December 22, 2025 • 31 mins
🎙️ Trust the Process: Recruiting, Patience & Perspective with Karrah Davis 🏐
In this episode of the Significant Recruiting Podcast, Matt Rogers continues his conversation with Karrah Davis, Head Volleyball Coach at the NCAA Division III University of Dubuque — one of the great young coaches in college volleyball today.
Coach Davis brings a rare and valuable recruiting perspective shaped by every step of the journey. From being an All-American student-athlete at Dubuque, to learning the craft as a graduate assistant, assistant coach, and associate head coach, she never skipped steps — and it shows. In just her first two seasons as head coach, she’s led her program to a 50–15 record, back-to-back NCAA Division III National Tournament appearances, and two trips to the Round of 32.
In this conversation, we dive into:
🏐 How she evaluates volleyball talent
🎓 What recruits often misunderstand about Division III opportunities
🧠 Why patience, perspective, and coachability matter more than rankings
📈 How waiting your turn can actually accelerate long-term development
This episode is packed with insight for recruits trying to find the right college, parents looking to support without oversteering, and coaches helping athletes navigate the recruiting process with confidence and clarity.
🔗 Learn more about Coach Karrah Davis:
👉 https://udspartans.com/staff-directory/karrah-davis/104
🎧 Explore more episodes, tools, and recruiting resources:
👉 https://coachmattrogers.com/
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and all your favorite podcast platforms.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Welcome back to The SignificantRecruiting Podcast.
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
I wanna start today's episode bywishing all of you a happy and
healthy holiday season.
I hope you all get quality timewith your loved ones and have
safe travels if you're travelingthis week.
In part two of my conversationwith Coach Kara Davis, head
volleyball coach at NCAADivision three University of
(00:31):
Dubuque.
Coach Davis shares an in-depthlook to how she views
recruitment and the importanceof being patient and how she
builds her program.
I tell parents, coaches, andyoung athletes all the time that
I became the best version ofmyself as an athlete when I was
about 25 years old.
Three years after my collegeplaying career ended.
(00:52):
The reason was perspective.
After college, I immediatelybecame an assistant coach.
For the first time in my career,I was teaching the game instead
of just playing it, I started totruly understand what my coaches
had been stressing all thoseyears when I was a player.
And ironically, I found myselfplaying at a much higher level
because I finally understood thegame as a teacher, coach Davis
(01:16):
has experienced success for manyof the same reasons, And to the
outside observer, she may looklike an overnight success.
She didn't skip any steps,though she gained four years of
high school playing experience.
She then had four years ofcollege playing experience, then
learned as an assistant from agreat head coach, and she later
(01:37):
earned her opportunity to takeover the reigns of the
University of Dubuque program.
For years, the NFL worked thesame way with quarterbacks.
Young quarterbacks would sitbehind seasoned, grizzled
veterans, learn the system,understand the processes before
being thrown into the fire.
Those days aren't as commonanymore at either the pro or
(01:58):
college level, which is whyCoach Davis should be lauded for
her patience and commitment tothe journey that shaped her into
the coach she is today.
I speak to this directly for allathletes and parents listening,
as hard as it is to wait yourturn, it's often the waiting
that allows you to become theplayer and the person you've
always hoped to be.
(02:19):
I can't imagine a better rolemodel for that philosophy than
coach Kara Davis.
If you're a recruit trying tofind the right college, a parent
trying to support withoutoversteering or a club or high
school coach, helping athletesnavigate their options.
This conversation will give youreal insight.
No shortcuts, no promises.
But real perspective.
(02:39):
And as always, if you want totake ownership of your
recruitment journey, I want tohelp you With that, you can find
my book significant Recruitingthe Playbook for prospective
college athletes along with thenew Volleyball Recruits
journal@coachmattrogers.com.
I wrote both books to help takethe pressure off families while
keeping the focus on what reallymatters.
(03:00):
Absorbing the journey, notskipping steps and following a
simple process that createsleverage and ownership and
results.
Alright, let's get into it.
Here's my recruitingconversation with Coach Kara
Davis.
Coach Great.
Conversation about your coachingbackground and your
philosophies.
(03:21):
I love it.
I love your energy.
But I also love your humilityyou want it to be collaborative.
And I see all of it and how youcoach.
I wanna talk about recruiting alittle bit.
Because you talked about yourlove of the game in the first
segment.
And that you're still a gym rat.
You still love playing.
As a recruiter, do you findyourself recruiting the kids
(03:43):
that have similarcharacteristics to you?
I think so, for sure.
Yeah, kids who just really wannabe around the game for another
four years and hopefully beyondthat, hopefully I have a lot of
kids who wanna keep playingafterwards.
Just.
In the community and whatnot,and against me and with me,
maybe after graduation.
But yeah, I think kids who justwanna be in the gym and just
(04:05):
wanna learn about volleyball andbeing a good teammate, like
those things are superimportant.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that too.
I was one of those people youhad to throw me out of the gym.
You had to turn the lights offto get me out.
So I love, it's, and it's hardto find these days.
It's hard to find kids that justlove playing and as long as
there's a ball, there's, they'reexcited.
Have you figured out who you areas a recruiter yet?
(04:29):
Have you started to figure outhow you recruit, how you close?
How you go after kids?
What's that look like?
I think it's continuing toevolve, but I was the
recruiting, recruitingcoordinator for the last couple
years, and then now I'm stillwant to be in control of
recruiting and then we'll maybegive it up to my assistant in a
couple years.
(04:49):
But I really just wanna continueto be that, at least the second
point of contact, so that I canget to know'em, they can get to
know me, they can ask thoseimportant questions about the
program.
I can ask.
More important questions of ifwe're, if they're gonna be a fit
for us.
Yeah, I think it's evolved.
It's still, overall, it's stillthe same process.
(05:11):
Id some kids talk to'em inperson if possible, otherwise
email, get a phone call, go in,get'em to campus and kind of
figure out what they need to seeand what their timeline is and
all.
It's just, there's a lot ofpieces, but yeah.
Yeah, I think it's continued toevolve, but overall, the same
type of system I've been using,we get coaches get so
(05:32):
overwhelmed with recruitingthese days because email is so
prevalent now.
You have voicemail, you havetexts, you have social media.
Is there a platform that youlike communicating with
recruits?
Honestly, I love getting apersonalized email, and then
I'll usually respond back andsay, Hey, do you wanna set up a
(05:52):
phone call, get some contactinfo, and then go from there.
It's hard to keep track whenthere's like the 12 different
recruiting services you could beon the right field level of
sports recruits, all the X, Y, Zit's hard to remember that.
I check those frequently, but Iin my email 24 7, so yeah,
that's.
The easiest for me, and thenusually go into a text message
(06:15):
after that.
Yeah, or a phone call.
Just the quickest way tocommunicate with me.
It gets rid of all the garbageand it, you can focus on just
that direct line ofcommunication.
Definitely.
Yeah.
I'm with you there.
Are there times when you, andI'm sure there's lots of times
when you get a kid's film andyou're like, it's not there.
How do you handle that?
(06:36):
Yeah.
It's not my favorite thing todo, yeah.
You wanna crush a kid's dream ortell'em they're not good enough,
but I will usually tell themthat we're looking for X, Y, or
Z, or.
Maybe were full in theirrecruiting class for their
position.
