COLUMBUS, Ohio — They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
There’s a picture of Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook from earlier this season that was striking. It came during a three-set loss against Louisville on Sept. 18. Former Husker Dani Busboom Kelly came into Lincoln and beat her mentor pretty good.
Journal Star photographer Eakin Howard took a photo of Cook dropping his notebook to the floor in disappointment, frustration or the like.
A Husker team with three returning All-Americans and the No. 1 recruiting class lost its third straight match. They were each to ranked teams, but Nebraska had lost back-to-back matches at home, and that doesn’t happen very often.
After the loss against Louisville, Cook said, “We did nothing.†Nebraska’s rock bottom is still pretty good, but it was a low point.
There was some grumbling about the job Cook was doing coaching. In the past, Cook has said that criticism doesn’t bother him too much. If nobody cares, they don’t grumble about the volleyball coach, and they care at Nebraska.
Later, Nebraska had a stretch when it lost three of four matches, even after All-American Lauren Stivrins returned from a major back injury.
People questioned Cook’s decision to play freshman Ally Batenhorst at outside hitter over returning All-American Lexi Sun, although Sun had a couple of chances to take the job and wasn’t successful.
What’s the picture now three months after that photo was taken? Late Thursday night — actually Friday morning here — Cook walked off the court and pumped his fist at some of the thousands of Nebraska fans who came here.
Cook has Nebraska back in the national championship match for the seventh time. The No. 10 Huskers play No. 4 Wisconsin on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Nationwide Arena.
In Cook’s 22 seasons as Nebraska coach, the Huskers have played in the national championship match in 32% of the seasons. Remarkable. The Hall of Famer has won four national titles.
After those early losses, Cook and the rest of the staff kept training, kept working with the freshman class to learn how they’d need to get kills in college, kept being patient and waiting for the culture and tradition of the program to pull through.
That culture and tradition includes this scene from Thursday night's win against Pittsburgh. Before the third set, Kennedi Orr came running from the locker room with all of the team’s water bottles. The backup setter was the No. 1 recruit in the nation last year. Now she’s taking care of the water bottles, just like many future All-Americans have done when they were freshmen at Nebraska.
A Nebraska volleyball season looks different than it did 15 years ago when NU was in the Big 12. The Huskers rarely lost during the nonconference season, and they didn’t lose much in the Big 12 either.
Now coaches, and fans, have to stay patient and see what this thing can be when it’s NCAA Tournament time.
“We scheduled tough because in nonconference you better play some tough matches or you'll get blindsided when you get to the Big Ten,†Cook said. “And of course the Big Ten is so tough.â€
The key, Cook said, was that Nebraska learned from those seven regular-season losses.
“We've gotten better, and improved as the season's gone on,†he said. “And we're playing three freshmen. They haven't been through this before. So we use it as learning experiences.â€
Nebraska senior setter Nicklin Hames — a coaches’ kid who may take that path someday as well — said Cook has done a great job this season.
She admires how Cook is always open to learning. She said every day the team came to practice focused on getting better, and that’s a reflection of the coaches.
“He's prepared us and here we are about to play the national championship,†Hames said.
If you look at the season Nebraska had, Hames said, most people wouldn’t have expected Nebraska to be in the championship match.
“Coach got us here,†she said.
Soon after Nebraska's win in the national semifinals, Cook wondered what it was like back in Nebraska when the match ended at about 11:50 p.m. Central.
“I think there are a lot of people heading home from bars and restaurants and churches and wherever else they were watching this all across the state,†Cook said. “There is just a lot of people following this team, and it’s a great Christmas present for Nebraska.â€
The volleyball program has been a huge source of pride for the state, with three appearances in the national championship match in the past five years.
Cook loves that he’s the coach of a team that makes Nebraska proud.
“There's a love affair with Nebraska volleyball, and a love affair with this team,†he said.
Photos: Huskers take on Pittsburgh in Final Four clash in Columbus
Nebraska coach John Cook drops his notebook after the Huskers lose a point during their match against Louisville on Sept. 18 at the Devaney Sports Center. That was Nebraska's third lost match in a row.