John Cook‘s retirement sent ripples through the Nebraska volleyball community. The coach didn’t even complete one year since extending his contract in April 2024. Yet he stepped down on January 30, 2025. To say no one saw it coming would be an understatement. Even Harper Murray and Co. were kept in the dark about their coach’s drastic step. So, the 69-year-old faced a tough choice.

After his discussion with Troy Dannen, Coach Cook knew he would have to face his team. A team that would report for just another day of practice, only to learn their mentor was stepping down for good. “I called in Harper first because I knew that would be the toughest one. I didn’t even finish to get to the T in retirement, and she was very, very emotional,” Cook confessed back in January.

Today, as Nebraska Public Media prepares to honor the legendary coach one last time, Harper Murray picked up where Cook left off. “I didn’t know why he wanted me to come to his office. I always get nervous when the coaches want to meet,” Murray told Nebraska Public Media, recalling that moment when she still had no idea. In fact, the 20-year-old thought she’d messed up.

“I just was really upset and kind of shocked. Once I got through that, it was a lot easier to go with a team because I knew that would be the tough one. Based off of our relationship, that’s kind of what needed to happen,” confessed the outside hitter. “Honestly, I’m glad it happened because I don’t know how I would have reacted if I found out in a whole group of people,” she clarified.

Murray also opened up about her “abandonment” issues. She explained that the moment John Cook told her he was retiring, she thought he was abandoning her. However, those were just fleeting thoughts that came to her in a state of shock. She eventually realized that Coach Cook needed this. What’s more? Cook has stuck around.

A father figure to Harper Murray

Despite officially retiring as Nebraska’s head coach, John Cook hasn’t left Murray’s side. Whether it was farewell events or attending his first PVF game, Murray and Cook had done it together. After all, Murray and the former head coach share a special bond. “Their relationship is probably, over the years, is one of the most true forms of kind of a father-daughter relationship that I’ve seen,” said Director of Nebraska Volleyball Lindsay Peterson.

When Harper Murray was at the lowest point in her life last year, Cook shielded her from calls to drop the outside hitter from the team. The 4x NCAA title coach didn’t give up even when she landed in legal trouble. And it’s the gratitude she feels that’s shaped and strengthened their bond. So it’s no wonder that John Cook felt telling Murray would be the toughest challenge.

“Never in a million years would I have thought that our relationship would have such a big impact on my life. He stuck by my side and was there for me when I felt like no one else was,” she wrote in her farewell message to Coach Cook. However, six months after John Cook’s retirement and Dani Busboom Kelly taking over as head coach, Murray can now see why he did it.

John Cook had nothing left to prove after winning nearly every NCAA and AVCA award under the sun. The veteran coach believed it was time for a fresh approach for Nebraska to win another title. Speaking to HuskerOnline at the Big Ten Volleyball media days, that’s exactly what Harper Murray said. She now sees the change the Huskers needed.