Nebraska’s administrators moved quickly to ensure a smooth transition from John Cook to Dani Busboom Kelly after the legendary coach made clear his intention to retire. Part of that transition was the retention of three key people: assistant coaches Jaylen Reyes and Kelly (Hunter) Natter and director of volleyball operations Lindsay “Wisch” Peterson.
Instead of bringing her own staff to Lincoln — especially with her right-hand man, Dan Meske, succeeding her as Louisville’s head coach — she expressed interest in retaining Cook’s assistants, each of whom she already knew well.
“I think Jaylen, Kelly and Lindsay, they love Nebraska, and I think they want to see this team accomplish goals that they’ve set years ago,” Busboom Kelly said during her introductory press conference. “I’d known all of them. Lindsay was actually a volunteer coach when I was a player, and then she was the director of ops when I coached here. Kelly, I coached for most of her career, I think all but one year. And then Jaylen and I have gotten to know each other really well, just out recruiting and working USA camps.
“So I knew that it would be a good fit to keep everybody together, and I think John also helps that too, letting them know that he believes that it would be a good fit. So there really wasn’t much convincing.”
Reyes joined Cook’s staff in 2018 and has served as the team’s recruiting coordinator, defensive coordinator and head beach coach. Nebraska has ranked in the top-10 in opponent hitting in six of Reyes’ seven seasons in Lincoln, and he’s helped elevate Nebraska’s historically strong recruiting profile to new heights.
Natter won two national championships as Nebraska’s starting setter before joining the staff as a graduate assistant in 2019. She spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant before Cook promoted her to a full-time assistant role following the 2021 season. She’s helped Bergen Reilly earn back-to-back Big Ten Setter of the Year awards.
Peterson, a standout defender for the Huskers from 1999 to 2002, has been Nebraska’s director of operations since 2006, handling numerous duties and making sure everything runs smoothly for the program.
“Jaylen, Kelly, Wisch — Nebraska volleyball isn’t Nebraska volleyball without them,” Harper Murray said. “So I know we’re super grateful that they’re still with us, and obviously that is a testament to Dani and Coach’s loyalty to our staff and to our program. I know we’re super lucky to still have them in general, whether it was Dani or Coach or who else. The three of them, under Coach and under Dani now, are the best coaches in the country, and we’re really lucky to have them on our staff.
“I’m super grateful that they’re staying, and I know the rest of the team is, but I think it just really goes to show how much loyalty Dani has to this program and how much trust she has in coach for having them on staff and keeping them here.”
Busboom Kelly still has one open position on her coaching staff, but she said she wants to take her time filling the vacancy.
“There are some amazing people in this program already that have put in some work that could potentially fill that,” Busboom Kelly said. “But I’ve gotten the green light from Troy [Dannen] if we want to make a change or add a staff member that we’ll do that, but I’m not in a hurry.”
While Busboom Kelly knows as much about Nebraska as any prospective coaching hire could, having an infrastructure already in place featuring people who know the ins and outs of the program and what needs to be done is a major asset. Peterson, Reyes and Natter have allowed Busboom Kelly to hit the ground running and focus on what she deems is most important to prepare for the 2025 season.
“It really makes it easier, for a lack of a better word, on the head coach, because you have the staff in place, so immediately I can start right into the team and recruiting,” Busboom Kelly said. “That’s been a philosophy of mine is those two things always come first, the team and recruiting. So I don’t have to worry about little things here and there, because I know the staff is taking care of that, and they’re ready to work, and they want this team to be successful, no matter if it was John or myself as the head coach.
“Just having the team coming back and being so supportive, and getting text messages and just seeing them, and I can feel their smiles and excitement, and I know they’re going to be ready to work and really enjoy a little bit of change.”
Immediately after Cook shared the news, the players retreated to their locker room to discuss the situation. Five minutes later, they emerged and told Cook they were committed to doing whatever they could to support Busboom Kelly.
The transfer portal opens for college athletes for 30 days following any head coaching change. Three weeks after Cook’s retirement announcement, the entire roster is intact with no portal entries.
“I think it obviously shows that we have a very strong team culture, and it’s something that our team really prides ourselves on, is having a good team culture,” Andi Jackson said. “I think it also just shows that we have that ultimate trust, and that’s something that we always talk about and it’s something we worked really, really hard to achieve. We can trust Coach that he’s going to leave us with the best fit possible, and obviously Dani is that for us. So we trust him, all 13 of us do, and we know that she’s going to take us to where we need to go and to win the Big Ten and win national championships.”
Among the 13 players on campus (two more are set to arrive after the semester), four are freshmen who committed to Nebraska under Cook’s leadership but won’t get the opportunity to play for him. During the team meeting, the veterans made sure to check on Campbell Flynn, Teraya Sigler, Ryan Hunter and Keri Leimbach to make sure they were OK.
“We understood that because they committed to Coach and they thought they were coming here to play under coach,” Reilly said. “He’s a legend, everyone would love to say that they played under him, and we understood that. So we kind of just said that right away, and we said, ‘We’re here for you guys, you can come hang out at me and Harper’s apartment, Whatever you guys need, we’re here for you.’ …
“I think we all kind of understood that they were in a really tough place, and just wrapping our arms around them and telling them that we’re going to get through it together. They all immediately were just committed to Dani, even though they were really upset. So just again, it shows the culture of our team and the kind of people that Coach and Jaylen and Kelly recruit. Everyone loves Nebraska even before they’ve even played here.”
Making the transition even more difficult is the departures of multi-year captains Lexi Rodriguez and Merritt Beason. Not only did the team lose its head coach, it also lost its player leaders to graduation as well. Embracing the freshmen is just one way the class of juniors-to-be is helping to fill the leadership void.
“We are upperclassmen, and the freshmen are going to be looking to us to uphold that culture and hold those roles and be there for them,” Jackson said. “So now with this big shift, I don’t think it changes that. I just think that there’s just a small addition to it, but we’re still going to keep all the same things, and we’re going to still work super hard to uphold what generations before us have built, and Lexi and Merrit worked so hard to upkeep and just continue to do what Nebraska volleyball does, and represent ourselves in a way that we should represent the program and the women that came before us and now how we should represent Dani.”
With much of the initial transition complete, the next step for the Huskers is to get back on the volleyball court — one filled with sand. The beach season begins on Friday.
