“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,” Lindsay Peterson said about Harper Murray and John Cook. So while Cook’s retirement came as a huge shock to the outside hitter, she and Coach Cook remain close. Unsurprisingly, the last time Coach Cook came to Nebraska for the Supernovas’ game, Murray was with him.

Naturally, when the 20-year-old sat for a chat with Hail Varsity, one of the questions that came her way was about John Cook. “So how often do you get to stay in touch with Coach Cook then?” Anna Bellinghausen asked the NLU junior. Murray was more than happy to oblige Bellinghausen with the details. “You know, I texted him last week, if he wanted to get dinner,” she confessed.

Unfortunately, the former Nebraska Huskers head coach had no plans to come down to Lincoln. “He’s in Wyoming doing whatever with his horses. So when he gets back into Lincoln, I’m sure we’ll do something. But yeah, he’s, you know? He’s caught up in being a grandpa right now. He’s focused on that,” Harper Murray said during her exclusive with Hail Varsity.

After all, being there for his grandchildren was one of the key reasons why John Cook retired in the first place. “I got a four-year-old granddaughter now, who asked, ‘When am I going to see you?’… That starts wearing on you a little bit,” the 69-year-old confessed to the Volleyball State Podcast. So it’s no wonder Cook spends most of his time with his grandchildren.

And then there’s Coch Cook’s love for the roping. Despite only going at it regularly for about six months, the former AVCA Coach of the Year has already organized his first roping event in Nebraska. In May, over 250 riders competed in the inaugural John Cook Team Roping Classic for a $180,000 prize. That being said, Murray won’t have to wait too long to reunite with her former coach.

Harper Murray’s former coach will be in town for volleyball business

You can take the legendary coach out of volleyball, but you can’t take volleyball out of Cook. And volleyball has been chasing the national championship-winning coach ever since he retired. Cook even attended the Huskers’ spring matches and made his color commentary debut during Nebraska’s spring match with the Kansas Jayhawks.

While Cook liked the experience, it’s not something he may get time to pursue full-time. That’s because something Cook may have never imagined happened recently, when he joined the Omaha Supernovas as their general manager and part-owner. This was especially surprising because Coach Cook attended his first Supernovas game with Harper Murray in March of this year.

The news came shortly after the Pro Volleyball League and Major League Volleyball’s $325 million merger. “After more than 30 years of coaching, I knew I wanted the next chapter to be just as impactful, and becoming the general manager of the Omaha Supernovas is exactly that opportunity,” the Nebraska Huskers coach for 25 seasons said on social media.

Needless to say, he’s excited to be a part of pro volleyball. “I’ve spent my career helping grow the game at the college level, and now I have the chance to take that knowledge and apply it in a new way,” said John Cook. So, it’s only a matter of time before GM Cook reunites with Harper Murray.