I'm not gonna lie to a kid ifthat's not the situation, but
just try to give them somepieces that they could improve
(06:57):
on and just say, Hey, we're, Idon't think it's gonna be a fit.
And to go ahead and move on.
Just, yeah.
So we don't waste each other'stime.
Yeah.
And I and I don't think there'senough of that, to be honest.
As hard as it is, it was hardfor me too.
Yeah.
It was a crusher for me.
I was the same way I knew howhard it was for me to get to
college and have a uniform witha college jersey, I don't wanna
(07:18):
burst that kid's bubble either,but I teach kids.
That's a blessing.
If a coach is willing to giveyou feedback, that's a win for
you.
Yeah.
If a coach is willing to say,Hey, I wanna learn more about
you, I want to start therecruiting process, that's a
win.
If a coach says, Hey, I don'tthink you're a great fit for us,
(07:38):
this may not be the spot foryou.
That's a victory for you becausenow, like you said, I don't have
to put any more time into thatschool if they're not
interested.
I need to mo put my energytowards everything else.
So for sure I try and teachcoaches that.
Be honest, and the kid might notfeel that as a victory right
away.
But they're gonna reallyappreciate that They don't have
(07:59):
to worry about their energybeing in that place.
So I really appreciate that.
When you talk about Universityof Dubuque to kids what does
that profile look like that youwant academically, athletically,
personality?
Wise, what do, what kind of kiddo you want at Dubuque?
Yeah.
A kid who really values gettinga great education while also
(08:21):
getting to play the sport youlove for another four years and
just understand what a blessingthat is.
Not, there's a huge percentageof kids, like we just said, that
aren't going to even make it atthe D three or NIIA level and
just getting to play in collegeis incredible.
So I think, yeah, kids who just.
Really love that game and likeselling, I guess going back to
(08:41):
selling the university more sois that the community here is
incredible and that we'relooking for kids that want to be
more than just a volleyballplayer, who wanna get to know
people on campus who want tohave a really full experience
and kinda, you can be.
I think the great thing about Dthree is that.
(09:04):
You're not, there's not a tonput on you, but you can take it
as far as you want.
So we're looking for kids whowanna take it really far.
Yeah.
So I guess trying to find thosekids, like we were talking about
kids that just are gym rats andwanna have the whole package, so
it's looking for some pretty,pretty good humans, yeah.
For you, you've got so much akid should be excited about.
(09:24):
I think I read this somewherewhere like 80% of college
athletes.
Will never compete at thenational level.
It's a crazy number.
So the fact that you've donethis twice in two years your
kids have experienced thismultiple games each year, that's
such a great thing to look at isyou're doing something right.
(09:45):
And you also, and that's what Iloved about being on campus.
I hadn't been on campus in 25years.
Yeah.
It's a beautiful campus.
Yeah, it's incredible.
The facilities, I don't thinkpeople know that.
Yeah, forget your beautifulcourt that you guys play on and
that, I love the round that youplay in.
But the brick buildings and thethe character, it's so very epic
(10:08):
and what you'd want it's campusto look like.
So that's really cool too.
Yeah.
Let's talk about playing timereality.
'cause I don't think I can talkabout this enough to parents and
recruits.
And you've talked about italready a little bit, but how do
you explain the differencebetween being recruited and
being ready to compete?
Yeah.
I think we try to be reallytransparent with where I think
(10:31):
they're gonna fit in, into theprogram.
Whether they're gonna maybecompete for a starting spot,
whether I think they might beplaying a lot of JV and then
traveling with the varsity.
Or I think they might need acouple years on JV to continue
to develop.
I try to give them that idea andthen I'm like, Hey.
Yeah.
This could change based on howmuch you improve over the
summer, how much our returnersimproved.
(10:52):
So I just try to give thatgeneral idea and then just
really talk about Hey, you guyswere all big fish and now you're
coming to a top 50 programs.
So everybody here is the bigfish and we're.
All competing to push eachother, but just I think it helps
that we really treat our JVsuper developmental, and it's
not like JVs second class by anymeans.
(11:14):
Like we're doing the samedrills, we're trained in the
same amount.
We're playing as many matches asI can get on the schedule for
them just to continue thatdevelopment of.
Getting practice reps are soawesome, but it's really hard to
simulate the pressure of a gameand the mindset you need and
yeah, how you're gonna react incertain situations.
So really trying to get them asmany reps as possible.
(11:35):
I think that has been a reallygreat selling point for us to be
like, Hey, you might not bestarting right away, but you're
gonna be getting a lot of repsand then you're gonna travel
with us and get to see what it'slike to compete at this level,
and maybe you're gonna get somebackup minutes and that kind of
thing.
As a former All American outsidehitter.
I'm gotta give you some propshere'cause you were a stud.
Are there two or three thingsthat you're looking for when
(11:58):
you're evaluating outsides?
I would say their vision.
Of the other side of the courtand talk, talk a little bit
through that.
What does that vision mean to anovice that's got a kid playing
volleyball and doesn'tunderstand what that vision
really means?
Are they hitting the ball andputting it in smart spots based
on the defense?
(12:18):
And are they scoring points,especially when it's outta
system and there's a doubleblock up in front of'em?
In system, a lot of people canlook great.
But can you see the block infront of you?
Can you utilize it and hit highoff it?
Can you hit around the block?
Can you hit around the deep, canyou hit where your body's not
facing?
That's a lot of stuff wecontinue to develop.
But if you already are doingthat at the high school and club
(12:41):
level, then I'm, that's reallygonna catch my attention.
Is it hard to teach?
'cause I've not done a lot ofvolleyball teaching.
I've watched more volleyballthan I should.
Because my daughter played clubfor seven years.
Is it hard to teach that interms of,'cause I've got the
footwork, I've got the settersetting the ball to me, and I've
(13:03):
gotta, in that step and a halfi've gotta figure out where the
blockers are, where the space isat the floor, how am I gonna hit
it?
Is that hard for you to teach?
And how do you go about teachingthat?
Yeah.
A ton of reps and a lot ofspecific drills, but one thing
that you said that is probablythe other most important piece
(13:23):
when I'm looking at hitters istheir ability to get their feet
to the ball.
The step close, the last twosteps is really important in the
approach and getting your feetall the way to the ball so you
can jump straight up and downand get your highest reach and
hit around the block and allthat stuff.
But I'd say, yeah.
It can be hard to teach.
Just you have to be reallyintentional if you're just going
up and mashing balls for the funof it.
(13:45):
Not trying to look and see ifyou can see some shadow from the
blockers or if you have a highball and have time to get your
eyes on the other side and thenback on the ball.
That's pretty advanced, butwe're looking for things like
that, to continue to developthat vision.
But you just have to be reallyintentional and you have to, I,
there's not many times thatwe're hitting in our gym without
(14:06):
a block on the other side, just,that happens very little in
Match.
Sometimes we're doing some of itwith just to work on connection
with our setters and middles.
Yeah.
System stuff, but a lot of timesthere's a blockers on the other
side of the net just so that weconstantly have to look for it
and we're trying to, we put alot of emphasis on trying to
tool the block, just getting usto buy into that really high
(14:27):
risk and high reward.
We design a lot of drills thatif you're, if you do X, Y, or Z,
you're gonna get plus two forthis situation or plus two for
this to really try to emphasizethose things.
But it's definitely difficult toteach.
It takes a lot of reps andintentionality.
Yeah.
