Texas dominated Nebraska from start to finish during the Division-I Women’s Volleyball National Championship on Sunday afternoon. Cornhuskers head coach John Cook offered some truly awful context to the loss during his postgame press conference.
His perspective made him sound salty. It also made him look hypocritical.
Now, to be fair to Cook, he was complimentary of the Longhorns throughout most of his media appearance. However, the final comment of the evening turned the whole thing sour.
Cook was asked the following:
John, in what ways has Texas set the bar that you and other teams have to match now?
The 67-year-old legend answered with something of a shot toward the national title winners. He may not have intended to throw shade at the team that just beat him, but he did.
But you look at tonight’s match, I mean, they’ve got half their starting team are transfers. They’re all fourth- and fifth-year players, except for Ella, the setter, who did a great job.
So that’s how they’ve been building their team. That’s how they built last year’s team.
I like what we’re doing. I like recruiting kids and trying to make them be great.
— John Cook
At the core of Cook’s statements is an admirable desire to focus his efforts toward the high school level. His goal is to get talent in his system as freshman, allow them to develop, and let them shine when they’re ready.
That is not how it came across.
Cook sounded bitter about the way in which the victor assembled its roster. Whether he likes it or not, that is the new reality of collegiate athletics and college volleyball.
What he said is also not entirely true.
Texas played multiple transfers on Sunday, yes. It also started four players that it signed out of high school in the title match. The 2022 team that won the national championship after Nebraska was knocked out in the third round was built around a superstar who showed up to campus in Austin when she was 17.
Cook’s comments are particularly rich when you look at one of the Cornhuskers’ most recent stars, Lexi Sun. She did not sign to play in Lincoln out of high school. She transferred after one season with the Longhorns after being named a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection as a freshman.
So… yeah.
John Cook didn’t mind when Sun transferred from Texas to Nebraska. And yet he’s upset (or at least sounds upset) about how Texas added transfers that ultimately swept his team 3-0.