John Cook

John G. Cook (born April 19, 1956) is a retired American volleyball coach who served as the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's college volleyball team from 2000 to 2024. In twenty-five seasons at Nebraska, He led the Cornhuskers to four national championships (2000, 2006, 2015, 2017) and fifteen conference titles. Prior to Nebraska, Cook served as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers for seven seasons. He earned his 800th career win in 2022, and ranks twelfth all-time in coaching wins in major college volleyball history. Cook is a three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year.

Early life Cook was born and raised in Chula Vista, California. He attended Francis Parker School in San Diego, where he excelled on the basketball team. He went on to play college basketball for the San Diego Toreros, but left the team when the program moved up to NCAA Division I.

While still coaching at Parker, Cook served as the head assistant coach at UC San Diego in 1983 and 1984, where he aided the Tritons to a second-place national finish in 1983 and an NCAA Division III national championship the next year. He was hired as an assistant coach at Nebraska in 1989.

Wisconsin Cook was hired as Wisconsin's fifth full-time head coach in 1992, and three years later won the program's second National Invitational Volleyball Championship. He was named Big Ten Co-Coach of the Year and AVCA District 2 Coach of the Year after leading the Badgers to a share of the 1997 Big Ten title and school-record 30–3 record. The Badgers advanced to a postseason tournament in each of Cook's final six years at the school, including five NCAA Division I tournament appearances. Cook coached four All-Americans, nine AVCA All-District award winners, and eleven All-Big Ten honorees during his tenure at UW. Cook accepted an assistant coaching position at Nebraska following the 1998 season, with the understanding he would succeed the retiring Terry Pettit in 2000. Cook departed Wisconsin as the school's all-time wins leader, with a record of 161–73 across seven seasons.

Nebraska Cook succeeded Terry Pettit as the head coach at Nebraska in 2000; NU went 34–0 and won its second national championship in Cook's first season. Over the following twenty-four years he guided the Cornhuskers to national titles in 2006, 2015, 2017, with seven other national semifinal appearances. Nebraska reached the NCAA tournament in each season of Cook's tenure, without exiting the national top twenty-five. Cook was named AVCA Division I National Coach of the Year in 2000, 2005, and 2023 and won seven conference coach of the year awards at NU across the Big 12 and Big Ten. He was awarded the USA Volleyball All-Time Great Coach Award in 2008 and was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2017.

Cook coached three AVCA National Players of the Year – Greichaly Cepero in 2000, Christina Houghtelling in 2005, and Sarah Pavan in 2006. In 2023, Cook was instrumental in the planning and coordination of Volleyball Day in Nebraska at Memorial Stadium, a record-setting outdoor event with a recorded attendance of 92,003.

Cook retired in January 2025 and assisted in the selection of Dani Busboom Kelly, a Nebraska native and former player and assistant under Cook, as his successor.

Personal life Cook is the great-grandson of Hazel Goes Cook, an early settler of Chula Vista, California. He and his wife Wendy, a former two-time All-America setter at San Diego State, are the parents of daughter Lauren and son Taylor. They own a horse named Bud. Lauren was the starting setter for UCLA during her freshman season in 2009, and garnered National Freshman of the Year honors before transferring to Nebraska and finishing her college career there.

Head coaching record College

Awards and honors

Single-season awards AVCA Division I Central Region Coach of the Year: 1997, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2016, 2023 AVCA National Coach of the Year: 2000, 2005, 2023 Big Ten Coach of the Year: 1997 (co), 2016, 2017, 2023 Big 12 Coach of the Year: 2001, 2005, 2008, 2010 Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year: 2008

Career awards USA Volleyball All-Time Great Coach (2008) AVCA Hall of Fame (2017)

Career achievements 4 national championships 8 national finals 12 national semifinals 14 conference championships 23 top-ten finishes 66 All-Americans coached