Chaos over a couple of wild weeks last winter led to a Kansas volleyball connection that nobody could have seen coming.
It involved a new head coach, a transfer setter and an incoming freshman, and it put the Jayhawks in some pretty rare company with one of the most unique recruiting stories the program has seen.
More than two years ago, in the summer of 2023, when Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year Logan Bell was making her final decision about where to play college volleyball, it was then-Oregon coach Matt Ulmer and his philosophy, coaching style and player-friendly personality that won her over.
She committed to become a Duck in June of that summer and began stockpiling as much green and gold gear as she could find.
Along the way, Bell made a few visits to the Oregon campus in Eugene, including her official visit where she was hosted by a setter named Cristin Cline.
“I was her host, and I literally toured her around, walked with her everywhere, did her photos, everything,” Cline recently told R1S1 Sports while reflecting back on the wild ride.
Fast-forward to the winter of her senior year at Roncalli High in Indianapolis and both Cline and Bell’s worlds were rocked when, on January 17th of this year, KU announced Ulmer as its new head coach.
While the news came as a shock to Cline, who, along with her Oregon teammates, was immediately thrust into what-do-I-do-now mode, it was equally as unsettling for the girls in Bell’s class who had committed to Oregon.
It didn’t take Cline, a North Carolina native, long to know she was going to follow her coach to the Midwest. But even with her life-changing decision happening relatively quickly — she officially signed with KU 8 days after the school announced Ulmer as its replacement for the retiring Ray Bechard — Cline admits today that she didn’t have much time to think about what might happen to Bell and the rest of the freshman class that had committed to Oregon.
“Sadly, no,” Cline said. “Because I was in a whirlwind of what are my teammates doing, what am I doing, what do my parents think?”
Cris Cline (left) and Logan Bell (right), shown in the photos that accompanied their official signing announcements.
By the early February, Cline had packed up all of her belongings and made the 24-hour drive from Oregon to Kansas with her parents.
She even beat Ulmer to town, leaving her to be a bit of a bridge between the KU team that remained and Ulmer and the new era that was about to begin.
For 10 days, she helped the team organize open gyms and outings designed to get to know each other. And then when Ulmer arrived, he asked her if she would host Bell again, this time at Kansas.
She did. Cline said the entire class that had been Oregon-bound gave KU a look initially. But Bell was the only one to follow Ulmer to Kansas. And, because of their past connection to her from the first time Cline hosted Bell in Eugene, the two developed an even deeper bond the second time around.
“With Logan, when I hosted her at Oregon and then she decided, I wasn’t really a part of that one,” Cline recalled. “It was more of her liking the staff and just being there. She kind of leaned on me more for this one.”
Bell, a 5-10 outside hitter who chose Ulmer and KU, in part, because he always told her she could play whatever position she wanted and earned, admitted as much.
“I reached out to Cris a lot on Instagram,” Bell told R1S1 Sports. “I was just asking her so many questions, she was probably so annoyed with me.”
She wasn’t. But Cline said she knew that the decision was a big one for Bell, who not only was thinking about picking a new school but also on the brink of having to adjust to leaving home and heading off to college.
“I had a few months under my belt,” Cline said of her experience at KU. “But I was still like, ‘Logan, I’m gonna be honest with you – I have no idea. It was still such a whirlwind of things and I wish I could help you more.”
The thing she just kept saying was simple.
“I wholeheartedly believe you won’t regret your decision if you come here,” Cline told Bell. “I think you’ll enjoy it a lot.”
Fast-forward one more time, to today, and those words from Cline proved awfully prophetic.
Cris Cline (left) and Logan Bell (right) during recent KU practices. [Kansas Athletics photos]
Bell chose KU over Louisville and Utah, signing with the Jayhawks on March 24. And the talented hitter from the Hoosier State is already loving it.
She and Cline are roommates, living with Washington transfer Audra Wilmes and Oregon State transfer Ryan White.
“Just seeing her trust in Ulmer really meant a lot,” Bell told R1S1. “It says a lot that a player would follow her coach after making such a quick decision. This whole journey has just been really fun because we’re in this together and we have each other’s backs and we already know we’re always gonna figure it out together.”
Although they are closer in age than their 22-year-old roommates — Bell is freshly 18 and Cline is 20 — there is a bit of an older-sister/protector vibe happening with Cline and Bell.
The two are pepper partners at practice, and before, during and after their workouts, Cline routinely offers tips, checks up on Bell and tries to help her in any way she can.
“She’s very personable in that way,” Bell said “And not only in volleyball, but we talk a lot about our faith, too. She’s just been super-supportive of me.”
As for the crazy journey that brought them both here — the one that began 7 months back but might as well have taken place 7 years ago — the two new Jayhawks often find themselves reflecting on all of it in awe.
“It’ll come up,” Bell began. “And we’ll just be like, ‘Man. That all happen so fast, and here we are.”
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