“I feel like I’ve done the best job coaching of my career. That’s why it’s easy to walk away. I know I put everything I had into it,” John Cook told Nebraska Public Media’s Larry Punteney. After giving 25 years of his life to Nebraska, the volleyball coach took the Huskers from one-time national champions to one of the greatest colleges in NCAA volleyball history, and now it’s his pupil’s turn.
Cook shocked the college volleyball world when he announced his retirement on January 30, and within hours, the 69-year-old dropped another bomb, saying Louisville’s Dani Busboom Kelly would be his successor. Now, nearly six months since that fateful day, as DBK prepares to embark on creating her legacy, Nebraska prepares to honor its beloved Coach Cook with a special tribute.
On Sunday, Aug. 10, at 7 p.m. CT, Nebraska Public Media will release The Last Ride with John Cook. However, the Nebraska Public Media program, which will go live on Facebook and YouTube, will be more than a regular retrospective. “It celebrates a man whose impact transcended the game of volleyball, shaping generations of athletes and redefining the game’s place in American sports culture,” Nebraska Public Media wrote in a preview report.
The program will also give fans a glimpse of John Cook’s new journey, his love for rodeo and roping. After all, the production crew took a 15-hour drive to Cook’s reach all the way to picturesque Wyoming, to show the world that NU’s former head coach isn’t just an expert in volleyball. However, The Last Ride with John Cook won’t be the literal end of the 69-year-old’s involvement with sports or Nebraska.
Credits: Instagram/Huskers Volleyball
In fact, the iconic volleyball coach has already contributed to growing rodeo and roping in Nebraska. While Dani Busboom Kelly has been busy winning spring games and preparing for the AVCA First Serve Showcase that starts on August 22, Cook has established his roping contest. In April, he hosted the inaugural John Cook Team Roping Classic, and the proceeds went to the UNL Rodeo Program. Safe to say, DBK has a lot to live up to when the 2025 season begins. But how big are the shoes the 40-year-old is stepping into?
John Cook is the Huskers’ benchmark
To put all of Cook’s achievements into perspective would be a daunting task, but you can surely get a picture of the scale of his contribution to volleyball through Coach Cook’s biggest achievements. The very first is winning 4 NCAA Division I National Championships with Nebraska in 2000, 2006, 2015, and 2017. Before Cook, the Huskers had just one.
All these national titles also helped John Cook become a record-setting coach in all of AVCA. The 69-year-old won the AVCA National Coach of the Year award thrice (2000, 2005, 2023), becoming one of only three coaches to ever do so. And that’s not his only standout achievement in NCAA history. Cook’s stellar 883-176 (.834) record gives him the fifth-best winning percentage all-time.
Needless to say, that also makes him the winningest coach in Huskers history, where he has a 722-103 (.875) record, the best winning percentage for any DI program over the last 25 years. And if this wasn’t enough to paint the picture, then remember Volleyball Day 2023? Well, the retired head coach sure does, and it still gives him the chills.
“That volleyball night was a game changer for women’s sports. And to be a part of that, to know we made that big a difference – it still gives me chills,” he told Nebraska Public Media. On that special day, the Huskers swept Omaha in front of more than 92,000 fans at Memorial Stadium, setting the attendance record not just for volleyball, but all of women’s sports. That being said, John Cook was also where DBK finds herself now: the 1st season with the Huskers. Give it 25 years, and who knows? Maybe Coach Kelly might surpass her mentor.
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