Nebraska volleyball head coach John Cook has retired, he announced on Wednesday evening.

Cook, a coaching legend and widely considered to be one of the greatest volleyball coaches in the sport's history, spent 25 seasons at Nebraska. During his tenure, Cook led the Huskers to four national championships and won more matches than any Division I volleyball coach this century.

“I’ve been here for 25 years. That’s a long time to do something. It’s been a great run,” Cook said in a statement announcing his retirement. “I want to thank my family for their support, and I want to thank Bill Byrne and Terry Pettit for giving me the opportunity to be the Nebraska volleyball coach. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great coaches and staff over the years, and I’m forever grateful for how hard they worked and for how much they gave to Nebraska volleyball."

Cook spent 32 years as a college head coach — seven years at Wisconsin and 25 at Nebraska. Since taking over the Huskers' program in 2000, Cook guided Nebraska to four national championships, 12 NCAA Semifinals appearances, nine Big 12 titles and five Big Ten titles.

Cook achieved a career record of 883-176 (.834), the fifth-best winning percentage all-time for a Division I volleyball coach. Cook's record of 722-103 at Nebraska is the best winning percentage (.875) for any D-I program over the last 25 years.

Under Cook's watch, Nebraska produced five Olympians, a Honda-Broderick Cup winner, three AVCA Division I National Players of the Year, 72 AVCA All-Americans, three Academic All-Americans of the Year, 25 Academic All-Americans and 10 conference players of the year. Nebraska volleyball student-athletes combined for 88 all-conference awards and 155 academic all-conference honors in Cook's program.

Cook was a three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year, earning the prestigious honor in 2000, 2005 and 2023. Cook was also an eight-time conference coach of the year, including his selection as Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1997 (at Wisconsin), 2016, 2017 and 2023. He was honored in 2008 by USA Volleyball, receiving its All-Time Great Coach Award. In 2017, Cook was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame.

Cook was also instrumental in helping to build and grow the sport's popularity. Perhaps no move was more impactful than being at the forefront of the creation and operation of Volleyball Day in Nebraska – the historic event on Aug. 30, 2023 when Nebraska broke the world record for attendance at a women's sporting event with 92,003 fans packing Memorial Stadium. At the time of that landmark day, the Huskers had been involved in nine of the 10 highest-attended volleyball matches in NCAA history, and they remain in that upper echelon by being involved in 10 of the 15 most-attended matches in NCAA volleyball history.

"For me personally, the greatest accomplishment in coaching is seeing former players go into coaching or other careers and taking the lessons they’ve learned from being a Nebraska volleyball player and applying it to their everyday lives," Cook said. "There is no greater reward in coaching than that. Lastly and most importantly, I want to thank the fans for always supporting Nebraska volleyball. I’ve always said to ‘Dream Big’, and we’ve dreamed bigger than any volleyball program in the history of the world.”

Shortly after the news of Cook's retirement, Nebraska announced that it has hired Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly to take over for Cook.

Kelly, a former Husker national championship player and assistant coach, has spent the last eight years building Louisville into a national power. The Cardinals have reached two NCAA Championship matches, three NCAA Semifinals, five regional finals and four ACC titles.

“We are excited to welcome Dani and her family back to Lincoln to continue our tradition of excellence in our volleyball program,” Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen said in a statement. “She has demonstrated outstanding leadership at the highest levels of the sport and I am confident that our program will remain among the nation’s elite for years to come. This is a special place that needs an exceptional coach, and we have her. Welcome to Dani and her family!”

Busboom Kelly has agreed to a six-year contract with Nebraska. She will be formally introduced as the Huskers’ head coach on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The welcome event will be open to the public, with an introductory press conference to follow.

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