On Sunday evening, Jordan Larson and her USA Volleyball teammates in Poland celebrated clinching a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Less than 11 sleepless hours later, she was on a plane, departing to begin the next phase of her life.
The trip included an early morning flight from Warsaw to Munich, Germany, where she missed her connecting flight. She eventually made it to Chicago, then to Omaha, then to Lincoln. On Tuesday afternoon, she stepped onto the practice court at the Devaney Center to truly begin her Husker coaching career.
“It’s great,” Larson said after practice on Wednesday. “Obviously, I was in earlier on in the summer a little bit and then kind of periodically, so I’ve had a good relationship. So it seems pretty seamless coming back in. Just watching from afar, it’s been really fun and they’re doing a great job. So just trying to be as best as I can for them. Just a great group of girls and excited to be back.”
While Larson’s official in-person coaching stint didn’t begin until this week, she’s been in contact with the players since she made the decision to join Coach John Cook’s staff. Larson has been offering feedback to the outside hitters in particularly while she’s been away with the national team. She believes great coaching begins with a great relationship and she wanted the players to know she has their backs, even when she’s not physically present.
“It’s been really great,” junior outside hitter Lindsay Krause said. “It was something that she wanted to establish before she even got here. She’s been doing a great job of keeping in touch with us, watching game and practice video and texting us, ‘Hey, I saw this here,’ FaceTiming us. While we were in Brazil, she was doing the same thing of just really wanting to be a presence in our lives and build that connection before she actually got here because she knew she wasn’t going to be able to get here until the Big Ten season.”
The third full-time assistant coach is a new position in college volleyball and Larson is jumping in midseason, meaning her integration is a work in progress. Even so, Cook is excited to have her experience and expertise in the gym for the Huskers to lean on, especially in his favorite part of the game: passing.
“We’re still searching for a little clarity and I think it’s going to be kind of adapt and adjust as we go and just kind of what they feel like the team needs,” Larson said. “I think I still have a lot to learn as well, so I’m kind of just adding where I can, but also for me, less is more, so just kind of observing and then kind of adding few nuggets here and there. But also they’ve been in a groove, so just kind of going along for the ride and seeing where I can help.”
While they’re still ironing out specific responsibilities, the plan is for Larson to work with the pin-hitters, spending some time with both the outsides and opposites, but primarily on the left. Krause is excited about the impact the implementation of a third full-time assistant position can have for the players and other coaches alike.
“I think it’s going to be really great,” Krause said. “We’re each going to have pretty much our own specific position coach. The setters have Kelly [Hunter], the outsides have Jordan, the ‘beros and middles have Jaylen [Reyes], and then I think Coach will be able to, I think, relax a little bit because he’ll be able to kind of loosen the reins and realize that each position has a very skilled, knowledgeable coach coaching them and he’ll be able to focus more on bigger picture stuff.”
Larson’s addition gives Nebraska a well-rounded coaching staff featuring a mix of different experiences and expertise, and the newbie is looking forward to continuing to learn from her fellow assistants.
“I think it’s a great coaching staff so far,” Larson said. “Obviously I played with Kelly for a little bit of time and I know Jaylen’s history as well, so I kind of lean on them. They know how John works too, so it’s kind of how I can fit in and and what I can help them with as well? So they’ve been great and obviously Jaylen is great recruiter. It’s been fun to kind of also learn from them and kind of understand their perspective and what’s got them here today as well.”
Larson has been following the team from afar while she’s been away, watching the Huskers win their first 11 games and rising to No. 2 in the latest coaches poll. Now she’s excited to join the fold and provide hands-on coaching and in-person feedback.
“We’re feisty, we’re edgy, we compete hard,” Larson said. “We come in with a great mindset and it’s been really fun to watch. Obviously just kind of being in it behind the scenes, I think most of my life has been on the playing side, so seeing it from the coaching side, it’s been fun to kind of learn that perspective as well.”
As for the outside hitters in particular, Larson said she’s been impressed with their physicality, their mindsets and their ability to see the game at a really high level.
“Obviously, some of them have USA experience as well, so they’ve seen other countries and how they play, which I think is really important,” Larson said. “And just, I think, open to learning. Being learners of the game and not having this mentality of ‘I’ve arrived,’ so I think it’s really important.”
As someone who grew up in Nebraska idolizing Larson, Krause said the Governor’s longevity and determination to become the best throughout her career will be a great example for the players on the team now to learn from every day in practice as well as for other young volleyball players to look up to.
“I think it’s just so special to realize that the culture of Nebraska hasn’t appeared in the last five or 10 years, it’s been here since Jordan played, since everybody in the 1980s played,” Krause said. “It’s been something that we’ve had here for such a long time. So I think having her, who was on the team 18, 19 years ago, and then coming back and still having it be such a rich program and have such the vision for young Nebraska girls and that it’s still like it was when she played, I think that’s something that’s been really cool for me, really cool for her to see, for everybody.”
After a grueling stretch of seven matches in nine days in Poland, Larson said she’s taking a week or so off to recover before getting back in the weight room. She’s not planning to simply stand on the sidelines and say a few words here and there; she’ll likely jump in a little bit and spend some time on the court showing the younger Huskers how it’s done. Larson wants to stay in shape because she’s planning to sign with a professional team in the spring to stay star for the Olympics.
For now, though, it’s Coach Jordan, and Cook is excited to have one of the program’s greatest players back in the mix.
“I’m fired up,” Cook said. “She’s another Husker, she’s a great player, she wants to be a coach, she wants to be at Nebraska, she’s very passionate about coaching. And so that that energy and that fire, whatever you want to call it, is contagious and I’m excited to be around somebody that’s really passionate about Nebraska volleyball. It’s just going to help build our energy, build our culture, all those things, and she’s got a lot of wisdom to tap into a lot. She’s got experiences none of us have.”
