How John Cook went from a California kid to a Nebraska cowboy and coaching legend

The changing of the guard is well underway for the University of Nebraska volleyball program.

Practice starts Thursday. It will be the first season this century when someone other than John Cook will coach and lead the program.

Cook, a four-time national champion coach who retired in January, now spends more time on his acreage in Wyoming.

At his home near the border of Idaho, the three tallest peaks of the Grand Teton Mountains are visible from Cook’s backyard. A couple of turns down a gravel road, Cook’s friend Junie Fuchs coaches John and his son Taylor during calf roping practice.

The retired volleyball coach is at the bottom of the totem pole in rodeo circles, Fuchs said.

“It's interesting, like in Nebraska, John is a big deal. I mean, he's great. He's the GOAT,” Fuchs said. “But around here, he's got to shovel horse poop like everybody else.”

The chores remind Cook of “the old days.” He’s talking about coaching volleyball before managers and staff were hired to take care of the details.

“When I first started coaching, I would be down [on the court] setting up the nets,” Cook said. “I would be putting stuff away. I'd be pumping balls up.”

The team hotels for road trips? Cook booked those too. The humble beginnings certainly played a role in his eventual love for rodeo and rural Nebraska.

Sandy beaches to the Sandhills

Cook grew up on the Pacific Ocean beaches around San Diego. He graduated from the University of San Diego. Cook and his wife, Wendy, lived there after college. Soon, the beaches vanished.

“But when we moved to Nebraska, all that kind of went away,” Cook said, “because Nebraska is about as far away from an ocean as you can get in the United States.”

A Nebraska Public Media documentary, The Last Ride with John Cook, will premiere at The Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Cook will also be taking questions at the end of the showing. It will air on Nebraska Public Media for the first time Sunday, Aug. 10 at 7 p.m.

Over time, the California man adjusted to Nebraska.

“I always loved the sand on the beach, and now I love the sand in the Sandhills," he said.

When they lived in San Diego, the couple used to visit Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Cook was a high school teacher and coach at the time. They were living off of thin margins in a rundown part of the city.

But they found rental homes in Steamboat Springs for $100 per month in the summer once the skiers fled, he said.

“That's when we kind of fell in love with the mountains,” Cook said. “Now, it’s all kind of fallen together.”

Steamboat Springs scratched the surface for what the Cook would eventually cherish.

Years later, Cook bought a horse named Bud. The white horse got promoted to volunteer assistant on the Husker Volleyball staff, even earning recognition on the Husker Athletics website.

“And then it just took off from there, the TikToks and the other videos we made,” Cook said.

One social media edit stands out for Cook. When the spring match was in Grand Island, a post from Bud’s account photoshopped a horse trailer attached to the team bus. Former Chancellor Ronnie Green was there.

“And he came up to me and goes ‘Where’s Bud? I thought you were going to ride him into the arena,’” Cook said.

Director of Volleyball Operations Lindsay Peterson took care of Bud on her Lincoln-area acreage. Bud, calf roping and rodeo, turned into a way for him to connect with the public, Cook said.

“It opened up a whole new world for me and for Nebraska volleyball,” the retired coach said.

While meeting people in public, fans call him John today, instead of coach.

“We've created that connection that's very natural,” Cook said. “People just feel really comfortable around me, because I think I have shared a lot of other things outside of Nebraska volleyball.”

Roping and caring for horses was a challenge, too.

As a former ski resort owner, his roping coach started riding horses and roping about 15 years ago, Junie Fuchs said. Eventually the longtime Wyoming resident tried team roping.

Every other sport Fuchs competed in, like skiing, was individual. Team roping is much more complicated, he said.

“There's five brains right there,” Fuchs said. “There's a horse, a rider, a horse, a rider and a cow.”

Roping has a ratings system to match competitors of similar skill level, like a golf handicap. Jackpots are roping events where winners earn the collected entry fees for their skill group.

“I'm at the lowest level of the ropers,” Cook said, “so I will compete with people of my ability and my age at these jackpots.”

Despite how difficult roping can be, Cook has stuck with it. In turn, his relationship with the Sandhills and rural Nebraska grew.

“I had a conversation with a guy who trains horses in Denton, Nebraska,” Cook said. “One of our horses, he actually trained it.”

As another example of his affection for rodeo culture, he invites a group of cowboys to watch Husker volleyball from the coach’s skybox each home match. It became a tradition among other staff members to routinely ask, “Who are the cowboys up there today?” Cook recalled.

No matter who was perched up in the coach’s suite, they always stayed after the game to say thank you, he said.

“It's just western Nebraska,” Cook said. “It’s just how they do things.”

The growing affinity for the Sandhills and western Nebraska helped inspire the annual spring match to venture farther away from Lincoln, Cook said.

The spring scrimmage, usually against a smaller school in the region, brings Husker volleyball closer to fans who may not be able to visit Lincoln for a game, Cook said.

It’s also a message to the fans who travel multiple hours to watch the Big Red.

“By taking our team back out west,” Cook said, “that's our way of saying thank you and we appreciate you and know it's a long drive for some of them to get there.”

Some Husker diehards live hours away, he said.

“I've run into older couples [who] haven't missed a match in 20 years,” Cook said, “and they're living in North Platte, Cozad, Alliance, Thedford.”

One central Nebraska town is always on his mind.

Cook was the grand marshal at the 2024 Burwell Rodeo. As an advisor to the athletic department now, he “wanted to go to Burwell” for the spring match this year, “but Ord had a better setup,” he said.

The Huskers defeated South Dakota State in a four-set sweep, 25-18, 25-19, 25-17 and 25-19. Ord High School drew 1,750 fans, according to Husker Athletics.

Fostering a connection with rural Nebraska isn’t the only benefit of Cook’s rodeo hobby. He’s also learned more about coaching, Cook said. Because horses don’t talk, the longtime volleyball head coach became more literate in nonverbal communication, he said.

“It made me realize how important body language is, and our attitude and our energy when you're working with other people,” Cook said.

This generation of college athletes learns visually, Cook said. With that and his newfound appreciation for social media, Cook got creative. He started sharing inspirational speeches with the team.

“Every day, I would send out some type of motivational video,” Cook said.

In his last few seasons, Cook opened up to the public, media and his players.

Now, the show must go on.

Former Husker volleyball standout and current head coach Dani Busboom Kelly is preparing for the next chapter of Husker volleyball. On Aug. 22, Nebraska will hit the court for its first match of the season vs. 2024 Final Four participant Pittsburgh.

The big match will be a part of the American Volleyball Coaches Association First Serve Showcase at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Cook will be around a bit. He will likely spend much of his time amongst the towering Tetons, practicing calf roping on his new horse, Rev.

As he did with Husker volleyball, Cook will push himself and Rev. His goal is to compete in more jackpots and qualify for the World Series of Team Roping, Cook said.

Although he embraced TikTok toward the end of his career, Cook will surely enjoy his additional time with family, horses and the mountains.

“I think people like being around dirt, horses, animals,” Cook said. “We live in such a technology[-driven] world now, and I mean, I love going out and doing chores.”

Yes, even scooping horse poop.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story said Cook coached high school football. In fact, Cook said he wanted to coach high school football at his former high school. But, he was hired to coach girl's volleyball, where more coaches were needed at the time.