John Cook suddenly retired in late January and handed over the reins to Dani Busboom Kelly. The long-time, legendary head coach of Nebraska volleyball confidently endorsed his former pupil-turned-NCAA-championship-calibre coach. “I went hard, and now it’s Dani’s turn,” he told Hurrdat Sports just weeks before DBK’s debut. Yet, despite all the confidence and Kelly’s resume, fans needed to see it to believe it. Thankfully, the exhibition match against Kansas was the perfect opportunity.

And what a debut Kelly made in her first match as Nebraska’s new coach. Kelly swept away whatever doubts some fans may have had, just like how the Huskers swept away Kansas on the scoreboard. Harper Murray, Bergen Reilly, Andi Jackson, and the squad dominated the game. The final scoreline? 25-20, 25-18, 25-21, 25-22 for a 4-0 clean sweep. And while some may have predicted that the Huskers would win the contest, few were ready to witness middle blocker Andi Jackson going on the offensive from the back line.

What’s more? Dani Busboom Kelly didn’t even include the D-Ball attack in her playbook. DBK just trusted the team. “The funny thing is that was our first time running it live. And it worked. We did a little back row versus back row drill a week ago. And I don’t know, something about it, Bergen and I were just really connecting. And so we decided to throw it into the offense, obviously with Dani accepting it,” Jackson explained during her post-game interview.

Busboom Kelly backed up what the middle blocker said in her segment of the interview. Dani Busboom Kelly explained that they had practiced putting Jackson in the back line or the D-ball attack, just an “in-game situation,” not a proper strategy. Yet Jackson and Bergen Reilley excelled at it. “She killed like six of them in a row in one drill, and we’re like, we should probably do that in a game,” said the coach.

“So we just started having her play right back when she serves and gave Bergen the green light to center. That was really fun to see it work,” added Coach Kelly. In fact, it worked so well that Andi Jackson, Rebekah Allick, and freshman Ryan Hunter notched 11 kills each. Talk about going all in! Yet Dani Busboom Kelly’s Nebraska finding, so success, may indicate something else.

Is Dani Busboom Kelly making the right changes?

From Andi Jackson nailing kills to Harper Murray getting an ace during a serve, no one would blame you if they thought this was a new Nebraska Huskers team. And yet, apart from the icons like Lexi Rodriguez, Merritt Beason, and others who graduated in 2024, not a single Husker left after John Cook’s retirement. In fact, DBK is all about honoring Cook’s legacy.

“A lot of what I believe in comes from what John (Cook) was doing. It was just tweaking it a little bit and making it a little bit more my own,” the 39-year-old said earlier this week. Yet, the tweaks Dani Busboom Kelly has made seem to be already bearing fruit. The collaborative approach of letting every coach teach every position may have led to the changes the Huskers showed in the court against Kansas.

Assistant coaches Jaylen Reyes, Kelly (Hunter) Natter, and Brennan Hagar are working on improving specifics. For example, Reyes, who was with the middle blockers “all the time last year,” as per Harper Murray, is handling the hitters now. Maybe that’s why it gave more confidence to some, like Andi Jackson, to play a dedicated attacking player.

Similarly, Dani Busboom Kelly has dedicated some of her time exclusively to the setters and improving the team’s servers. Murray’s servers proved that Kelly is most definitely working on that element. Then again, as good as the Huskers looked, this was just an exhibition game and the first of two spring games for Nebraska. After next month’s game in Ord, Nebraska, fans will have to wait a few more months before seeing how these changes truly play out during the 2025 NCAA season.