Where are you at with theanalytics with that, because I
would imagine.
(14:48):
A good chunk of the time, youwant your hitter swinging.
Because of the odds of a blockgoing out of bounce or getting
through a F finger or gettingthrough space.
Or, yeah.
Where are you at with that interms of how you want your
hitters thinking about powerversus that vision and analytics
part of this?
I think it's a really finebalance.
(15:10):
Like we wanna be aggressive allthe time, but being aggressive
doesn't always mean swinging ashard as you can.
Sometimes that means right.
Throwing it off the side of theblock with your hand or tipping
it right over the block.
'cause their setters playingsuper far down the line or it's
just the situation changes andyou don't see the same thing
there.
You see it a lot of the, a lotof different things, and you'll
(15:31):
see'em frequently, but it'slike.
There's so many differentsituations.
I'm sure that's the same inbasketball, but like just trying
to know what's the right thingto do in each situation and
recognizing those situations andthose patterns early.
We'll we do a lot of.
Film and scout on what theirweaknesses are on defense.
(15:52):
So we're gonna try to abusecertain things and that's gonna
change opponent to opponent.
So I really want us to be takingthose big swings and not being
shy, but also sometimes a tipcan be really aggressive.
Just, I just, we just don'twanna tip when we're scared, we
just need to have a plan for it.
And that's the biggest piece, isthe being aggressive, but being
(16:12):
smart about it.
At the same time, when does thathappen?
When hitter, when a hitter getspast that fear.
And.
They're the vision's there canscore however they want.
Does that happen at a certainpoint?
Can you see it as the coach thatthey're starting to get it?
(16:34):
Yeah.
You can really it's, it takesthem putting in a ton of reps
and a ton of trust.
Knowing and the confidence.
Let that to do it every time andknow that.
Hey, if I make a error, I'mstill a great player.
Or if I, yeah, if I fail acouple times, it's gonna benefit
me in the long run.
So a lot of it has to do withtheir mindset.
A lot of times they'rephysically capable of it for a
(16:54):
long time, but getting them tobreak through and trust it is a
process, and some of it'strusting your teammates to cover
you and know that if you getblocked our defense is gonna
cover us, and give us a secondattempt.
Or knowing that if.
You make an error.
It's not the end of the world.
As long as you have a plan andyou're being aggressive, then
yeah.
(17:14):
Nobody on the team's gonna bemad at you.
So just getting us to really buyinto all of those pieces.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Usually the phys physical partcomes faster than the mental
part, right?
Yeah.
I'm a Bears fan, and I gotabused by Aaron Rogers for most
of the last 15 years, there'sjust something about his
composure in the pocket.
And I'm starting to see it.
(17:35):
What's the young lady atNebraska Harper?
Harper Murray.
Harper Murray.
She's always been aunbelievable, 1% athlete.
But there's just something aboutwatching her play this year.
There's d there's difference.
It's almost like she's seen thefuture when she goes up to
swing.
Yeah.
It's when you've done something,it, I can't remember what it's
called, but you've done it somany times, right?
(17:56):
You can it before it happens.
Yes, you really can get to apoint where that happens.
So I think maybe she's playedenough volleyball where now
she's in that flow state and shejust yeah knows the next move
before it's gonna happen.
And it'd be nice to get all.
All of my kids on that page andI have some that are, but it
takes long time.
Oh, you do?
Yeah.
You just have to play so, somuch volleyball.
(18:18):
You have to see it so many timesbefore your body can recognize
it and before your body can doit like so.
Yeah, I think that's the hardpart for a 16 and s year old to
understand is.
You just have to do it so much.
It doesn't matter how good orhow accurate you are.
But then there's that wholenother level of understanding
what's happening on the otherside of the net, where the space
is.
(18:38):
How that defense is playing you.
Yep.
Was there a point in your careeras a player where that kind of
clicked, where you, like I, Iknow I can score anytime.
And you gotta make one heck of aplay to stop me.
I think my, in the middle of myjunior year that happened for
me.
Just, I think it was theculmination of, I finally played
enough volleyball and I startedto have a lot of success and
(19:00):
more confidence and just, yeah,my IQ grew a lot, coach.
How much of that is learning howto be comfortable with failure?
So much pretty much all of it,I'd say, like just being willing
to make that mistake and belike, now I need to recalibrate
and make a different mistake andkind of figure it out from
there.
I think just, yeah, buying intothe process of.
(19:24):
People, if you fall down, yougotta get back up.
That's the same mindset of,you're gonna make errors and
figuring out how to deal withthose and that it's okay.
And I think your teammatestelling you, you got the next
one and hey good shot.
And hey X, your feet we'rereally good there.
Or whatever.
Just giving those like technicaland or tactical feedback of good
job or we see you doing, we seeyou trying to work on that.
(19:47):
Like just trying to give thatfeedback and positive
reinforcement.
Yeah, I think that makes adifference.
How much.
Are you going back to the wellwith high schools and club
programs that are teaching thatculture of support?
And go after it be aggressive.
We got your back.
Yeah.
Are you finding those pockets inyour recruiting and go going
(20:07):
back to those programs?
Yeah, for sure.
There's a lot of great programsaround.
So I think definitely trying togo back to the places that, do
it really well, but also yeah,venturing out and seeing who
else is doing things well andgetting to know other people
too.
So trying to, yeah, keep thatdiversity, but also yeah, also
go back to where, people whereit's working.
I guess why change it?
(20:29):
So many parents struggle withwhere to send their daughter and
what club to go in.
Where are you at with that?
What kind of advice do you giveto parents that ask you about
clubs and how do we get theclub?
I would say go somewhere whereyou're gonna get an opportunity
to play.
Don't go somewhere where you'regonna have, there's gonna be 12
kids on the roster and you'reonly gonna get to play a lot in
(20:51):
practice.
Like making sure that you are,you're paying a lot of money to,
to play club ball, so makingsure you're somewhere where you
are gonna get developed.
And look at places who haveexperienced coaches and who are
picky about who they let coach,and do they do anything to
develop their coaches or theyjust pick people that are like,
here, run this team?
(21:12):
Is there any kind of system forthat?
Is there, do they have clubphilosophy?
Like similar to when you'relooking for a college program,
do you wanna join this group ofpeople?
Are they good humans?
There's just there's, the clubworld can be a bit of a mess,
but there's also so many goodthings about it.
Just trying to find a place thatfeels like you fit in and like
you can see yourself growing anddeveloping in a positive
(21:32):
environment.
I think those are the biggestpieces.
It's so hard for families thesedays'cause oftentimes you go to
a tryout and the person that'sgonna be coaching you isn't
there.
Or they haven't hired that coachyet for your 16 ones team and so
there's so many challenges thatgo into that.
And for sure, I wish they'dtweaked some of that, but.
Oftentimes it's just, it'smoney.
(21:54):
We gotta have more teams and wegot 20 teams.
But it's hard to find more thansix coaches that, yeah.
I'm gonna, my A DH D's gonnacome out a little bit.
I keep forgetting to ask youthis question'cause it's one of
the things I enjoyed watchingyour team play, and I think it's
good for parents and recruits tohear this.
The ball never seems to hit thefloor against your defense.
(22:16):
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
I i've watched, I watched somuch volleyball and the ball
just couldn't, could not find ahole.
What are you doing to teach thatdynamic of not letting the ball
hit the floor?
That pit drill that we talkedabout earlier.
