The Razorbacks welcome back a staff member to the Hill as former graduate assistant Lexi MacLean has been tabbed an assistant coach for the volleyball program.
MacLean spent the last season at Southern Mississippi as an assistant coach, where she also led recruiting efforts for the Golden Eagles. MacLean helped Southern Miss to its best season in six years in 2022, in which the Golden Eagles went 21-12 overall and finished the slate in the NIVC semifinals.
In her time at Southern Miss, MacLean developed preseason schedules, ran film sessions, and organized and facilitated camps.
Prior to landing in Hattiesburg, MacLean spent two seasons in the Natural State at the University of Central Arkansas, where she was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. She was responsible for the defensive side of the game for the Bears and helped in UCA’s transition from the Southland Conference to the ASUN Conference.
In her first season, MacLean helped lead the Bears to the Southland Conference tournament semifinals.
MacLean’s journey into coaching started in Fayetteville, where she was a graduate assistant under head coach Jason Watson at Arkansas for the 2019 season.
“I’m excited to welcome Lexi back to Fayetteville. She made an impression upon us all when she previously worked with our program,” Watson said. “Since then, she has worked alongside two successful head coaches and comes back to campus with a tremendous ability to connect and inspire student-athletes. We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Lexi’s caliber in our gym as part of our staff.”
MacLean was a four-year Division I player with stints at TCU and Arizona State. During her two seasons at TCU, MacLean played in 48 matches as both a libero and outside hitter. In her senior season in 2018, she led the team with 339 total digs and 3.32 digs per set, had double-digit digs in 18 matches and tallied two 20+ dig matches.
MacLean’s connection with Watson dates back to her playing days, as she spent her freshman season under his tutelage at Arizona State in 2015. In her two years as a Sun Devil, she registered 280 total kills and played in 132 sets. McLean’s final game coached by Watson was in the NCAA Tournament, in which she had a team-high eight kills and three digs in the team’s first round loss to No. 19 Florida State on Dec. 3, 2015.
MacLean was a 2015-16 Scholar Baller at ASU and a Pac-12 Academic Honorable Mention in 2016. She received her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from TCU in May of 2019.
