FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas' women's basketball roster lists players from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio and Illinois.
Coach Jimmy Dykes said in addition to the recruiting base established in Southern and Midwestern states, in the future he hopes the Razorbacks sign players from the Northeast and Canada.
Those areas are now on Arkansas' recruiting radar after Dykes Wednesday announced the hiring of Chenel Harris as an assistant coach to fill the vacancy created when Christy Smith left to become the head coach at Incarnate Word.
Harris, a native of Ontario, Canada, comes to Arkansas from Stony Brook, an American East Conference team in New York where she was an assistant the previous two seasons. She also was an assistant at Robert Morris in Pittsburgh.
Dykes said Harris' father is coach of a major AAU program in Canada and that her experience recruiting in her native country and in the Northeast played a role in adding her to Arkansas' staff.
"It was important to me that she gave us a geographical area that's new to us," Dykes said. "We've seen kids in women's college basketball the last three or four years come South of the border from Canada to play at schools in the SEC. We've seen them come from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, all those areas up in the Northeast.
"She gives us recruiting contacts that we don't have. Kids from Canada will come south to play at the highest level. There's a pretty good chance I may need to get a passport here in year or so."
Harris, who played forward at Kent State, said she'll work with the post players at Arkansas, but that Dykes also is giving her the freedom to be involved in all areas of the program. She's excited about coaching in the SEC.
"I think this is the best conference in the country, and this is a great opportunity for me personally for professional reasons," Harris said. "But at the end of the day, it's basketball and it's all about hard work.
"I'm ready to hit the ground running and really start working hard to help the staff."
Dykes said he had more than 100 applicants for the job, but that Harris stood out when they first spoke.
"She was impressive on the phone, and you've got to be impressive on the phone recruiting before you can be impressive in person," Dykes said. "Because it starts on the phone first before you ever get a shot to get in that home.
"So I knew right off the bat that she was going to be one of that final two or three that had a good chance to join our family."