Watson, an assistant the last three seasons to recently fired Karen Lamb, wasn't out to test his luck. Rather, he was involved with recruiting.

"I was pleasantly surprised Wednesday afternoon," Watson said. "I had not applied for the job. I had an official interview Tuesday."

Watson, 34 of Homebush, Australia, has spent 11 years as a college assistant at four universities, including two seasons with the BYU men's volleyball team. He was also offensive and defensive coordinator during his coaching career at Kansas State, Arkansas State and Montana State.

This is Watson's first head coaching position. It was thought that the BYU administration was leaning toward veteran Mike Wilton of the University of Hawaii.

"It became clear through the interview process that Jason was the right person to guide our women's volleyball program," BYU senior associate athletics director Tom Holmoe said. "He has excelled in his previous experiences as an assistant coach while developing the tools to be an outstanding head coach."

Watson takes over a BYU program that has won 23 WAC or Mountain West conference titles, and is No. 3 nationally all-time in total victories. The Cougars have qualified for 31 of the sport's 36 national postseason tournaments.

The Cougars return much of the team that went 19-11 last season, 9-5 in conference play.

In three seasons, Lamb was 57-39. In 2003, her team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"BYU is one of the most successful programs in the country," Watson said. "I'm anxious to put my signature on the program.

"We are going to maintain the processes we have in place. We can, perhaps, keep more of an even keel emotionally."

Watson, who was an All-American at BYU, will retain Brooke Huebner as the program's recruiting coordinator. He will add a second assistant as soon as possible.

"I'm anxious to get the program back into the top 25," Watson said. "We have a great deal of talent and expectations should be high. I'm not sure what held us back [last season]."

Smith earns citations

Utah junior forward Kim Smith, a two-time Mountain West Conference Player, has been recognized by two national award organizations.

Smith, who leads the Utes in scoring (17 points per game) and rebounding (9.5) was among the 30 midseason candidates selected for the prestigious Naismith Trophy. The Naismith Trophy is presented annually to the men's and women's players of the year.

Reds leave program

A pair of players on Utah's women's basketball team, sisters Sarah and Stephanie Red, have left the program, the school announced last week. The former Timpview High stars are from Orem.

"Sarah and Stephanie have decided they do not want to continue playing basketball," Utah coach Elaine Elliott said. "Both have been superb teammates and contributors to Utah basketball. If they change their minds and decide to pursue basketball at a later date, they have my complete support."

The twins played a combined 31 minutes this season.

martyr@sltrib.com

This week

Thursday: Women's Basketball - BYU at Utah, 7 p.m.; Utah State at Long Beach State, 8:30 p.m.

Friday: Men's Volleyball - UC Irvine at BYU, 7 p.m.

Saturday: Women's Basketball - USU at UC Irvine, 8 p.m.; Utah at Colorado State, 2 p.m.