Yeah.
Just the never say die attitude.
If we can touch a ball, we candig a ball and we should be able
(22:36):
to touch every ball in thecourt.
Not individually, but with oursystem.
So I think just one we do a goodjob of training'em, but two,
it's just.
These kids just know how towork.
Like it just, I, they work sohard and they want to win so bad
that they'll do it at any cost.
Sacrificing their body orwhatever it may be to get the
ball up, like they're gonna dothat and just to, they're just
(23:00):
unselfish players who wanna keepthe ball going so their teammate
can get a kill.
It just, yeah.
And it, that all starts with ourlibero who is in the gym and.
Never satisfied with where she'sat.
And I think a lot of the teamfellows that mentality,'cause
she's a great leader and whensome of your best players work
the hardest on the team, that'salways a great sign, I think and
(23:21):
a great role model to look upto.
And yeah, had some excellentdefenders this year.
It's easy to recruit those kidsthat just.
Never seemed to quit.
It's those kids pop off thefloor and catch your eyes so
much faster, don't they?
Yep.
You talk about work ethic, butI'm gonna pick your brain a
little bit more'cause.
(23:43):
Every volleyball coach I watchthe spacing's a little bit
different.
How they guard the blocks, howthey guard the space on the
floor.
What's your philosophy on that,on where you're spacing, where
you want your spacing to be?
Defensively, you're talking?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we are, it all starts withour blockers.
Depending on the system we'refacing, we're, either gonna have
(24:04):
our middle, follow the middle,and then they're gonna have a
far distance to go to the longstring or, and then they're
gonna be a short distance toclose the tempo ball to the
short string, yeah.
Or we're gonna be in a reedblocking situation where we're,
it's more like a zone, like inbasketball.
Like you're responsible forthis, and this.
Yeah.
And then we.
(24:25):
Our defense back court defensedepends on the system we're
taking.
With our block start blocking inline, if it's high over the
block, our middle back should beable to run it down.
They're outside to dig the harddriven balls.
Our ERO is digging as much courtas she can.
She can take under control.
If we hear her call it, she'staking it.
We got our off blockers, ourfront row players picking up the
(24:46):
short stuff.
You are so good at that.
Thank you.
You really are.
It's, you don't see, oftentimesyou'll see the blocks, but then
the middle will give up on thedink.
Your kids do such a good job ofgoing up in blocking and then
getting back in position to getthat dink.
How much are you teaching that.
(25:06):
It's sometimes I don't thinkwe're great at that, so thanks
for saying that.
But I think we just, I thoughtthat was so impressive.
We just, I think they werereally locked in on it.
And they knew maybe that wassomething that their players
were looking to do a lot to getus.
Sometimes you do that to get oneof the best attackers o on a
rhythm, they have to dig thefirst ball and then transition
(25:27):
to kill.
So just yeah, knowing that'ssomething that they wanna do.
Yeah.
Or just.
Yeah, it's a primaryresponsibility.
You're not blocking, you'repicking up the tip.
It just, I think we hammer it inquite a bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's cool to be good at that.
It's, there's just certainthings watching your team play
that there's just there's littlethings that you're like, man, I
don't see that very often.
(25:47):
How you guard the donut hole,how you guard the deep corners,
how you guard the lines.
It's, it is just you, there's alot of things that your kids
just really grasp at a highlevel, so it's fun.
Thank you.
I've kept you way too long.
I'm a, I want you to leave with,give two pieces of advice.
Okay.
One to parents.
You're in a room with 300parents and you wanna know one
(26:09):
piece of advice about how to gettheir kid recruited.
What would you tell'em?
I would tell them to justsupport their children at all
costs and to have them to reallyencourage their kids to lead the
conversations with collegecoaches and just reach out to
people that you're interestedin.
Do your research beforehand andjust, yeah, that you have to
(26:30):
reach out because there's somany recruits that if it's not,
that you're not good enough, ifwe didn't reach out to you, it's
that we just haven't seen youyet.
Maybe yeah.
Yeah.
Encouraging them to reach outand be a great communicator I
think is really important in therecruiting process.
Take the lead.
Yes.
Mom and dad don't take the lead.
Athlete takes the lead.
(26:51):
Yep.
Do your research, make sure thatschool has what you want.
Make sure you know why you'reinterested in that school.
Yep.
And then communication.
Yep.
Yeah.
Don't give up.
Send a couple emails if you haveto.
Leave a voicemail, if you haveto.
Yeah.
Do you want all your kids to setup the visit through you or are
(27:13):
you comfortable with kidssetting up visits through
admissions or would you, do youprefer that it's through you and
your staff?
If they set it up throughadmissions, then I.
We will find out about it andI'll see'em on campus.
But if we communicate about itfirst, then I'm gonna make sure
that we're available as well, sothat you don't show up to campus
and we're out recruiting orwe're on the road or whatever.
(27:33):
So it's always easier to set itup with me, but I wouldn't be
like, yeah, it wouldn't be out.
Give you some time.
Give you some time to build itinto your schedule.
Yeah, it's definitely easierthat way.
Give a piece of advice to thatyoung lady that wants to play in
college.
Not so much how they should goabout getting recruited, but
Yeah.
What they need to be working onto be able to even think about
(27:54):
playing at your level.
Yeah.
I think you need to be in thegym as much as you have access
to on the court and as in theweight room as well.
Like the control, the thingsthat you can control.
That, that physicality piece issomething you can control if you
have the resources to it,obviously.
(28:14):
Hitting the weight room, gettingyour nutrition in line, those
things that can take you to thenext level.
I think the sooner you can geton that the better of an athlete
you can be, become there andjust, yeah.
Do it at 110%.
There's things aren't worthdoing unless you're giving your
best effort.
Like you're just wasting yourtime if you're not.
Work as hard as you can and seewhere it takes you.
(28:37):
Yeah.
You can't really say you'recommitted to playing in college
if that.
If your garage door at yourhouse hasn't seen a volleyball,
hit it in a while, right?
Get out there and get work onyour serve.
Work on your passing.
There's so many things you cando to build your routines up and
right.
Watch volleyball, increase youriq.
We have so much access to goodvolleyball now.
I used to be able to watch twomatches a week on Big 10 Network
(29:00):
when I was Yes.
So right.
And yeah.
And now you can watch basicallyevery match.
So every match.
Yeah.
Take advantage of those thingsand don't just watch it, study
it like coach, you're awesome.
Bill, so excited for theUniversity of Dubuque.
So excited for your staff andyour athletes.
You're just doing great work andyou're a special person and I
admire you and I'm thrilled thatwe have you in our profession.
(29:23):
So if you ever think aboutgetting out of it, you call me
first.
Will do.
That wraps up part two of myconversation with Coach Kara
Davis, head volleyball coach atthe University of Dubuque.
If you're a recruit or a parentor a coach listening, the
message here is simple and it'spowerful.
Don't skip steps.
(29:44):
Coach Davis didn't rush herjourney.
She played, she learned, shewatched, she taught, and when
the opportunity came, she wasready.
Not because of timing, butbecause of preparation.
That same approach is exactlywhat she looks for in recruits
today.
Patience, self-awareness,coachability, and a willingness
to grow.
Recruiting isn't about chasingthe fastest path or the loudest
(30:04):
outcome, it's about finding theright environment, commitment to
development, and understandingthat perspective comes with time
and experience.
