Tom Shatel for the Omaha World Herald: Volleyball is the “Type A” program of Husker athletics. Players are great athletes, great students and great philosophers. They are self-starters and self-motivators. They are motivated by success, on the court, off the court and anywhere else you’ll find it.
Most college athletes you talk to give you clichés. When you talk to a Husker volleyball player, it’s like a seminar on attaining goals and achieving a full life.
It starts with head coach John Cook, the Phil Jackson of Nebraska athletics. You ask him if the loss at Texas could be a good thing, and he doesn’t scoff at the question. He embraces it.
This is what Cook does. He has his team read books, each with a specific theme designed to flick a switch. He shows clips from TV shows or movies. Just the other day, he rolled out the “Show me the Money” scene from the movie “Jerry Maguire.”
“They loved it,” Cook said. “The idea was, now it’s time to show me the money.”
Cook is a tactician. If volleyball uses X’s and O’s, he can draw them up. But he spends just as much time pushing buttons and getting his Type A’s to channel their positive energy.
“First of all, we recruit talent,” Cook said. “But we do want a certain type of kid here. They come here because they know they will be pushed to get them to the level where they want to be. They are Type A’s. They’re perfectionists. But sometimes when you have perfectionists, you have to give them perspective. Everything in sports is not perfect. It’s not always going to happen.
“It’s like I was watching the (golf) movie “Bagger Vance” the other day. And it’s like what Bagger Vance says to the golfer: ‘You’ll never win this game. Golf always wins. But it’s a lot of fun trying.’
