Meet the Coaches of the 2025 Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball Championship

The nature of the AU coaches’ (previously referred to as facilitators) roles encourages a high level of collaboration between coaches and players, supporting the player-first model by giving players more control over their playing and training experience.

The level of involvement for each coach depends on the preferences of the captains they are paired with each week. Captains will have the option to shoulder necessary coaching responsibilities entirely on their own, collaborate with their assigned coach, or pass the duties of creating practice plans, scouting reports, and lineups entirely to their assigned coach.

Here’s a closer look at the coaches set to guide the captains during the 2025 AU Pro Volleyball Championship.

Kayla Banwarth

Banwarth first coached with AU during the 2023 season, and rejoins the coaching staff after leading the Atlanta Vibe of Major League Volleyball, where she has served as head coach since 2024. She previously coached at Ole Miss, taking the Rebels to their first NCAA Tournament in 11 years and overseeing one of the best win improvements in Division I volleyball. Earlier in her career, she served as an assistant coach at Nebraska, helping guide the Huskers to the 2017 national title and a 2018 runner-up finish.

As a player, Banwarth competed for Nebraska as a standout libero before a six-year career with the U.S. National Team. She earned gold at the 2014 World Championship and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, along with eight international medals overall.

Joseph Trinsey

Trinsey brings extensive international and professional coaching experience to AU, most recently serving as an assistant coach with the U.S. Women’s National Team during the 2025 Volleyball Nations League. He has coached in AU across three seasons (2021, 2022, 2024), compiling a 26-19 record, including the best single-season mark in league history at 11-4 in 2021. His professional stints include head coach positions in Korea and Germany, as well as NCAA stops at BYU, Georgia, Pepperdine, and Loyola Marymount.

While coaching with USA Volleyball from 2013 to 2020, the team earned a gold medal at the 2014 World Championship and a bronze at the 2016 Olympics. He also led U.S. squads at the 2017 World University Games and 2021 NORCECA Championship, while developing young talent through club volleyball in Northern Delaware.

Fernando Morales

Morales enters the AU competition following the announcement that he’ll soon join the League One Volleyball (LOVB) coaching staff in Omaha as an assistant for 2026. He carries international coaching experience as head coach of both the Puerto Rico Women’s National Team and the South Korea Women’s National Team, which he took over in 2024. At the University of Evansville, he elevated the Purple Aces program during his tenure from 2019 to 2024, leading the team to three Missouri Valley Conference Championship appearances and its first postseason trip since the 1980s.

As a player, Morales captained the Puerto Rico men’s national team during a career that spanned more than a decade. He competed in three FIVB World Leagues, two World Championships, and the 2007 World Cup, while also playing professionally in seven countries and winning three Puerto Rican League titles.

Alisha Glass Childress

Childress makes her AU coaching debut after three years as a player in the league and time on the Player Executive Committee. She was named head coach of the San Diego Mojo for the upcoming 2026 season, which will add to her coaching experience at Stanford, where she helped win the 2019 NCAA Championship, and with Team USA, where she served as an assistant during the gold medal run at the 2018 Pan American Cup.

Her playing career includes nine years overseas and two seasons with the Vegas Thrill, where she earned All-League honors and played in the inaugural PVF All-Star Match. With Team USA, she won bronze and Best Setter at the 2016 Rio Olympics, three World Grand Prix titles, and two USA Volleyball Athlete of the Year awards. At Penn State, she won three straight NCAA titles and finished fourth in program history in assists.

Beau Lawler

Lawler will serve as a Player Development Coach, working with all teams throughout the AU season before heading to a new assistant coaching assignment with Major League Volleyball’s Atlanta Vibe. He returned to Blue Mountain Christian University in 2024 as Associate Head Coach after a 34-3 finish in the 2022 season that earned him AVCA Region and Southern States Conference Assistant Coach of the Year honors. He has also coached at Park University Gilbert, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Idaho State, and Utah, where he was part of the program’s 2017 Sweet 16 run.

His coaching portfolio also includes leadership at the club level with Club V Sports and work with USA Volleyball as a coach and evaluator, including assistant coaching duties for the U.S. Deaf National Team.

The 2025 AU Pro Volleyball Championship will feature 44 of the world’s top volleyball players in an exclusive, high-stakes tournament to determine the ultimate champion of the sport. These elite athletes, handpicked from the best domestic and international pro leagues, will face off in the nation’s premier volleyball hubs in Omaha, Nebraska, at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena (October 1-15) and in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Alliant Energy Center (October 22 – November 3). Tickets for both locations are now available here.