On January 29, 2025, head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team, John Cook, stepped down from his role after 25 seasons, and 4 national titles, to hand it off to Cornhusker Alum, Dani Busboom.
Friday, August 22 was the first day that Busboom’s coaching abilities were put to the test in the AVCA First Serve Showcase game against Pittsburg at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Under her coaching, she was able to secure her first ever victory as the head coach of Nebraska Volleyball with a 3-1 win.
Busboom didn’t begin her coaching career until 2009, where she was an assistant coach for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. In 2011, she started coaching at her first division one school, the Louisville Cardinals. After going back to become an assistant coach for the Huskers in 2012, Busboom switched back to Louisville to become their head coach for eight seasons. Busboom was able to do great things with the Cardinals and earned herself AVCA East Region Coach of the Year. Busboom even led her team toward an ACC Championship and the furthest in the NCAA tournament as the cardinals had ever been.
“I had a hunch that it would be Dani just after Louisville was so successful the season before,” librarian and volleyball coach at East, Abby Lott said. “It might be more of a cultural change with a different coaching style and different philosophies.”
So far this season, the Huskers haven’t broken their winning streak and are undefeated against all of their opponents. Many volleyball fans were unsure at how well Dani would do filling in the massive shoes of John Cook, but were shocked at the positive results of this season.
“I thought this season would still be good, even with the new coach,,” Rosie Franz, a Lincoln East Sophomore on Varsity Volleyball said. “The Huskers wouldn’t pick someone who didn’t know what they were doing, I thought she would make some changes which could lead to both negative and positive things.”
Even with such a drastic change in coaching staff, many fans have trust in their new coach and are confident that their favorite volleyball team is going to do great things. With some of Busboom's new coaching styles, fans are eager to see if she can take the team to another NCAA championship title.
“One thing I appreciate about Dani’s coaching is she lets the non-starters play. John stuck with his lineup, and when he gave them that spot, they were kind of out there regardless of who the opponent was,” Lott said. “As a fan, I also appreciate knowing who's on the bench and being able to see them play.”
John Cook chose the right person to pass the torch onto. Dani has already achieved plenty of success in just her first month of coaching, and will continue to do so throughout her career. Taking over for someone with as big of a legacy as Cook is hard, but not impossible, and Dani has found her groove and will be ready for anything that is thrown at her.