When athletes embrace thatmindset, everything changes
their conversations withcoaches, their confidence, and
ultimately their options.
If this episode helped reframehow you're thinking about the
recruiting process, I encourageyou to take the next step and
(30:26):
get organized.
You can find my book significantRecruiting the Playbook for
prospective college athletesalong with the new volleyball
recruitsjournal@coachmattrogers.com.
They're designed to help youslow the process down, take
ownership, and stay focused onwhat truly matters throughout
your journey.
Thanks for spending time with ustoday.
If you found value in thisconversation, be sure to share
(30:49):
it with a teammate, a parent, ora coach who could use it.
Until next time, stay focused onwhat you can control.
Stay humble and keep chasingsignificance.
Welcome back to The SignificantRecruiting Podcast.
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
I wanna start today's episode bywishing all of you a happy and
healthy holiday season.
I hope you all get quality timewith your loved ones and have
safe travels if you're travelingthis week.
In part two of my conversationwith Coach Kara Davis, head
volleyball coach at NCAADivision three University of
(00:31):
Dubuque.
Coach Davis shares an in-depthlook to how she views
recruitment and the importanceof being patient and how she
builds her program.
I tell parents, coaches, andyoung athletes all the time that
I became the best version ofmyself as an athlete when I was
about 25 years old.
Three years after my collegeplaying career ended.
(00:52):
The reason was perspective.
After college, I immediatelybecame an assistant coach.
For the first time in my career,I was teaching the game instead
of just playing it, I started totruly understand what my coaches
had been stressing all thoseyears when I was a player.
And ironically, I found myselfplaying at a much higher level
because I finally understood thegame as a teacher, coach Davis
(01:16):
has experienced success for manyof the same reasons, And to the
outside observer, she may looklike an overnight success.
She didn't skip any steps,though she gained four years of
high school playing experience.
She then had four years ofcollege playing experience, then
learned as an assistant from agreat head coach, and she later
(01:37):
earned her opportunity to takeover the reigns of the
University of Dubuque program.
For years, the NFL worked thesame way with quarterbacks.
Young quarterbacks would sitbehind seasoned, grizzled
veterans, learn the system,understand the processes before
being thrown into the fire.
Those days aren't as commonanymore at either the pro or
(01:58):
college level, which is whyCoach Davis should be lauded for
her patience and commitment tothe journey that shaped her into
the coach she is today.
I speak to this directly for allathletes and parents listening,
as hard as it is to wait yourturn, it's often the waiting
that allows you to become theplayer and the person you've
always hoped to be.
(02:19):
I can't imagine a better rolemodel for that philosophy than
coach Kara Davis.
If you're a recruit trying tofind the right college, a parent
trying to support withoutoversteering or a club or high
school coach, helping athletesnavigate their options.
This conversation will give youreal insight.
No shortcuts, no promises.
But real perspective.
(02:39):
And as always, if you want totake ownership of your
recruitment journey, I want tohelp you With that, you can find
my book significant Recruitingthe Playbook for prospective
college athletes along with thenew Volleyball Recruits
journal@coachmattrogers.com.
I wrote both books to help takethe pressure off families while
keeping the focus on what reallymatters.
(03:00):
Absorbing the journey, notskipping steps and following a
simple process that createsleverage and ownership and
results.
Alright, let's get into it.
Here's my recruitingconversation with Coach Kara
Davis.
Coach Great.
Conversation about your coachingbackground and your
philosophies.
(03:21):
I love it.
I love your energy.
But I also love your humilityyou want it to be collaborative.
And I see all of it and how youcoach.
I wanna talk about recruiting alittle bit.
Because you talked about yourlove of the game in the first
segment.
And that you're still a gym rat.
You still love playing.
As a recruiter, do you findyourself recruiting the kids
(03:43):
that have similarcharacteristics to you?
I think so, for sure.
Yeah, kids who just really wannabe around the game for another
four years and hopefully beyondthat, hopefully I have a lot of
kids who wanna keep playingafterwards.
Just.
In the community and whatnot,and against me and with me,
maybe after graduation.
But yeah, I think kids who justwanna be in the gym and just
(04:05):
wanna learn about volleyball andbeing a good teammate, like
those things are superimportant.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that too.
I was one of those people youhad to throw me out of the gym.
You had to turn the lights offto get me out.
So I love, it's, and it's hardto find these days.
It's hard to find kids that justlove playing and as long as
there's a ball, there's, they'reexcited.
Have you figured out who you areas a recruiter yet?
(04:29):
Have you started to figure outhow you recruit, how you close?
How you go after kids?
What's that look like?
I think it's continuing toevolve, but I was the
recruiting, recruitingcoordinator for the last couple
years, and then now I'm stillwant to be in control of
recruiting and then we'll maybegive it up to my assistant in a
couple years.
(04:49):
But I really just wanna continueto be that, at least the second
point of contact, so that I canget to know'em, they can get to
know me, they can ask thoseimportant questions about the
program.
I can ask.
More important questions of ifwe're, if they're gonna be a fit
for us.
Yeah, I think it's evolved.
It's still, overall, it's stillthe same process.
(05:11):
Id some kids talk to'em inperson if possible, otherwise
email, get a phone call, go in,get'em to campus and kind of
figure out what they need to seeand what their timeline is and
all.
It's just, there's a lot ofpieces, but yeah.
Yeah, I think it's continued toevolve, but overall, the same
type of system I've been using,we get coaches get so
(05:32):
overwhelmed with recruitingthese days because email is so
prevalent now.
You have voicemail, you havetexts, you have social media.
Is there a platform that youlike communicating with
recruits?
Honestly, I love getting apersonalized email, and then
I'll usually respond back andsay, Hey, do you wanna set up a
(05:52):
phone call, get some contactinfo, and then go from there.
It's hard to keep track whenthere's like the 12 different
recruiting services you could beon the right field level of
sports recruits, all the X, Y, Zit's hard to remember that.
I check those frequently, but Iin my email 24 7, so yeah,
that's.
The easiest for me, and thenusually go into a text message
(06:15):
after that.
Yeah, or a phone call.
Just the quickest way tocommunicate with me.
It gets rid of all the garbageand it, you can focus on just
that direct line ofcommunication.
Definitely.
Yeah.
I'm with you there.
Are there times when you, andI'm sure there's lots of times
when you get a kid's film andyou're like, it's not there.
How do you handle that?
(06:36):
Yeah.
It's not my favorite thing todo, yeah.
You wanna crush a kid's dream ortell'em they're not good enough,
but I will usually tell themthat we're looking for X, Y, or
Z, or.
Maybe were full in theirrecruiting class for their
position.
I'm not gonna lie to a kid ifthat's not the situation, but
just try to give them somepieces that they could improve
(06:57):
on and just say, Hey, we're, Idon't think it's gonna be a fit.
And to go ahead and move on.
Just, yeah.
So we don't waste each other'stime.
Yeah.
And I and I don't think there'senough of that, to be honest.
As hard as it is, it was hardfor me too.
Yeah.
It was a crusher for me.
I was the same way I knew howhard it was for me to get to
college and have a uniform witha college jersey, I don't wanna
(07:18):
burst that kid's bubble either,but I teach kids.
That's a blessing.
If a coach is willing to giveyou feedback, that's a win for
you.
Yeah.
If a coach is willing to say,Hey, I wanna learn more about
you, I want to start therecruiting process, that's a
win.
