Go Big Grad | Coach John Cook

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04/24/2020 Added

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Husker Head Volleyball Coach John Cook has inspiring words for the class of 2020. These are Coach's extended remarks. An edited version appears in the television show.

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[00:00:00.228](piano music)
[00:00:03.800]Today is one of the greatest honors of my life
[00:00:06.230]to be with the class of 2020 on their graduation date
[00:00:08.974]from the University of Nebraska.
[00:00:11.200]Sometimes, through crisis comes opportunity.
[00:00:14.180]We are not gonna let this virus take away
[00:00:16.490]from making this day special.
[00:00:18.580]You all have accomplished something great.
[00:00:21.490]Think of it this way
[00:00:22.660]You've scored the winning touchdown,
[00:00:24.410]you've made the final kill to win a big match,
[00:00:27.020]you've scored the winning basket,
[00:00:28.840]you've hit the walk-off home run.
[00:00:30.950]Today is a special day.
[00:00:32.880]Both of my kids graduated from the University of Nebraska.
[00:00:36.700]It was awesome to be there and watch them go through that.
[00:00:39.980]However, the speakers, I don't remember who they were.
[00:00:44.580]So today, my goal is to make this day really special,
[00:00:48.180]and you will take something away from this talk.
[00:00:50.720]And let me just start by saying how special this day is.
[00:00:54.020]The only time I ever saw my dad cry
[00:00:56.090]was the day I graduated from college.
[00:00:58.630]When the chancellor asked me to speak today,
[00:01:02.020]at first I'm like, "Are you kidding me?"
[00:01:05.087]"You want a volleyball coach to talk at graduation?"
[00:01:08.150]So, then I started thinking about it,
[00:01:09.610]why would the chancellor ask me to talk at graduation?
[00:01:12.522]So here are some of the reasons I came up with.
[00:01:15.440]Well, the first one is I'm a first-gen graduate.
[00:01:18.480]Both my parents were in high school when I was born.
[00:01:21.433]The thought of college never even came up
[00:01:24.130]until a coach took me aside and said,
[00:01:25.907]"Hey I think you can go to college and do something great."
[00:01:29.000]Maybe it's because we Bleed Husker.
[00:01:31.200]Maybe it's because both my kids graduated
[00:01:33.270]from the University of Nebraska and I paid a lot of tuition.
[00:01:35.810]I may be called a coach,
[00:01:37.290]but I'm still a teacher.
[00:01:39.920]Maybe it's because Nebraska volleyball
[00:01:41.520]has a 100% graduation rate.
[00:01:45.160]Maybe it's because you, as freshmen, started your first day
[00:01:48.750]in Nebraska in Devaney with the chancellor
[00:01:51.760]and all professors in freshman orientation.
[00:01:54.437](crowd chanting)
[00:01:56.970]Or maybe it was because of this story, Jen Saleaumua.
[00:02:00.650]She was a Samoan girl I recruited
[00:02:02.340]from Chula Vista California.
[00:02:04.740]She was the first person in her family
[00:02:06.950]to go to college.
[00:02:08.160]It was a big deal, she barely made it in.
[00:02:11.170]But the story is this.
[00:02:12.540]I promised her and her family,
[00:02:14.230]there was over about 50 people when I went
[00:02:16.250]to visit her.
[00:02:17.850]I promised her that I would be at her graduation
[00:02:20.340]when she graduated from the University of Nebraska.
[00:02:23.690]Well, in 2006, we were playing for the National Championship
[00:02:27.070]on the same day as the graduation day.
[00:02:30.680]And the night before
[00:02:32.150]I became really sick with the stomach flu,
[00:02:35.270]and that morning of graduation
[00:02:37.470]and of playing for the National Championship in Omaha
[00:02:40.720]I had to get IVs but I still was gonna keep my promise.
