John Cook gets a raise, NU gets a commitment from Cook that he's not slowing down

[knapplc]

Good article here from Brent Wagner of the LJS about Cook, volleyball salaries, and the program's future.

Cook got a big raise, and NU a commitment that he’s not slowing down

The Nebraska volleyball program is riding along quite nicely again these days — a fourth national championship came in 2015, an NCAA record for average attendance was set the same year and the program is profitable — and coach John Cook was rewarded with a hefty raise this spring.

In return, what Nebraska got from Cook was a commitment that he’s not planning to stop coaching the Huskers any time soon, and that he wants to coach better than he has before. Cook, 60, says he plans to coach at least the five years on his new contract.

Nebraska announced in May that Cook’s annual salary is now $600,000, which was a raise of about $140,000 from his previous salary.

 

 

[Landlord]

It's unlikely, but I'd love to see Cook eventually hand the reigns to Scott Kneifl at Wayne State. DII coach sure, but he could easily have taken several D1 jobs over the last half-decade + if he didn't choose to stick around home. Killer coach, great man, and probably does the most for Nebraska volleyball of anyone outside of the Devaney Center.

[Kiyoat Husker]

I wonder if he is going to "groom" anyone to take over when he retires? Big shoes to fill.

[caveman99]

It's unlikely, but I'd love to see Cook eventually hand the reigns to Scott Kneifl at Wayne State. DII coach sure, but he could easily have taken several D1 jobs over the last half-decade + if he didn't choose to stick around home. Killer coach, great man, and probably does the most for Nebraska volleyball of anyone outside of the Devaney Center.

He is pretty good, but the Creighton coach has quietly turned into a pretty good coach herself. Funny how NE is an oasis of volleyball.

[knapplc]

The Nebraska coaching tree is pretty solidly established after decades of work by Terry Pettit and John Cook. If they want to hire someone from in the family, they could just look down the road to Christy Johnson, head coach at Iowa State. CJ is a Nebraska grad, led the Huskers to their first-ever National Championship in 1995, and built the Cyclones program from nothing into a Big XII contender.

 

Other names on the list: Craig Skinner, Lizzy Stemke, Nate Ngo.... and I'm missing probably half a dozen. There are a lot of coaches/asst coaches out there with Nebraska ties.

[GBRFAN]

This team is loaded right now, based on last years seniors and what they add this year - they should be more talented then the previous year. Cook has this thing running in the right direction and when he retires the list will be long of interested candidates.

[hastingshusker]

Don't forget that former player Dani Busboom Kelly is on staff and is quite the recruiter.