KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the moments immediately after the Nebraska volleyball team won a share of the Big Ten Conference championship last month, coach John Cook gave a voice-cracking, emotional speech, declaring to the 8,000 fans soaking in the scene how proud he was of what the Huskers had just accomplished.
In a news conference about 20 minutes later, senior Briana Holman was asked if she was surprised that the emotion of that moment had gotten to Cook. Holman grinned, and laughed.
“No,” she said, “he gets really into it.”
Some fans were surprised with what they were seeing and hearing, thinking of Cook as being more of an all-business coach.