FAYETTEVILLE — When the window opened June 15 for college volleyball coaches to contact rising high school juniors, recruits’ phones were not buzzing at midnight with calls from Arkansas.
Rather than making late-night calls, Arkansas coach Jason Watson waited until the morning. For the Razorbacks, their recruiting philosophy resembles the program — valuing relationships and the process rather than immediate results.
“We're not a midnight crew,” Watson said recently on a VB Adrenaline Podcast episode. “We're not going to initiate conversations or anything at midnight…. What is that Ricky Bobby thing? ‘If you're not first, you're last,’ or something from Talladega Nights.
“We're not going to do that. We're going to wait for the morning, and we'll send out some texts and schedule some calls. We're in this for the long haul.”
The seemingly small decision is the same approach that led Arkansas to a program-first 2023 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals appearance. Watson and the Razorbacks are focused on finding players who fit the program’s culture.
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“We think relationships are incredibly important,” Watson said. “We think fit is incredibly important. Mutually beneficial relationships are significant to us, where we think we have the resources and the ability to coach you to be better, and we also think that you fit within what it is that we're trying to do. That's a big thing for us.
“For us, it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. And look, I think that's a message that's pretty important. There [were] going to be kids on the 15th that know exactly where they want to go and they're going to make that decision immediately. and that's fine. We're not opposed to that at Arkansas, of course, but for the vast majority of recruits this is the start of a really long process.”
The senior class that helped the Razorbacks reach the Elite Eightembodied attributes Watson wants his program to be known for, including hard work and perseverance. It was accomplished while furthering a love for the sport.
The culture is one Watson hopes to maintain at Arkansas.
“Our staff I think values creating an environment where they get to do what they love,” Watson said. “And so it's not a chore. It's not a grind. I mean, it is a grind because of the length of the season and the emotional toll it takes to compete at a high level for long periods of time, but they love playing the game.
“I think we're seeing that resonate a little bit as we move forward, that the goal is for athletes to identify the love of the game with Arkansas. That's probably a pretty positive message.”
He said the level of recruits’ growing interest in the Razorbacks has coincided with the program’s ascension. Arkansas made it to the NCAA Tournament’s second round in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1998-99.
“The camp space is a pretty competitive and saturated space,” Watson said of recruits attending Arkansas' camps. “We know that there's lots of people vying for athletes’ time and their resources, and nobody has an infinite amount of time and resources…. We’re happy with the level of interest that we have in our camps, that people are willing to potentially invest in coming and visiting campus and being in the gym with us.
“That's been rewarding…. The mean level of talent that is looking at the University of Arkansas and has interest in [attending] camp is going up each year. And that's, I think, really rewarding.”
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Watson noted the success of Maggie Cartwright and Jill Gillen, who were largely undervalued out of high school before starring at Arkansas, could indirectly help recruiting. The two now compete in the Pro Volleyball Federation and are examples of player development with the Razorbacks.
Cartwright plays for the Omaha Supernovas and was drafted No. 22 overall in the 2023 U.S. College Players Draft.
Gillen, a 5-7 outside hitter, was drafted eighth overall by the Orlando Valkyries. As a rookie in 2024, Gillen ranked 10th in the PVF with 3.04 kills per set and was tied for eighth with 13 service aces.
“Here are these two athletes that, when they came out [of high school], probably weren’t at the tip of the recruiting sword,” Watson said. “They certainly weren't. They were recruited, but they weren’t at the tip of the sword. and now they're playing professionally.
“I think it's wonderful that athletes have an opportunity to play professionally in this country. That's never existed before…. It’s nice to know that Arkansas is able to get some kids into that league and they can have some impact on those teams.”
Watson said the success Arkansas had in 2023 was a byproduct of those players and others staying the course with the program’s vision. The group of players were the right fit for his program and bought into the team’s culture.
“The interesting thing is that we didn't do anything different as a staff or as a program in ‘23 than we've done in previous years,” Watson said. “[We didn’t change] the way we've gone about coaching the game and prepping the team and things like that.
"But what I think it did show is that we have a collection of kids at Arkansas that just love playing volleyball and they love playing volleyball with each other.”
