Evan Bredeson
August 8, 2024 4:15 am CT
Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook spoke at Big Ten Media Days earlier in the week. The Husker head coach opened his remarks by talking about the three Nebraska volleyball players on Team USA for the Olympics.
Well, this is the third year in a row we’ve had three players out of the 12 on the Olympic team, so it’s a great testament and reinforcement for what we’re doing at Nebraska to prepare these players to play in what is literally the biggest stage for volleyball in the world.
TheCornhuskers are theBig Ten favoritesheading into the2024 season. The league’s 18 head coaches picked the Huskers as the top team in theconference preseason poll. The head coach shared that one of the Huskers in Paris expressed frustration with Coach Cook’s absence.
I’m in the tank a little bit because Jordan laid into me last week because I didn’t go to Paris, and I’m like, Jordan, I’m the grand marshal at the Burwell Rodeo. I cannot go to Paris. So she’s never, ever said — this is her fourth Olympics. She’s never said anything to me about not going.
Nebraska is coming off a 2023 season that saw the Huskers finish with a 33-2 record and a trip to the NCAA Championship Game. They will start the 2024 season on Tuesday, August 27, against Kentucky at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
Find more comments from John Cook below.
On his main focus before the season starts
You know, what’s really on my mind right now is how are we going to better our skills from last year. So how are we going to become a better serving team, better passing team. We broke down in the Finals last year, there’s other times we broke down, so how are we going to get better in those areas.
On the current attitude of the team
That’s going to be the focus right now. And then bringing four new players into our culture, and every year’s team is a little bit different, so how are we going to integrate those guys and how is that going to work.
But really paying attention to the little things, that’s going to be a major focus for me. That’s where we’re going to start. Then also getting them to understand how much competition there’s going to be this year. Non-conference, conference, it is going to be — every match is going to be a very challenging match in different ways.
On the current schedule
Our schedule is all over the place. We play every night — every day but Monday of the week. The month of November, if you’ve looked at our schedule, we have seven road games and three home games. That’s going to be tough in the month of November.
We have some other challenging matches we’re working on, and our non-conference is going to be very challenging. We’ve got to get them to understand what this is about and how tough and challenging it’s going to be. But we want that to bring out the best in us. That’s going to be the talk.
On the pros and cons of expansions
Well, the pros are it’s making it very interesting bringing four new teams in. I think it’s going to be great for fans. It’s going to be great for the sport. It’s great for the Big Ten, how they’re going to coordinate all this, and the media exposure is going to — it’s interesting; people are going to be very interested in how this is all going to shake out.
The cons are there’s going to be a little bit more travel, but I think the Big Ten did a great job of managing how to do that. But there’s going to be more travel for us, but it’s also going to be exciting and new for our players to go to new places.
On other cons
The other con is it’s going to be — I don’t think anybody is going to go undefeated, let’s put it that way, and if they do, they’re going to deserve coach of the century and team of the century because it’s going to be really challenging. But like I said, this is going to bring out the best in what we have, and we’ll give it our best shot. So it’s exciting for college sports.
College sports is on the — right now there’s more change going on than ever. The SEC changed, the Big 12 changed, so there’s a lot going on; the ACC changed. It’s going to be an exciting dynamic for college sports.
On the current state of women's sports
I don’t think anything has to happen. I think everything is happening. It’s on a rocketship right now, all women’s sports. It’s pretty exciting to see. I have my theories on why that is. I think people are really identifying and want to be a part and connected to women’s sports because these are great young women who are — connect and reach out and they’re developing names that they can follow.
I just think with everything going on in men’s sports, there’s so much movement and all that stuff. I think women’s sports is on fire right now, and I don’t think anything — it’s happening.
On how expansion will impact the Big Ten
I don’t know if I’ve figured that out yet. We’ve played these teams in the tournament or in non-conference before, so it just — it’s adding four more great teams. You’re not playing everybody twice. I think there’s only three teams we play twice. There’s a lot of big matches because you’re only going to play that team once.
On expansion creating competition
So that is going to, I think, create even more of an intensity and pressure to beat that team. It just raises the level of competition. But we’ve been seeing the level of competition go up across the board for years now in volleyball and specifically in the Big Ten. There’s no easy nights in the Big Ten. That’s something we learned quite a while ago.
On losing the National Championship Game
Anytime you don’t play your best it sticks with you. It’s something we’ve talked a little bit about. I think it’s all in our minds. You guys bring it up, so it’s out there. But I framed it for them the other night as we should be the most motivated team in the country.
