Lauren Cook is leaving UCLA

Todd Henrichs has a blow-by-blow account of the presser here.

Sounds like there's nothing going on at Banachowskiville, just that Cook wasn't happy there. I don't know if I buy into that. It's just unfathomable that she would go to UCLA without checking to see if her major was offered there. Baffling.

I think there's more to this story, but bottom line is, I don't care - I'm just glad Lauren is playing here in Lincoln.

I can't imagine how loud the ovation is going to be for her when she steps on the court for the first time.

 
Seems she got her release from UCLA (no reason not to, really). She'll watch Sidney next season and we'll see what happens next season as Lauren and Kristen can fight it out for starter.

 
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The immediate fallout from this is that UCLA won't be making their trip to Lincoln this season:

That’s when John Cook first knew that the situation was not good. Lauren Cook returned to UCLA for the start of classes last week but stayed only three days. Her meeting with UCLA coach Andy Banachowski lasted only a few minutes.
Banachowski declined comment on Wednesday, when the Journal Star first reported that Lauren Cook had left the team. Since then, he has not returned messages.

John Cook said Monday that he hasn’t spoken directly with UCLA’s coach. Banachowski did send an e-mail message saying that the Bruins would not be participating in next year’s Players’ Challenge at Nebraska, as scheduled.
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GM_Tood said:
Wow...that came out of nowhere...wonder what is going on there? hmmm...
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I think it's nothing more than the fact that Banachowski has been doing that gig for 43 years. It's time to go, and I would be surprised if there was anything untoward going on.

It'll be sad to see him go. I've had the pleasure of watching his teams play a few times over the years. He's a heck of a coach. A pillar of the volleyball world.

 
knapplc said:
GM_Tood said:
Wow...that came out of nowhere...wonder what is going on there? hmmm...
Click to expand...
I think it's nothing more than the fact that Banachowski has been doing that gig for 43 years. It's time to go, and I would be surprised if there was anything untoward going on.

It'll be sad to see him go. I've had the pleasure of watching his teams play a few times over the years. He's a heck of a coach. A pillar of the volleyball world.
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Yeah, I hear ya. It is a shame to see one of the all-time great coaches step aside..and like you said, it's more than likely just his time to spend time with the family now. Now the wait to see who they get to replace him...what a nice gig to get!

/edit fer speileing. lol

 
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Hard to know for sure what's going on, but John Cook seemed genuinely surprised by the announcement so I doubt that had anything at all to do with Lauren's transfer. If anything, Cook and Gil transferring out of UCLA may have just been the final straw for Andy and he decided he had enough.

I did find it interesting that Andy made the comment that he believed his longtime assistant (Kim Jagd) would not be considered for the head coaching job. So there's no telling what's going on. It has been a long time since UCLA won a PAC-10 title though.

Whatever the reasons for the timing of his announcement, Andy Banachowski is a volleyball legend and has greatly contributed to the sport. He will be missed.

The Bruins should look at Christy Johnson to take his place, IMHO.

 
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What's the story with why she chose UCLA in the first place? I don't follow the volleyball team as much as I would like to, so I am unaware of how it all went down at the beginning.

 
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