If a coach says, Hey, I don'tthink you're a great fit for us,
(07:38):
this may not be the spot foryou.
That's a victory for you becausenow, like you said, I don't have
to put any more time into thatschool if they're not
interested.
I need to mo put my energytowards everything else.
So for sure I try and teachcoaches that.
Be honest, and the kid might notfeel that as a victory right
away.
But they're gonna reallyappreciate that They don't have
(07:59):
to worry about their energybeing in that place.
So I really appreciate that.
When you talk about Universityof Dubuque to kids what does
that profile look like that youwant academically, athletically,
personality?
Wise, what do, what kind of kiddo you want at Dubuque?
Yeah.
A kid who really values gettinga great education while also
(08:21):
getting to play the sport youlove for another four years and
just understand what a blessingthat is.
Not, there's a huge percentageof kids, like we just said, that
aren't going to even make it atthe D three or NIIA level and
just getting to play in collegeis incredible.
So I think, yeah, kids who just.
Really love that game and likeselling, I guess going back to
(08:41):
selling the university more sois that the community here is
incredible and that we'relooking for kids that want to be
more than just a volleyballplayer, who wanna get to know
people on campus who want tohave a really full experience
and kinda, you can be.
I think the great thing about Dthree is that.
(09:04):
You're not, there's not a tonput on you, but you can take it
as far as you want.
So we're looking for kids whowanna take it really far.
Yeah.
So I guess trying to find thosekids, like we were talking about
kids that just are gym rats andwanna have the whole package, so
it's looking for some pretty,pretty good humans, yeah.
For you, you've got so much akid should be excited about.
(09:24):
I think I read this somewherewhere like 80% of college
athletes.
Will never compete at thenational level.
It's a crazy number.
So the fact that you've donethis twice in two years your
kids have experienced thismultiple games each year, that's
such a great thing to look at isyou're doing something right.
(09:45):
And you also, and that's what Iloved about being on campus.
I hadn't been on campus in 25years.
Yeah.
It's a beautiful campus.
Yeah, it's incredible.
The facilities, I don't thinkpeople know that.
Yeah, forget your beautifulcourt that you guys play on and
that, I love the round that youplay in.
But the brick buildings and thethe character, it's so very epic
(10:08):
and what you'd want it's campusto look like.
So that's really cool too.
Yeah.
Let's talk about playing timereality.
'cause I don't think I can talkabout this enough to parents and
recruits.
And you've talked about italready a little bit, but how do
you explain the differencebetween being recruited and
being ready to compete?
Yeah.
I think we try to be reallytransparent with where I think
(10:31):
they're gonna fit in, into theprogram.
Whether they're gonna maybecompete for a starting spot,
whether I think they might beplaying a lot of JV and then
traveling with the varsity.
Or I think they might need acouple years on JV to continue
to develop.
I try to give them that idea andthen I'm like, Hey.
Yeah.
This could change based on howmuch you improve over the
summer, how much our returnersimproved.
(10:52):
So I just try to give thatgeneral idea and then just
really talk about Hey, you guyswere all big fish and now you're
coming to a top 50 programs.
So everybody here is the bigfish and we're.
All competing to push eachother, but just I think it helps
that we really treat our JVsuper developmental, and it's
not like JVs second class by anymeans.
(11:14):
Like we're doing the samedrills, we're trained in the
same amount.
We're playing as many matches asI can get on the schedule for
them just to continue thatdevelopment of.
Getting practice reps are soawesome, but it's really hard to
simulate the pressure of a gameand the mindset you need and
yeah, how you're gonna react incertain situations.
So really trying to get them asmany reps as possible.
(11:35):
I think that has been a reallygreat selling point for us to be
like, Hey, you might not bestarting right away, but you're
gonna be getting a lot of repsand then you're gonna travel
with us and get to see what it'slike to compete at this level,
and maybe you're gonna get somebackup minutes and that kind of
thing.
As a former All American outsidehitter.
I'm gotta give you some propshere'cause you were a stud.
Are there two or three thingsthat you're looking for when
(11:58):
you're evaluating outsides?
I would say their vision.
Of the other side of the courtand talk, talk a little bit
through that.
What does that vision mean to anovice that's got a kid playing
volleyball and doesn'tunderstand what that vision
really means?
Are they hitting the ball andputting it in smart spots based
on the defense?
(12:18):
And are they scoring points,especially when it's outta
system and there's a doubleblock up in front of'em?
In system, a lot of people canlook great.
But can you see the block infront of you?
Can you utilize it and hit highoff it?
Can you hit around the block?
Can you hit around the deep, canyou hit where your body's not
facing?
That's a lot of stuff wecontinue to develop.
But if you already are doingthat at the high school and club
(12:41):
level, then I'm, that's reallygonna catch my attention.
Is it hard to teach?
'cause I've not done a lot ofvolleyball teaching.
I've watched more volleyballthan I should.
Because my daughter played clubfor seven years.
Is it hard to teach that interms of,'cause I've got the
footwork, I've got the settersetting the ball to me, and I've
(13:03):
gotta, in that step and a halfi've gotta figure out where the
blockers are, where the space isat the floor, how am I gonna hit
it?
Is that hard for you to teach?
And how do you go about teachingthat?
Yeah.
A ton of reps and a lot ofspecific drills, but one thing
that you said that is probablythe other most important piece
(13:23):
when I'm looking at hitters istheir ability to get their feet
to the ball.
The step close, the last twosteps is really important in the
approach and getting your feetall the way to the ball so you
can jump straight up and downand get your highest reach and
hit around the block and allthat stuff.
But I'd say, yeah.
It can be hard to teach.
Just you have to be reallyintentional if you're just going
up and mashing balls for the funof it.
(13:45):
Not trying to look and see ifyou can see some shadow from the
blockers or if you have a highball and have time to get your
eyes on the other side and thenback on the ball.
That's pretty advanced, butwe're looking for things like
that, to continue to developthat vision.
But you just have to be reallyintentional and you have to, I,
there's not many times thatwe're hitting in our gym without
(14:06):
a block on the other side, just,that happens very little in
Match.
Sometimes we're doing some of itwith just to work on connection
with our setters and middles.
Yeah.
System stuff, but a lot of timesthere's a blockers on the other
side of the net just so that weconstantly have to look for it
and we're trying to, we put alot of emphasis on trying to
tool the block, just getting usto buy into that really high
(14:27):
risk and high reward.
We design a lot of drills thatif you're, if you do X, Y, or Z,
you're gonna get plus two forthis situation or plus two for
this to really try to emphasizethose things.
But it's definitely difficult toteach.
It takes a lot of reps andintentionality.
Yeah.
Where are you at with theanalytics with that, because I
would imagine.
(14:48):
A good chunk of the time, youwant your hitter swinging.
Because of the odds of a blockgoing out of bounce or getting
through a F finger or gettingthrough space.
Or, yeah.
Where are you at with that interms of how you want your
hitters thinking about powerversus that vision and analytics
part of this?
I think it's a really finebalance.
(15:10):
Like we wanna be aggressive allthe time, but being aggressive
doesn't always mean swinging ashard as you can.
Sometimes that means right.
Throwing it off the side of theblock with your hand or tipping
it right over the block.
'cause their setters playingsuper far down the line or it's
just the situation changes andyou don't see the same thing
there.