[00:02:44.760]I got in the back of a car
[00:02:46.300]and Lindsay Peterson, my director of ops,
[00:02:48.410]drove me down to graduation,
[00:02:50.110]I went through graduation with her
[00:02:52.770]got to congratulate her and her family
[00:02:55.800]and kept my promise and went back to Omaha
[00:02:58.070]and coached in the National Championship match.
[00:03:02.510]Maybe that's why the chancellor
[00:03:03.940]wants a volleyball coach to speak today.
[00:03:06.920]We have a saying here.
[00:03:08.500]There's no place like Nebraska.
[00:03:11.100]And I just want you guys to know today
[00:03:13.780]there's a lot of people working really hard
[00:03:15.960]to make this day special.
[00:03:17.900]Even though with all of the challenge that we have.
[00:03:20.260]So don't forget that, there is no place like Nebraska.
[00:03:23.760]I wanna give a shout-out to the history majors.
[00:03:26.010]That was my major.
[00:03:27.160]It helped me get through college
[00:03:28.360]and into my coaching career.
[00:03:30.940]It also allowed me to teach geography
[00:03:32.531]so let's give a shout-out to geography majors.
[00:03:35.400]I taught seventh grade geography.
[00:03:37.450]It was awesome.
[00:03:38.290]It should be in every school in America.
[00:03:41.190]And I also wanna shout-out to the future teachers
[00:03:44.140]because you guys are gonna prove what I call the 60% rule.
[00:03:47.640]Over the last 20 years I have studied our rosters
[00:03:52.110]and 60% of our student athletes, a mom or a dad
[00:03:55.120]was a teacher or a coach.
[00:03:56.560]This is so important because when your mom or dad
[00:03:59.550]is a teacher or coach, you grow up learning
[00:04:02.490]it's about somebody else besides you.
[00:04:04.630]It's about making a difference, it's about giving back.
[00:04:07.750]You're parents aren't doing it because they wanna make money
[00:04:11.470]they're doing it because they wanna make a difference.
[00:04:13.500]And I really believe that's one of the reasons
[00:04:16.100]Nebraska volleyball has had such a great team culture
[00:04:19.690]because it's about Nebraska volleyball,
[00:04:21.640]it's not about one person.
[00:04:23.610]So again, because these parents are teachers and coaches,
[00:04:26.210]they've had a major impact on our student athletes
[00:04:29.090]who have had a major impact on Nebraska volleyball.
[00:04:32.160]Today, I also wanna share some coaching secrets with you.
[00:04:35.710]Let's keep these between you and I.
[00:04:37.610]I don't want this to get out.
[00:04:38.730]And then there's any other schools in the big 10.
[00:04:41.470]These are our secrets.
[00:04:42.690]The first one is the attitude of gratitude.
[00:04:44.940]Take this with you.
[00:04:46.200]I learned about the importance of this with Chick-fil-A
[00:04:49.080]when our players were camped out to go to the first opening
[00:04:52.100]of the Chick-fil-A and Lincoln.
[00:04:53.380]I'm like, "What is this place?
[00:04:55.007]"I'd never heard of it."
[00:04:56.170]And what I found out is it's one of the most successful
[00:04:59.760]franchises in America and the reason
[00:05:01.780]it is because when you go in there,
[00:05:03.140]they make you feel appreciated.
[00:05:05.010]What do they say?
[00:05:05.843]They say it's my pleasure.
[00:05:08.270]Take that through life.
[00:05:09.860]It's my pleasure show everybody you come in contact
[00:05:12.540]with the attitude of gratitude.
[00:05:14.270]It makes a huge difference.
[00:05:15.810]The second secret I wanna share with you is the longer
[00:05:19.100]I coach, the less I know, my first year, we went undefeated
[00:05:22.453]won the National Championship.
[00:05:24.760]I thought I knew everything about coaching.
[00:05:27.410]20 years later, I learned more and last year about coaching
[00:05:30.620]than I did in the previous 19 because I'm open to learning.
[00:05:34.610]It makes it fun.
