Whenever John Cook gets mentioned, you think of the big wins, the AVCA Coach of the Year awards, the four NCAA titles, and more. While the accolades definitely created Cook’s legendary legacy, it’s the little things, the attention to detail, that helped Coach Cook stay near the top of the pack for 25 years at Nebraska. So, just how much attention did he pay?
Well, fellow retired NCAA coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, who coached at Creighton University for 22 seasons, revealed an anecdote that paints the entire picture. The veteran coach who left to take on a position at League One Volleyball (LOVB) revealed how Coach Cook chose between standing and sitting during volleyball games based on feedback. Sounds almost outrageous, right?
“He evolved as a coach. I mean, a simple example fans would see is he used to stand,” Booth said in the clip from Nebraska Public Media’s upcoming TV special The Last Ride with John Cook. The former Creighton coach explained that John Cook may find she got some of the details wrong, but she heard that the 69-year-old started sitting down because his players told him.
“They didn’t really love him standing. A lot of us coaches say, ‘Tough, this is what I do,’ but instead, he began to sit. That might not seem like a big deal, but that’s a big deal. That’s listening, that’s learning,” Kirsten Bernthal Booth said in the snippet on YouTube. As trivial as that sounds, it’s these several little changes that endeared the coach to the players and helped him evolve.
Credits: Instagram/ Huskers Volleyball
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