You see it a lot of the, a lotof different things, and you'll
(15:31):
see'em frequently, but it'slike.
There's so many differentsituations.
I'm sure that's the same inbasketball, but like just trying
to know what's the right thingto do in each situation and
recognizing those situations andthose patterns early.
We'll we do a lot of.
Film and scout on what theirweaknesses are on defense.
(15:52):
So we're gonna try to abusecertain things and that's gonna
change opponent to opponent.
So I really want us to be takingthose big swings and not being
shy, but also sometimes a tipcan be really aggressive.
Just, I just, we just don'twanna tip when we're scared, we
just need to have a plan for it.
And that's the biggest piece, isthe being aggressive, but being
(16:12):
smart about it.
At the same time, when does thathappen?
When hitter, when a hitter getspast that fear.
And.
They're the vision's there canscore however they want.
Does that happen at a certainpoint?
Can you see it as the coach thatthey're starting to get it?
(16:34):
Yeah.
You can really it's, it takesthem putting in a ton of reps
and a ton of trust.
Knowing and the confidence.
Let that to do it every time andknow that.
Hey, if I make a error, I'mstill a great player.
Or if I, yeah, if I fail acouple times, it's gonna benefit
me in the long run.
So a lot of it has to do withtheir mindset.
A lot of times they'rephysically capable of it for a
(16:54):
long time, but getting them tobreak through and trust it is a
process, and some of it'strusting your teammates to cover
you and know that if you getblocked our defense is gonna
cover us, and give us a secondattempt.
Or knowing that if.
You make an error.
It's not the end of the world.
As long as you have a plan andyou're being aggressive, then
yeah.
(17:14):
Nobody on the team's gonna bemad at you.
So just getting us to really buyinto all of those pieces.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Usually the phys physical partcomes faster than the mental
part, right?
Yeah.
I'm a Bears fan, and I gotabused by Aaron Rogers for most
of the last 15 years, there'sjust something about his
composure in the pocket.
And I'm starting to see it.
(17:35):
What's the young lady atNebraska Harper?
Harper Murray.
Harper Murray.
She's always been aunbelievable, 1% athlete.
But there's just something aboutwatching her play this year.
There's d there's difference.
It's almost like she's seen thefuture when she goes up to
swing.
Yeah.
It's when you've done something,it, I can't remember what it's
called, but you've done it somany times, right?
(17:56):
You can it before it happens.
Yes, you really can get to apoint where that happens.
So I think maybe she's playedenough volleyball where now
she's in that flow state and shejust yeah knows the next move
before it's gonna happen.
And it'd be nice to get all.
All of my kids on that page andI have some that are, but it
takes long time.
Oh, you do?
Yeah.
You just have to play so, somuch volleyball.
(18:18):
You have to see it so many timesbefore your body can recognize
it and before your body can doit like so.
Yeah, I think that's the hardpart for a 16 and s year old to
understand is.
You just have to do it so much.
It doesn't matter how good orhow accurate you are.
But then there's that wholenother level of understanding
what's happening on the otherside of the net, where the space
is.
(18:38):
How that defense is playing you.
Yep.
Was there a point in your careeras a player where that kind of
clicked, where you, like I, Iknow I can score anytime.
And you gotta make one heck of aplay to stop me.
I think my, in the middle of myjunior year that happened for
me.
Just, I think it was theculmination of, I finally played
enough volleyball and I startedto have a lot of success and
(19:00):
more confidence and just, yeah,my IQ grew a lot, coach.
How much of that is learning howto be comfortable with failure?
So much pretty much all of it,I'd say, like just being willing
to make that mistake and belike, now I need to recalibrate
and make a different mistake andkind of figure it out from
there.
I think just, yeah, buying intothe process of.
(19:24):
People, if you fall down, yougotta get back up.
That's the same mindset of,you're gonna make errors and
figuring out how to deal withthose and that it's okay.
And I think your teammatestelling you, you got the next
one and hey good shot.
And hey X, your feet we'rereally good there.
Or whatever.
Just giving those like technicaland or tactical feedback of good
job or we see you doing, we seeyou trying to work on that.
(19:47):
Like just trying to give thatfeedback and positive
reinforcement.
Yeah, I think that makes adifference.
How much.
Are you going back to the wellwith high schools and club
programs that are teaching thatculture of support?
And go after it be aggressive.
We got your back.
Yeah.
Are you finding those pockets inyour recruiting and go going
(20:07):
back to those programs?
Yeah, for sure.
There's a lot of great programsaround.
So I think definitely trying togo back to the places that, do
it really well, but also yeah,venturing out and seeing who
else is doing things well andgetting to know other people
too.
So trying to, yeah, keep thatdiversity, but also yeah, also
go back to where, people whereit's working.
I guess why change it?
(20:29):
So many parents struggle withwhere to send their daughter and
what club to go in.
Where are you at with that?
What kind of advice do you giveto parents that ask you about
clubs and how do we get theclub?
I would say go somewhere whereyou're gonna get an opportunity
to play.
Don't go somewhere where you'regonna have, there's gonna be 12
kids on the roster and you'reonly gonna get to play a lot in
(20:51):
practice.
Like making sure that you are,you're paying a lot of money to,
to play club ball, so makingsure you're somewhere where you
are gonna get developed.
And look at places who haveexperienced coaches and who are
picky about who they let coach,and do they do anything to
develop their coaches or theyjust pick people that are like,
here, run this team?
(21:12):
Is there any kind of system forthat?
Is there, do they have clubphilosophy?
Like similar to when you'relooking for a college program,
do you wanna join this group ofpeople?
Are they good humans?
There's just there's, the clubworld can be a bit of a mess,
but there's also so many goodthings about it.
Just trying to find a place thatfeels like you fit in and like
you can see yourself growing anddeveloping in a positive
(21:32):
environment.
I think those are the biggestpieces.
It's so hard for families thesedays'cause oftentimes you go to
a tryout and the person that'sgonna be coaching you isn't
there.
Or they haven't hired that coachyet for your 16 ones team and so
there's so many challenges thatgo into that.
And for sure, I wish they'dtweaked some of that, but.
Oftentimes it's just, it'smoney.
(21:54):
We gotta have more teams and wegot 20 teams.
But it's hard to find more thansix coaches that, yeah.
I'm gonna, my A DH D's gonnacome out a little bit.
I keep forgetting to ask youthis question'cause it's one of
the things I enjoyed watchingyour team play, and I think it's
good for parents and recruits tohear this.
The ball never seems to hit thefloor against your defense.
(22:16):
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
I i've watched, I watched somuch volleyball and the ball
just couldn't, could not find ahole.
What are you doing to teach thatdynamic of not letting the ball
hit the floor?
That pit drill that we talkedabout earlier.
Yeah.
Just the never say die attitude.
If we can touch a ball, we candig a ball and we should be able
(22:36):
to touch every ball in thecourt.
Not individually, but with oursystem.
So I think just one we do a goodjob of training'em, but two,
it's just.
These kids just know how towork.
Like it just, I, they work sohard and they want to win so bad
that they'll do it at any cost.
Sacrificing their body orwhatever it may be to get the
ball up, like they're gonna dothat and just to, they're just
(23:00):
unselfish players who wanna keepthe ball going so their teammate
can get a kill.
It just, yeah.
And it, that all starts with ourlibero who is in the gym and.
Never satisfied with where she'sat.
