LINCOLN — Lauren Cook realized she still was a Nebraska kid at heart.

Video from Lauren Cook's press conference.

John Cook recognized that the very best Nebraska-raised players should be starring for the Huskers.

And so in 2010, the Nebraska coach and his standout daughter will begin the process of trying to win a national championship together, not apart.

In front of an overflow gathering of video cameras and reporters at the Coliseum's undersized interview room Monday, the Cooks talked officially for the first time about the surprising story that broke last week: Lauren Cook, the AVCA's 2009 national freshman of the year last season at UCLA, will return home to Lincoln and play for her father.

Lauren Cook began taking classes at Nebraska on Monday, and she'll start training with the Huskers this month when they open winter workouts. The Lincoln Pius X graduate gave up her full-ride scholarship to play for the Bruins, and she'll join Nebraska as a walk-on.

“I've obviously been thinking about this for awhile, but I didn't want to think about it too much during the season, because I needed to focus on doing the best I could for UCLA,” said Lauren Cook, who earned the Bruins' starting setter job as a rookie and helped the team finish with a 24-9 record and a No. 14 national ranking in the final 2009 poll. “Right when the season was over is when it became crunch time. That's when I really started talking about (returning to Nebraska) with my family and thinking about it on my own.”

The 5-foot-8 setter will have three years of eligibility remaining at Nebraska. She was granted her release from UCLA, meaning she can start playing for the Huskers right away in 2010. She also will be able to join her new NU teammates this spring when they travel to Japan and China.

What role might she play for the Huskers next fall? Nothing, John Cook insisted, has been decided. It's possible she could help senior-to-be Sydney Anderson, a two-time All-America setter for the Huskers, guide a 6-2 attack. It's just as possible, the coach said, that NU's staff might decide to redshirt Lauren with the idea of having her available for three full seasons after Anderson graduates.

“As for the father-daughter aspect, Lauren and I have had a lot of talks about this,” John Cook said. “We feel like we can keep the volleyball separate enough from our family life.”

And in many ways, Lauren Cook said, she's excited about the challenge of proving herself all over again — be it to a new coaching staff, to a new set of teammates, or in attending a new school.

“I have to work out my own way; I have to earn the respect of people,” she said. “That's the kind of person I am — I want to show people I'm a hard worker. Yeah, I have my work cut out for me, but it's going to be fun.”

When John Cook first learned that his daughter was thinking about returning home in November, he said he first tried to talk her out of it — figuring she might just be suffering a typical case of freshman homesickness. But the more the family talked, he said, the more it became clear that Lauren did not feel that living in Los Angeles was the right fit for her.

Another key issue in the decision, Lauren said, was academics. With a career goal of someday working as a wedding planner, she realized that UCLA could not fulfill her needs as a student as well as Nebraska — which recently began offering a major in event management.

“It's my bad for not looking into this, I guess, before I committed to UCLA,” she said. “But they just weren't able to offer the major I wanted. You get so caught up in sports and playing volleyball. I just didn't think enough about academics.”

Once it became clear that his daughter was intent on coming to NU, John Cook said he then started viewing the situation as both a father and a coach. He talked to Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne, whom Cook said wholeheartedly supported Lauren's decision. He also sought out former Huskers quarterback Scott Frost — who has the unique perspective as a touted national recruit who first went to a California school before transferring back home to Nebraska.

“When I had the conversation with Scott,” John Cook said, “it was almost identical to the one I had with Lauren. That kind of confirmed for me that there has been a precedent for this. He said it was the best thing he ever did in coming back, so that reassured me as a dad that I could feel pretty supportive about this.

“If Lauren wasn't a Nebraska kid, I'm not sure we'd want to take another setter at this time. She went out there (to UCLA) and gave it a shot. But she's a Nebraska kid that grew up here, and our program needs to have those players stay here. She has every right to be here if that's what she wants to do for her career.”

Even before Lauren Cook decided to transfer to NU, the Huskers appeared to have the pieces in place to contend for an NCAA title in 2010. Fifth-ranked Nebraska's list of returners coming off a 26-7 season will be impressive: Anderson at setter; Kayla Banwarth at libero; Lindsey Licht at right-side hitter; Brooke Delano, and Jordan Wilberger at middle blocker; Tara Mueller, Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth at outside hitter.

And you can add into the mix incoming freshman Morgan Broekhuis, a touted 6-5 potential difference-maker from Colorado Springs, Colo., who also began taking classes in Lincoln on Monday.

With Lauren Cook and Broekhuis on board, the coach knows the process of rebuilding the team's chemistry will be ongoing throughout the upcoming months. But that process happens every year, he said, with every team. And if he thought having his daughter join the program was going to be any kind of issue, the coach said, he wouldn't have risked letting it happen.

“We have a chance to be really special next year, and she gets to be a part of that,” he said. “I want to make sure I don't mess this up.”

So why didn't Lauren Cook end up playing for her father right away out of high school? The setter said she doesn't regret her decision to give another school a try, and she reiterated on Monday her desire to prove herself away from her father's shadow.

“I was worried that I was looked at as John Cook's daughter, and I did want to go make a name for myself and make my own path,” she said. “But when I was out at UCLA, I realized that I had made my own name and that I wasn't just attached to his name anymore.

“I'm honored to be back. It's a privilege to play here and be able to represent Nebraska.”

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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