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 Razorbacks on July 11, 2008. Pulliza, one of just a handful of coaches in the country to play and coach in the Final Four, became the second head coach in program history. 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.

In his fifth season, Pulliza and the Razorbacks advanced to the NCAA Tournament and entered the postseason with a 22-9 overall record and a 13-7 tally in Southeastern Conference play. Both win totals represent highs for Pulliza as the Razorback head coach. The 20-win season is the first for Arkansas since the 2005 season, three years prior to Pulliza arriving.

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. In the first RPI release of the 2012 season, Arkansas was the top-ranked SEC team at No. 16. The team was a mainstay in the RPI top 30 throughout the 2012 campaign.

In 2012, the Razorbacks added four All-SEC accolades with selections for Roslandy Acosta, Amanda Anderson, Liz Fortado and Jasmine Norton. Anderson was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Acosta and Norton earned First- and Second-Team honors, respectively, and Fortado was voted to the All-Freshman Team. Under Pulliza’s watch, Norton became just the second player in program history to finish her career with four All-SEC honors.

Postseason accolades continued for Arkansas when Acosta and Norton were both voted to the 2012 AVCA All-South Region First Team. It marked the first time since 2003 that Razorback teammates received all-region honors in the same season. Norton became the third player in program history to earn three all-region honors during her Razorback career.

In addition to the SEC Scholar-Athlete selection for Anderson, fellow senior Kasey Heckelman was recognized for her work in the classroom as a member of the Capital One Academic All-District VI First Team.

On the recruiting front, Pulliza’s efforts brought in the No. 26 recruiting class in the nation in 2012, according to PrepVolleyball.com's Top 30 annual list. The ranking is the highest in program history by the publication. Only three SEC teams were ahead of the Razorbacks in the rankings. The group marks Pulliza’s fourth recruiting class and has three players recognized by PrepVolleyball. 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 to the Under Armour High School All-American Team. His 2013 recruiting class includes three top-100 players on the PrepVolleyball.com Senior Aces List.

With four recruiting classes under his belt at Arkansas, Pulliza has an AVCA All-American in Norton and five All-SEC performers with Acosta, Anderson, Fortado, Norton and Raymariely Santos. Acosta also brought Olympic experience to the program when she joined Arkansas prior to the 2011 season.

The development of Santos as the Razorbacks’ setter has also been key to the program’s recent success. With Santos directing the offense, Arkansas’ hitting percentage was consistently ranked within the top 50 among the nation’s teams. Pulliza has also seen Santos move into third place on the program’s career assists list.

Using a fast-paced offense and building a competitive home schedule, Pulliza built a fan-friendly brand of volleyball that brought in the fans. Arkansas’ 2012 home attendance increased for the fourth consecutive season, setting a single-season record for total attendance at Barnhill Arena. Seven of the top-10 home crowds have come during the past three seasons, including a program-record 3,015 fans in attendance for the Razorbacks’ 2012 SEC opener against No. 13 Florida.

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 and a 10-win SEC tally. At the time, the conference total was the most by the program since the league went to the double round-robin format. The Razorbacks finished second in the SEC Western Division and fifth overall, the team's best conference finish since the 2005 season.

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.

Individually, Norton, a preseason All-SEC selection, and 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.

In his third season at the helm of the Arkansas volleyball program, Pulliza guided the youthful 2010 Razorbacks to a fourth-place finish in the Western Division and a seventh-place overall conference finish. All six conference teams ahead of Arkansas 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. Norton earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team, the second such honor of her career, and Santos became the ninth player in Razorback history to earn SEC All-Freshman honors. She joined Anderson and Norton as the three all-freshman selections for Pulliza at that time; Fortado became the fourth in 2012.

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.

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 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, Pulliza continued his international outreach in July 2012 where he served as the head coach for the USA/BIP Development Team at the 2nd Annual China-USA Challenge. During the tour, Pulliza and his team, which included Norton, competed against the professional teams from Liaoning, Shanghai and Tianjin.

In the spring of 2010 and with Pulliza on staff, 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 has also served as a consultant for Puerto Rico.

Pulliza, who is in his third season as a member of the AVCA Postseason Awards Committee for the South Region, has also been actively involved in the community since arriving in Fayetteville. 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 and is set to graduate during this academic year.

In a further show of his dedication to the University and community, Pulliza is a member of the Athletic Director's Council on Diversity. In 2012, El Latino, an Arkansas Times publication, named Pulliza to the Who’s Who list of the Latino Community in the state of Arkansas.

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 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.