"Former Nebraska players want to continue to give back" - John Cook makes his feelings known on his greatest achievement for volleyball program

Three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, John Cook, recently announced his retirement as head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers women’s volleyball team. Through his heartwarming message to Nebraska, Cook discussed his greatest achievements.

Under the tutelage of Cook, the Nebraska women’s volleyball program achieved multiple accolades, including four National Championship Titles. The team also made 8 NCAA Finals appearances. Cook took to the Huskers' official YouTube channel to share his message, touching upon what his milestone victory was during his 25-year tenure as the head coach.

“If you listen to what to me is the greatest accomplishment of a coach or what you could hope for is having former players come back and work in our program. So Laura Pilakowski, your strength coach. Lindsay Peterson is our director of Ops. Lizzy Stemke, she came and coached at Nebraska. So even though she wasn't a Husker, still a former player, Maggie Griffin coached with us for a while,” he said [5:17 onwards].

Cook continued further:

“Then I hired Kelly Hunter. So to me, I'd always say this is the greatest accomplishment because we've got former players and that tells me they're having a great experience and they want to continue in the sport. They want to continue to give back and the best way to do that is by coaching.”

Cook also led the Nebraska women’s volleyball program to fourteen conference titles. In 2017, he was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame and he is one of the top coaches in wins in collegiate volleyball history.

---

John Cook shares his thoughts on volleyball's growth

John Cook at the 2023 Division I Women's Volleyball Championship - Source: Getty

The four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, John Cook successfully guided the Nebraska Cornhuskers women’s volleyball team during his years as the head coach. In a video shared by the NCAA Championships' YouTube channel, Cook shared his positive outlook regarding the rise of volleyball among other sports.

“So I think this is going to impact a lot of people and and really I mean, there's everybody from the Big Ten's here, Charlie Baker from the NCAA here, and all these people are getting to witness history and I just think it's going to elevate the sport of volleyball even more than and put it on a great trajectory,” John Cook noted [0:26 onwards].

The acclaimed ex-head coach shared his optimistic thoughts after Nebraska broke the world record for attendance in women's sports events. The Memorial Stadium saw a record attendance of 92,003 fans who came to watch the doubleheader.