John Cook bid adieu to the Bod Devaney Center after spending nearly 25 years as head on the day of Dani Busboom Kelly’s welcome celebration. Yet in a bid to inject at least some humor in the otherwise gloomy affair, the former Huskers head coach poked some at his pupil Harper Murray. “Now Harper can’t force me into TikToks anymore,” joked Coach Cook.

Yet little did the 68-year-old know that his TikTok hiatus would last less than three months. That’s because Harper Murray, with a little help from an ex-Nebraska volleyball star, successfully convinced Cook to come out of influencer retirement. The only difference was that the retired NCAA volleyball coach didn’t upload the TikTok from his own account with 110,000 followers.

Instead, it was former Huskers outsider hitter-turned-pro Ally Batenhorst. John Cook probably didn’t think his first Omaha Supernovas game would lead to his first TikTok collaboration. Then again, why would two massively popular volleyball personalities on TikTok pass up the opportunity to make one with their uber-famous coach? And so the trio jumped on the latest trend.

“Bestied so hard…” Ally Batenhorst wrote in the closed caption. “We’re still friends after I transferred,” she completed the sentence. And for the visuals, the trio tried their best to perform the signature dance that has become synonymous with the viral trend. But Batenhorst didn’t forget to add her hilarious twist to the video, where none among the trio could contain their laughter.

Hail Varsity posted the even more hilarious behind-the-scenes video of Ally Batenhorst showing the moves to John Cook and Harper Murray. “Incredible execution by @allybatenhorst, @harpermurrayy and John Cook,” they wrote. Meanwhile, the clip captured how they couldn’t stop laughing even behind the camera. Yet, perfect execution or not, the fans loved seeing Murray and Cook reunite after months, the views crossed the million mark in just a day. It goes to show how much they miss Coach Cook’s TikToks.

John Cook didn’t just retire from volleyball coaching

If you’re scratching your head thinking how John Cook became TikTok famous at 68, don’t blame yourself. TikTok is an app where the young set the trends, and the veteran volleyball coach had no intentions of becoming TikTok famous. However, Harper Murray, who looks up to Coach Cook like a father figure, wanted to get her favorite volleyball on social media.

So Murray got to work. “Apparently Harper manages my TikTok account. I didn’t even know I had TikTok on my phone. They grabbed my phone and then TikTok happened… But hey, if they like it, I like it,” the 4x NCAA title-winning coach confessed. The reception was unprecedented. Despite not posting too often, Cook managed to cross the 100,000 follower mark before retiring.

How much would his follower count have grown had he not retired? Well, if the numbers on Batenhorst’s latest TikTok is an indication, then that number could be quite high. Through her time making and uploading TikToks with coach Cook, Murray also noticed how the 68-year-old also enjoyed it. “He definitely enjoyed it more than he acted like he did,” she told Hurrdat Sports.

While John Cook had simply intended to watch the Supernovas on the court for the first time, it was the present and former Huskers stars like Murray, Batenhorst, Bergen Reilly, and Lindsay Krause who made the occasion more special. From the entire stadium cheering the retired coach to over a million people watching his return to TikTok, one thing was obvious: Nebraska volleyball misses John Cook.