“I didn’t think it was possible to have a coach like that at this level,” Merritt Beason said about coach John Cook, tears flowing down her cheeks. It was December 2024, and the final year senior at Nebraska had just bowed out of the NCAA Championships in the semifinal. Fast-forward a little over two months, and now she’s one of the most promising rookie pros in the entire PVF.

In the meantime, Coach Cook tipped his cowboy hat as the Husker’s head coach for the last time in January 2025. Yet, despite things changing so drastically since last December, Beason remains equally thankful to her former coach. So, the outside hitter had nothing but praise while discussing one of her “all-time favorite” things about the sometimes “stubborn” Coach Cook.

And what was that thing? Merritt Beason unveiled it all while appearing on Episode 115 of the USA Volleyball podcast. “Even at his point in his career, he was still willing to adapt and to change,” explained the Atlanta Vibe outside hitter. “There were so many things that I went to him…” the 21-year-old said about approaching John Cook with suggestions.

“Like, okay, I know this is how you’ve done things for X amount of years, but this team needs X, Y, and Z,” Beason added during the podcast. While many NCAA-caliber head coaches would’ve dismissed a player’s suggestion, the 3-time AVCA National Coach of the Year winner always lent his ear to the former Huskers captain. And he didn’t just listen with one ear and let it out the other.

“Sometimes he was stubborn. Okay. But he was willing to, like, adapt and really do anything for what we needed as a team,” explained Merritt Beason. Maybe this nature to change despite having 43 years of coaching experience is why John Cook’s Cornhuskers were almost always title contenders. However, this isn’t the first time Beason praised her former coach’s adaptability.

The former Huskers star had similarly praised the head coach back in December 2024. Besides lauding his versatility and adaptability, she also mentioned how rare those two qualities were at the NCAA level. And as fate would have it, Cook continues to influence Beason’s career, albeit indirectly.

John Cook’s protégé leads the Vibe

When the Atlanta Vibe picked Merritt Beason during the 2024 PVF draft, she was still playing with the Huskers. So the transition from the NCAA to pro volleyball was swift. Yet, little did she know that despite playing for Atlanta, she would be training under someone with a close connection to Coach Cook. And who was the person? None other than former Husker Kayla Banwarth.

Besides sharing the stage with the most elite volleyball players in the Olympics, Banwarth also was named the head coach of the Atlanta Vibe. Beason’s current head coach had climbed the volleyball mountain thanks to the helping hand from none other than John Cook. After a successful stint as a Huskers libero during her college career, Banwarth returned to Nebraska later in her career.

Once there, she honed her coaching skills under Cook as the Huskers’ assistant coach. And Kayla Banwarth’s efforts helped Nebraska appear in the 2017 and 2018 national championship matches. On December 31st, 2024, Beason said it was “pretty comforting,” to train under Banwarth, who brought the Nebraska vibe to, well, the Vibe.

The outside hitter herself carries that same mentality. The 21-year-old pro volleyball star explained that the biggest thing she has learned from Jon Cook is his “willingness to continue learning each and every day.”