[00:05:36.220]You grow on the journey that you're going through
[00:05:38.980]with your team, and also prevents burnout
[00:05:41.580]because I'm always learning and trying to get better.
[00:05:44.900]The longer I coach, the less I know, take that with you.
[00:05:48.670]The next secret is a great story I used to tell
[00:05:51.110]to my seventh grade boys basketball team,
[00:05:53.010]the first team I coached.
[00:05:55.070]And it was a story about the greatest civilization
[00:05:58.420]and the leaders of this civilization
[00:06:00.120]want to pass down generation to generation
[00:06:03.490]why they were so successful.
[00:06:05.600]So they had the smartest guys write it all down
[00:06:08.380]and they got it down to one sentence.
[00:06:10.340]And that one sentence was, there ain't no free lunch,
[00:06:13.680]nobody's gonna give you anything, you're gonna go out
[00:06:16.390]and have to earn it and work for it.
[00:06:18.460]There ain't no free lunch.
[00:06:20.740]And the next secret.
[00:06:22.900]I've studied the most successful coaches
[00:06:24.860]and the successful business people.
[00:06:27.140]And they all have one thing in common, a team within a team.
[00:06:31.300]They surround themselves with a group of people
[00:06:33.550]that are gonna help them be the best they can be.
[00:06:36.050]These are trusted advisors, people they can rely on
[00:06:39.020]and go to and seek counsel.
[00:06:40.930]I have a team within my team.
[00:06:43.130]I encourage you all to surround yourself with a group
[00:06:45.550]of people that can help you be the best you can be.
[00:06:48.090]And finally, the last secret I wanna share
[00:06:50.470]with you today is about trust.
[00:06:53.510]And this is a story about Danny Mancuso, where we came up
[00:06:56.880]with dream like a champion.
[00:06:58.770]And Danny Mancuso was as a player on our 2016,
[00:07:01.890]from Omaha, Nebraska, and we were getting ready to play
[00:07:05.020]Stanford for the National Championship,
[00:07:08.010]and we were underdogs.
[00:07:09.660]And the night before we showed them the movie
[00:07:11.857]"Miracle On Ice"
[00:07:12.910]about the 1980 hockey team, because we were underdogs.
[00:07:15.780]I knew we were gonna have to have that mindset.
[00:07:18.830]So that team beat the Russians who were had never lost.
[00:07:23.160]So we showed it to them,
[00:07:24.100]and at 2:14 in the morning, I get a text from her.
[00:07:26.950]It says, coach, dream big dream like a champion.
[00:07:31.060]Not only did she send that text to me, she sent it
[00:07:33.360]to the entire team.
[00:07:34.710]And at that moment, I knew we were gonna win.
[00:07:37.300]Because if she had that much confidence
[00:07:39.500]that she could send out that text.
[00:07:42.360]I knew our team is gonna be in a great place.
[00:07:44.430]We went on the next day to beat Stanford in Florida
[00:07:46.667]for the National Championship.
[00:07:49.020]Dream big dream like a champion.
[00:07:51.810]Every day there's three questions I ask myself.
[00:07:54.880]The first one is who needs me today?
[00:07:58.760]Every day, I wake up somebody is gonna need me,
[00:08:00.920]I got to figure out who that person is
[00:08:02.700]and take care of them.
[00:08:03.670]It could be in my family, it could be our team.
[00:08:06.240]Somebody needs me every day.
[00:08:08.680]The second question I asked myself, if they were hiring
[00:08:11.800]a volleyball coach at Nebraska today, would I be doing
[00:08:14.780]a good enough job that they would wanna hire me?
[00:08:17.720]I gotta do that every day so I know
[00:08:20.570]that I'm getting it done.
[00:08:22.100]And they still want me to be the coach in Nebraska.
[00:08:24.630]And the third question I asked myself every day
[00:08:27.400]is this, would I wanna be coached by me?
