"Coach was more a routine type of guy" - Nebraska Volleyball's Harper Murray notes differences in John Cook and Dani Busboom Kelly's coaching approach

John Cook, Harper Murray and Dani Busboom Kelly; All sources - Getty

Nebraska Volleyball's Harper Murray discussed the differences in the coaching styles of former Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook and his successor, Dani Busboom Kelly. Murray will embark on the 2025 Volleyball season as a junior middle blocker.

Harper Murray has had an impressive career trajectory in Nebraska. In her freshman year in 2023, she made the AVCA All-America Third Team and achieved the Big Ten Freshman of the Year honor. She continued her excellence in her sophomore season, bagging her second All-America honor among other accolades. Her performance at the 2024 Regional finals named her the NCAA Lincoln Regional Most Outstanding Player.

As she concluded her sophomore season with a loss against Penn State in the semi-finals, Murray and her team bid farewell to their coach, John Cook. After serving 25 years in the Nebraska program, Cook passed the coaching role to former Cornhusker Dani Busboom Kelly.

In a recent press conference, Murray noted the differences in coaching styles between Cook and Kelly. She said that her former mentor was stricter with the routines, while Kelly is open to trying new things. However, their basics are similar.

"Dani still has things pretty structured, but, you know, just the way she goes about the order of things and the way she teaches things are a little bit different, but I would say practices are still pretty similar. The basics are the same, some of the drills are pretty similar, but she does mix things up a little bit more than Coach. I think Coach was more a routine type of guy and stuck to that, and Dani mixes up a little bit, but for the most part, I would say it's pretty similar."

Murray and her fellow Huskers concluded the 2025 Beach Volleyball season with wins over Santa Barbara, Moore Park, and the Master's.

Nebraska Volleyball's Harper Murray recently attended a meet-and-greet event at Great Lakes Volleyball

Nebraska Volleyball's Murray at the 2024 Division I Women's Volleyball Semifinals - (Source: Getty)

Murray, one of the most promising players in Nebraska, has been inspiring thousands with her prowess on the court and beyond. Recently, she attended her meet-and-greet event at Great Lakes, in partnership with Adidas.

In a post by Great Lakes Instagram, the Nebraska Volleyball player was seen spending time with young players and posing for selfies. The post expressed gratitude to Murray for being such a motivation for the players, captioning:

"We know everyone was excited to see Harper Murray and so were we! Thanks for coming out and encouraging these athletes to continue their dreams playing volleyball!"

Nebraska Volleyball's Murray made her fashion debut last month in a shoot alongside model Kami Buchanan.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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Edited by Agnijeeta Majumder