Arkansas Volleyball Camps
Head Coach Robert Pulliza

The University of Arkansas added one of the nation's top recruiters to its athletic staff when Robert Pulliza was introduced as the head coach of the Razorback volleyball team on July 11, 2008. Pulliza took over as the second head coach at Arkansas to lead the Hogs into the program's next era.

Pulliza is one of just a handful of coaches in the country to play and coach in the Final Four. As a player, Pulliza was a two-year captain for the Ball State men's volleyball team and helped lead the Cardinals to the NCAA Final Four in 1994 and 1995. Then as an assistant coach at Wisconsin, Pulliza helped guide the Badgers to the Final Four during the 2000 season.

Having completed his fourth season with the Razorbacks in 2011, Pulliza continued to guide his team toward joining the nation's elite. At season's end, Arkansas owned an 18-13 overall record-its highest win total since 2005-and a 10-win Southeastern Conference tally-the most by the program since the league went to the double round-robin format in 2006. The Razorbacks finished second in the SEC Western Division and fifth overall, the team's best conference finish since the 2005 season.

Pulliza's effect on the Arkansas program can also be measured by the team's reflection in the Rating Percentage Index (RPI). When he took over in 2008, the Razorbacks were ranked No. 140. However, the team reached a season-high No. 56 in October 2011.

As part of its non-conference schedule, Arkansas claimed a pair of tournament titles with victories at the Deacon Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the West Point Challenge in New York. The Razorbacks' record to start SEC play (8-3) was the sixth-best in program history.

Arkansas also posted a pair of all-time offensive performances with a .430 hitting percentage against South Carolina and .421 mark against McNeese State. The team's effort against the Gamecocks is tied for the fifth-highest percentage in school history and the fourth best in an SEC match. The Razorbacks' figure against McNeese State ranks as the ninth-best hitting percentage in program history.

Individually, Jasmine Norton, a preseason All-SEC selection, and Kelli Stipanovich capped their respective seasons by earning All-SEC honors. Norton was named to the All-SEC First Team and Stipanovich, the fourth all-conference performer under Pulliza, was named to the All-SEC Second Team. For the first time since 2003, Arkansas had two players on either the league's First- or Second-Team. Norton added to her collection of honors with a selection to COBRA Magazine's Midsouth All-Region Team.

Using a fast-paced offense and building a home schedule that featured five teams to play in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, Pulliza built a fan-friendly brand of volleyball that brought in the fans. The Razorbacks' 2011 home attendance grew to a program high for the third consecutive season. In the season opener, a program-record 1,407 fans were in attendance as Arkansas hosted No. 15 Colorado State. By season's end, the Razorbacks had played in front of four of the top-10 home crowds in the storied history of Barnhill Arena. Eight of the top-10 home attendance figures have come during the past two seasons.

Pulliza engineered the turnaround with just three classes under his belt at Arkansas. Among that collective group of players, he has an AVCA All-American in Norton, three All-SEC performers with Norton, Amanda Anderson and Raymariely Santos and an Olympian in Roslandy Acosta.

In his fourth recruiting class that joins the program for the 2012 season, Pulliza has three players recognized by PrepVolleyball.com in its 2012 Senior Aces list. Liz Fortado was ranked 75th, Ana Jusino was ranked 79th and Summer Morgan was one of 20 players to just miss being included inside the Top 100. Fortado was also named an Under Armour High School Honorable Mention All-American.

In his third season at the helm of the Arkansas volleyball program, Pulliza guided the 2010 Razorbacks to a fourth-place finish in the Western Division and a seventh-place final standing in the conference overall. All six teams ahead of Arkansas that season advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

With a roster that featured no seniors in 2010, Pulliza saw two of his underclassmen standouts recognized by the SEC coaches at the end of the season. Jasmine Norton earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team, the second such honor of her career, and Raymariely Santos became the ninth player in Razorback history to earn SEC All-Freshman honors. She joins Norton and Amanda Anderson as the three all-freshman selections for Pulliza.

During the season, Norton led the SEC offensively with 3.83 kills per set. With the accomplishment, she became the first player in Arkansas volleyball history to lead the conference in kills per set over the course of an entire season. At her setter position, Santos earned two Freshman of the Week awards and one Defensive Player of the Week selection. Freshman Brooke Fournier was also selected to the USA Junior A2 National Team that competed in Europe during the summer of 2011.

Arkansas' 6-1 start to the season matched the starts of the 1996, 1999, 2006 and 2007 teams; only the 2002 team had a better start. The Razorbacks also posted a pair of all-time offensive performances during the season. In a sweep of Grambling State, the team had a .429 hitting percentage, the seventh-best figure in program history. A week later, Razorbacks hit .419 against Akron for the 10th-best effort for any Arkansas team.

In 2009, on the talents of the youngest roster since the program's inaugural season, the Razorback volleyball team took tremendous strides during Pulliza's second year as head coach. Picked to finish 10th in the Southeastern Conference in the preseason coaches' poll, the Razorbacks exceeded all expectations to post the sixth-best record in the league.