[00:08:31.580]And there's some days I don't do a good enough job.
[00:08:34.080]I know my players leave, and they don't wanna come back.
[00:08:38.200]So my goal each day, am I doing a good enough job coaching
[00:08:41.150]my team and working with my staff,
[00:08:43.580]that they wanna come back and be coached the next day?
[00:08:47.250]I think those three questions are really great question
[00:08:49.610]to ask yourself every day, whatever field
[00:08:51.770]you're gonna go into.
[00:08:54.410]And the other thing you're gonna have to figure out
[00:08:56.000]is what is your why?
[00:08:57.480]Ask yourself what is your why?
[00:08:59.240]What is gonna inspire you to be great,
[00:09:01.590]to go do great things and to get up every day
[00:09:04.440]and get after it.
[00:09:05.810]And I wanna tell you a story that kinda illustrates
[00:09:08.846]the importance of somebody's why.
[00:09:11.580]In 2008, we were playing in the regional finals
[00:09:15.240]at Washington, they were seated number one.
[00:09:19.430]We lose the first two games, we come back
[00:09:21.730]and win games three and four.
[00:09:23.110]We're down nine, three in the fifth.
[00:09:25.340]It's over, Washington is gonna win and go to the Final Four.
[00:09:29.890]Jordan Larson.
[00:09:31.020]After our final timeout takes over the match.
[00:09:33.510]You can YouTube this and watch the comeback.
[00:09:35.940]We come back and win 15, 13 in the fifth,
[00:09:38.830]Jordan wheels her team back
[00:09:41.030]and it was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.
[00:09:44.100]And then it hit me what allowed her to be able to do that
[00:09:48.560]and it was about her why, this would have been
[00:09:50.960]her senior match, her last match in a Nebraska uniform.
[00:09:54.970]Her mom was in the hotel, and was too weak
[00:09:58.160]and sick from her cancer treatments
[00:10:00.240]to be able to make it to the match.
[00:10:03.090]Jordan was not gonna let her mom miss her final match
[00:10:05.660]of her career at Nebraska.
[00:10:07.800]And because we came back in one, her mom got to come back
[00:10:11.090]and see her finish out a career in the Final Four in Omaha.
[00:10:14.550]That's when I learned the importance of somebody's why.
[00:10:17.750]And how powerful that can be.
[00:10:20.150]When you leave today, and you flip over your thing,
[00:10:23.620]and you celebrate with your family.
[00:10:26.000]There's three bones you need to make sure
[00:10:27.700]that you've developed and take with you.
[00:10:29.740]The first one is a backbone.
[00:10:31.840]Your backbone needs to be strong.
[00:10:33.520]You need to be able to stand up to challenges
[00:10:35.230]you need to be able to say no, you need to know
[00:10:37.430]what you're about and who you are.
[00:10:39.690]The second bone is a wishbone you need to dream big.
[00:10:42.510]I just talked about Jordan in eighth grade.
[00:10:44.660]She's from Hubbard Nebraska, one stoplight town.
[00:10:47.930]She told me she was gonna win a National Championship
[00:10:50.310]and being an Olympian.
[00:10:51.610]she's accomplished all that.
[00:10:53.770]She taught me every person in this state,
[00:10:56.600]and graduates in Nebraska can dream big.
[00:10:59.780]Set your goals high.
[00:11:01.630]And the third bone is a funnybone
[00:11:03.320]because whatever you do should be fun,
[00:11:05.380]you should have passion and you shouldn't be excited
[00:11:08.270]about whatever you're doing each day.
[00:11:10.310]So make sure you have those three bones
[00:11:12.040]when you leave today.
[00:11:13.760]And finally, it's an honor and a privilege
[00:11:16.690]to be with you today.
[00:11:18.420]Go big red, and remember this,
[00:11:20.400]it's a great day to be a Husker.
[00:11:22.446](upbeat music)

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Go Big Grad | Coach John Cook

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