball Federation. She also played in Sweden, Turkey and Germany. Meanwhile, she has had coaching experience at Butler, Abilene Christian, Miami and Purdue.

The native of Fort Worth, Texas, is KU’s all-time leader in career assists (5,255) and double-doubles (63) and is also sixth in digs (1,304). She was a two-time Big 12 setter of the year and earned a variety of AVCA All-American honors over the course of her career, headlined by a first-team distinction as a sophomore in 2015, as part of the most successful KU volleyball team ever that reached the Final Four.

The Jayhawks went 30-3 that year and finished the season No. 4 in the nation, led by Havili and opposite hitter Kelsie Payne, who had their jerseys retired together in 2022 as the first players ever to receive such honors at KU and were also back the following year for the 2015 team’s induction into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame.

After concluding her KU career in 2017, Havili also played a year of beach volleyball at Arizona, where she got a master’s degree.

Now, as a coach at her undergraduate alma mater, Havili will have the chance to work with setters Cristin Cline and Ellie Moore. The 2026 Jayhawks lost some players to the transfer portal after last year’s team reached the Sweet 16, but they return the likes of Cline, Logan Bell, Raegan Burns, Grace Nelson and Reese Ptacek and have added a highly touted freshman class headlined by pin hitter Taylor Stanley.

Havili’s former teammates Maggie Bowen and Tori Hohlios (née Miller) are also on staff with the Jayhawks as director of operations and technical coordinator, respectively.