Q&A WITH COACH COOK
What is your coaching philosophy?
There are four things that come to mind. No. 1, I see myself
as a teacher. It was always my dream to be a teacher, and
coaching is teaching. No. 2, next to my family and my faith,
the people involved with Nebraska volleyball are the most
important thing in my life.
Third we like to recruit great athletes and are flexible
enough to create a system that takes advantage of the
strengths of the players in our program, so our players can
reach their full potential. How can we make each athlete the
best volleyball player they can be? That’s the question we try
to answer. Finally, our players are committed to academic
excellence and becoming complete student-athletes.
What do you enjoy most about coaching at Nebraska?
There are two things that make coaching at Nebraska so
special. First, it is the passion of the people across the state for
our team. There is a love affair between our players and the
fans across the state.
Second, is that our players are great young women who
work hard, make great choices and are excellent students. In
2006, we won an NCAA title, as well as the Life Skills Award for
the athletic department. We have a group of people who are
committed to giving back to the community and understand
that there is more to college life than volleyball.
When you are recruiting a potential student-athlete,
what are Nebraska’s biggest selling points?
I think the best thing for a recruit to do is see our team play.
We play at a high level, but what may be most important, is
how we play. It’s a very exciting brand of volleyball based on
great athletes moving very quickly and transitioning very fast.
We’ve always had a reputation of taking great athletes and
training them to become exceptional volleyball players.
We have a great academic tradition with our academic
support staff, the Hewit Center and our Student Life Complex.
We lead the nation in academic All-America honors, NCAA Top
Ten Award winners and the majority of our players go on to
graduate school following their playing careers.
I think another important factor is the exposure our
program receives. Our goal is to be on the cutting edge. We
are the only program in the country that has its own volleyball
radio network and nearly every match shown live on the
Internet. This gives us opportunities to connect with our fans,
and has played a major role in our sellout streak.
Our school’s rich volleyball tradition over the years also
plays an important role in recruiting. In many cases, people
know they were meant to be here.
What do you look for in a recruit?
Academically we have a tradition of great student-athletes.
Because the program’s emphasis is on being accountable, the
program attracts people who have already been successful
in the classroom. But we’ve also taken some people who
were merely good students and helped them become great
students.
In addition to looking for great student-athletes, the
players we attract to Nebraska are ones who not only have
the athletic ability to be successful, but also are highly
competitive. They don’t shy away from challenges, whether it
is in practices or in matches because they know it will allow
them to reach their full potential as a player.
INTRO
2015 HUSKERS
We are also in a unique situation at Nebraska where our
stu FV