As impressive as the team's development, the emergence of Norton as Arkansas' go-to player on the outside was instrumental to the team's success. Norton was a member of Pulliza's first recruiting class at Arkansas, which was ranked in the nation's top 45 by PrepVolleyball.com.

During her first season in Cardinal and White, Norton became the sixth All-American in Razorback program history when she was selected as an Honorable Mention performer by the AVCA. In addition to her national recognition, Norton was named the SEC and South Region Freshman of the Year, earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team and garnered All-South Region Honorable Mention accolades. During the season, the Rowlett, Texas, native set an SEC record by earning six league Freshman of the Week awards, all of which came during conference play.

That initial group of recruits also included Anderson, the very first commitment for Pulliza as Arkansas' head coach. Anderson and Norton were both named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, the seventh and eighth All-Freshman selections in program history. During the season, Anderson earned all-tournament honors at the TCU Invitational and Arkansas Invitational, the latter resulting in the 6-2 middle blocker being named the SEC Freshman of the Week.

Pulliza's first season with the Razorback Nation included a pair of SEC sweeps and his first foray into the SEC Coaches' Beach Volleyball Championship. He also helped then-freshman Kelli Stipanovich earn a spot on the USA Junior A2 National Team that traveled to Europe during the summer of 2009.

In addition to his success at the collegiate level, Pulliza has also gained international experience with the Puerto Rico and USA National Team programs. In 2000 and 2001, he was an assistant with the USA Youth National Team, with the 2000 team earning a silver medal at the NORCCA Zonal Championship. Pulliza went on to serve as an assistant coach with the USA National A2 team in the summer of 2003.

Most recently, in the spring of 2010 and with Pulliza on the bench, the Puerto Rico Youth National Team won the bronze medal at the NORCECA Girls' Youth Continental Championship. The top-three finish ensured a trip to the 2011 FIVB Youth World Championship in Turkey. In February 2010, Pulliza was part of the coaching staff that took the Puerto Rico Junior National Team to Lima, Peru, to compete in the Summer Cup. The team played Chile, the Dominican Republic and Peru, picking up a win against the Chilean team. As well as his assistant coach duties, Pulliza also serves as a consultant for Puerto Rico.

Along with his wife, he established the Robert and Jamie Pulliza Opportunity Scholarship in 2009. The scholarship was established for a non-athlete attending the University of Arkansas based on academic achievement, leadership and community engagement. Hayden Herrera was the first recipient of the scholarship.

In a further show of his dedication to the University and community, Pulliza is a member of the Athletic Director's Council on Diversity. Pulliza is also in his first season as a member of the AVCA Postseason Awards Committee for the South Region.

Pulliza came to Fayetteville after stops in some of the nation's best programs, including, most recently, the University of Kentucky where he served as the associate head coach.

He was instrumental in re-energizing the Kentucky program upon his arrival in 2004. His recruiting prowess with the Wildcats was evident as his 2007 class was ranked No. 8 in the country. He followed with the 17th-ranked recruiting class in 2008. Pulliza's class in 2006 was ranked 26th by PrepVolleyball.com.

One of the standouts from Pulliza's initial recruiting class at Kentucky, setter Sarah Rumely, went on to be voted the 2008 SEC Player of the Year and two-time All-American. During her first season, Rumely was a twice named the SEC Freshman of the Week en route to being named the SEC Freshman of the Year.

One member of the 2007 Kentucky team, Queen Nzenwa, became the program's first All-America selection since 1993 after finishing the year ranked eighth in the nation in blocks per game. Pulliza's 2007 freshman class again led the SEC in first-year player success as the Wildcats brought home four SEC Freshman of the Week honors and a league-leading seven honors.

Kentucky made three NCAA tournament appearances in Pulliza's three seasons for the first time in school history. In addition, Pulliza helped guide the Wildcats to a 20-win season for the first time since 1993. Kentucky had three consecutive 17-plus win seasons including back-to-back 19-win years and Pulliza coached nine All-SEC members and 10 All-SEC Academic honorees.

Pulliza's college coaching career began in 1996 as an assistant coach at James Madison University.  The Dukes began the season with an RPI outside the top 200 but ended the year with a No. 61 RPI ranking. He moved on to Northern Illinois for the 1998-99 season helping the Huskies to the Mid-American Conference regular season title and second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1998.

Pulliza's next endeavor was in Madison, Wis., where he served as the recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator for the Badgers from 1999-2001. He is credited with recruiting Volleyball Magazine's sixth-best class in the country in 2001. In addition, Pulliza found himself on the sidelines as the Badgers won the Big Ten title and were in the NCAA Final Four Championship match in 2000.

The next stop for Pulliza was the University of Texas where he helped revitalize the Longhorn program. While serving as recruiting coordinator for the Longhorns, Pulliza signed Student Sports Magazine's second-ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2003 and landed PrepVolleyball.com's 13th-ranked class in 2004.

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Pulliza is a 1996 graduate of Ball State with a degree in general studies. Pulliza received his master's degree in athletics administration and coaching in 1998 from James Madison University.  His wife, Jamie, is a speech pathologist.