And I think a lot of the teamfellows that mentality,'cause
she's a great leader and whensome of your best players work
the hardest on the team, that'salways a great sign, I think and
(23:21):
a great role model to look upto.
And yeah, had some excellentdefenders this year.
It's easy to recruit those kidsthat just.
Never seemed to quit.
It's those kids pop off thefloor and catch your eyes so
much faster, don't they?
Yep.
You talk about work ethic, butI'm gonna pick your brain a
little bit more'cause.
(23:43):
Every volleyball coach I watchthe spacing's a little bit
different.
How they guard the blocks, howthey guard the space on the
floor.
What's your philosophy on that,on where you're spacing, where
you want your spacing to be?
Defensively, you're talking?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we are, it all starts withour blockers.
Depending on the system we'refacing, we're, either gonna have
(24:04):
our middle, follow the middle,and then they're gonna have a
far distance to go to the longstring or, and then they're
gonna be a short distance toclose the tempo ball to the
short string, yeah.
Or we're gonna be in a reedblocking situation where we're,
it's more like a zone, like inbasketball.
Like you're responsible forthis, and this.
Yeah.
And then we.
(24:25):
Our defense back court defensedepends on the system we're
taking.
With our block start blocking inline, if it's high over the
block, our middle back should beable to run it down.
They're outside to dig the harddriven balls.
Our ERO is digging as much courtas she can.
She can take under control.
If we hear her call it, she'staking it.
We got our off blockers, ourfront row players picking up the
(24:46):
short stuff.
You are so good at that.
Thank you.
You really are.
It's, you don't see, oftentimesyou'll see the blocks, but then
the middle will give up on thedink.
Your kids do such a good job ofgoing up in blocking and then
getting back in position to getthat dink.
How much are you teaching that.
(25:06):
It's sometimes I don't thinkwe're great at that, so thanks
for saying that.
But I think we just, I thoughtthat was so impressive.
We just, I think they werereally locked in on it.
And they knew maybe that wassomething that their players
were looking to do a lot to getus.
Sometimes you do that to get oneof the best attackers o on a
rhythm, they have to dig thefirst ball and then transition
(25:27):
to kill.
So just yeah, knowing that'ssomething that they wanna do.
Yeah.
Or just.
Yeah, it's a primaryresponsibility.
You're not blocking, you'repicking up the tip.
It just, I think we hammer it inquite a bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's cool to be good at that.
It's, there's just certainthings watching your team play
that there's just there's littlethings that you're like, man, I
don't see that very often.
(25:47):
How you guard the donut hole,how you guard the deep corners,
how you guard the lines.
It's, it is just you, there's alot of things that your kids
just really grasp at a highlevel, so it's fun.
Thank you.
I've kept you way too long.
I'm a, I want you to leave with,give two pieces of advice.
Okay.
One to parents.
You're in a room with 300parents and you wanna know one
(26:09):
piece of advice about how to gettheir kid recruited.
What would you tell'em?
I would tell them to justsupport their children at all
costs and to have them to reallyencourage their kids to lead the
conversations with collegecoaches and just reach out to
people that you're interestedin.
Do your research beforehand andjust, yeah, that you have to
(26:30):
reach out because there's somany recruits that if it's not,
that you're not good enough, ifwe didn't reach out to you, it's
that we just haven't seen youyet.
Maybe yeah.
Yeah.
Encouraging them to reach outand be a great communicator I
think is really important in therecruiting process.
Take the lead.
Yes.
Mom and dad don't take the lead.
Athlete takes the lead.
(26:51):
Yep.
Do your research, make sure thatschool has what you want.
Make sure you know why you'reinterested in that school.
Yep.
And then communication.
Yep.
Yeah.
Don't give up.
Send a couple emails if you haveto.
Leave a voicemail, if you haveto.
Yeah.
Do you want all your kids to setup the visit through you or are
(27:13):
you comfortable with kidssetting up visits through
admissions or would you, do youprefer that it's through you and
your staff?
If they set it up throughadmissions, then I.
We will find out about it andI'll see'em on campus.
But if we communicate about itfirst, then I'm gonna make sure
that we're available as well, sothat you don't show up to campus
and we're out recruiting orwe're on the road or whatever.
(27:33):
So it's always easier to set itup with me, but I wouldn't be
like, yeah, it wouldn't be out.
Give you some time.
Give you some time to build itinto your schedule.
Yeah, it's definitely easierthat way.
Give a piece of advice to thatyoung lady that wants to play in
college.
Not so much how they should goabout getting recruited, but
Yeah.
What they need to be working onto be able to even think about
(27:54):
playing at your level.
Yeah.
I think you need to be in thegym as much as you have access
to on the court and as in theweight room as well.
Like the control, the thingsthat you can control.
That, that physicality piece issomething you can control if you
have the resources to it,obviously.
(28:14):
Hitting the weight room, gettingyour nutrition in line, those
things that can take you to thenext level.
I think the sooner you can geton that the better of an athlete
you can be, become there andjust, yeah.
Do it at 110%.
There's things aren't worthdoing unless you're giving your
best effort.
Like you're just wasting yourtime if you're not.
Work as hard as you can and seewhere it takes you.
(28:37):
Yeah.
You can't really say you'recommitted to playing in college
if that.
If your garage door at yourhouse hasn't seen a volleyball,
hit it in a while, right?
Get out there and get work onyour serve.
Work on your passing.
There's so many things you cando to build your routines up and
right.
Watch volleyball, increase youriq.
We have so much access to goodvolleyball now.
I used to be able to watch twomatches a week on Big 10 Network
(29:00):
when I was Yes.
So right.
And yeah.
And now you can watch basicallyevery match.
So every match.
Yeah.
Take advantage of those thingsand don't just watch it, study
it like coach, you're awesome.
Bill, so excited for theUniversity of Dubuque.
So excited for your staff andyour athletes.
You're just doing great work andyou're a special person and I
admire you and I'm thrilled thatwe have you in our profession.
(29:23):
So if you ever think aboutgetting out of it, you call me
first.
Will do.
That wraps up part two of myconversation with Coach Kara
Davis, head volleyball coach atthe University of Dubuque.
If you're a recruit or a parentor a coach listening, the
message here is simple and it'spowerful.
Don't skip steps.
(29:44):
Coach Davis didn't rush herjourney.
She played, she learned, shewatched, she taught, and when
the opportunity came, she wasready.
Not because of timing, butbecause of preparation.
That same approach is exactlywhat she looks for in recruits
today.
Patience, self-awareness,coachability, and a willingness
to grow.
Recruiting isn't about chasingthe fastest path or the loudest
(30:04):
outcome, it's about finding theright environment, commitment to
development, and understandingthat perspective comes with time
and experience.
When athletes embrace thatmindset, everything changes
their conversations withcoaches, their confidence, and
ultimately their options.
If this episode helped reframehow you're thinking about the
recruiting process, I encourageyou to take the next step and
(30:26):
get organized.
You can find my book significantRecruiting the Playbook for
prospective college athletesalong with the new volleyball
recruitsjournal@coachmattrogers.com.
They're designed to help youslow the process down, take
ownership, and stay focused onwhat truly matters throughout
your journey.
Thanks for spending time with ustoday.
If you found value in thisconversation, be sure to share
(30:49):
it with a teammate, a parent, ora coach who could use it.
Until next time, stay focused onwhat you can control.
Stay humble and keep chasingsignificance.
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