John Cook's mountain retreat keeps competitive fire burning

TETON COUNTY, Wyo. — Wispy clouds have taken over the morning sky, but several snow-capped peaks of the Teton Range still peek above the deciduous forest-covered foothills.

The pasture grass is lush and vibrant, partly due to the winter’s record-breaking snowfall and partly due to the oft-occurring afternoon thunderstorm.

“How do you not relax up here?” Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook says with a smile as he glances out his dining room window.

His 5-acre ranch in a rural outpost in northwest Wyoming with near 360-degree panorama views of the Tetons is not just paradise for the Hall of Fame coach.

It’s where he’s cleared his head since the pandemic, helping him feel refreshed and revitalized before each season. It’s where he’s learned new things. It’s where he’s contemplated his future. It’s where he’s honed his coaching skills without necessarily intending to.

“I get to live two lives,” Cook said. “I get to live the cowboy life and I get to live the coaching life — which I still love, I love as much as I ever have. I’m coaching better than I ever have and I’m recruiting better than we ever have.”

Because of it all, Cook — in his fifth decade of coaching — believes he’s at the top of his game.

Moments after coming to a clearing, Cook sat on a large white rock. This is how he spends many summer and winter days: hiking through the wilderness — either in his trusty brown boots or his snowshoes, depending on the time of year.

With bright, yellow flowers all around him, he took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air and stared at the vista in front of him.

Grand Teton — the second-tallest mountain in Wyoming — loomed in the distance, still covered in deep snow. Beyond that range, he says, is where he first fell in love with ranching and the state of Wyoming.

It’s 1978.

The kid from San Diego hopped in his metallic sky blue Volkswagen Beetle and set his sights on Moose Head Ranch in Moran, Wyoming — a 24-hour drive from the beach to the mountains through the desert.

His college summer job: a wrangler, something he arranged through a connection in southern California. The then-Division II Toreros didn’t have summer workouts in those days, so he had no basketball conflicts holding him back.

He’d been around horses some as a kid, based on childhood photos, but he can’t recall ever riding one before taking the gig.

Minimal experience? No matter. He enjoyed it and the manual labor that came with it. Clearing trails. Riding in snow banks. Helping get the horses ready alongside the head wrangler, a real Wyoming cowboy.

“I asked him, ‘I want to do this more,’” Cook said. “‘I really want to learn how to ride.’”

The ranch increased his responsibilities the following summer.

He learned to break horses, put them out to pasture, and lead tourists on all-day horseback rides through the ranch in Grand Teton National Park. He estimates he was on horseback for at least 9 to 10 hours a day, six days a week.

“I would get on bareback, no halter, no nothing, no bridle, and ride out and bring 49 horses in at 6:30 in the morning and settle them up,” Cook said. “Then we would go out on an all-day ride, do a cookout at a place called Toppings Lake which is in the Gros Ventre mountains. They just really trusted me.”

Despite embracing the dude ranch life for two summers, Cook returned to horseback just once between 1979 and 2021: in the late 1990s when he visited Moose Head with his family.

Why the absence? Life happened. He began teaching in the San Diego area and coached multiple high school sports. He got married in 1981 to his wife, Wendy, and they had two children, Lauren and Taylor. More coaching stops at Nebraska, the U.S. National Team, Wisconsin, then back to Nebraska.

But now? All these decades later?

“It’s coming back around,” Cook said.

John Cook takes his horses back to the stables at his ranch in Wyoming.

Cook’s time as a wrangler planted a seed.

Before having kids, he and Wendy would rent a “dirt-cheap” condo in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, during the summers.

“We would just hike, bike, go to the 5 o’clock Happy Hour dinners because as teachers you don’t have any money,” Cook said. “We loved the mountains. We always said we want to be in the mountains someday.”

The Cooks took baby steps in that direction.

The proximity to the Rockies played a part in him originally taking the Nebraska gig.

“We wanted to be closer to the mountains because Wisconsin was so dang far away,” Cook said. “So, of course, we go to Nebraska and then our kids get into sports and you never go to the mountains.”

The years rolled on. Lauren wrapped up her playing career in 2012, and Taylor moved to Bozeman, Montana, around 2015 — leaving them empty nesters.

The Cooks fell in love with the Gallatin Valley — a few years before Paramount’s “Yellowstone” hit the small screen — and thus began their search for their next adventure.

“We really liked Bozeman and thought, ‘This would be great. We could build a place and eventually retire there,’” Cook said.

That new dream was on the cusp of coming true. The Cooks found the perfect piece of land near Bozeman. But they found out they’d have to pay around 30 years of back taxes on the property, put in several roads and construct a fire pond — resulting in backing out of the sale.

Wendy made it her mission to find a new place.

She started in Whitefish, Montana — a ski town in northwest Montana — and drove down Montana’s Highway 93 in the hopes something would call out to her. She looked at places around Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley in the southwest part of the Treasure State before expanding her search south of Bozeman along Highway 191 down into the Big Sky area — another well-known ski town just north of Yellowstone National Park.

On the advice of a close friend, the Cooks started looking for somewhere in Wyoming — a little closer to Lincoln, but still far enough into the mountains.

“He said, ‘You need to get a place that’s close that you can get to that’s not a hassle and you can drive to in a day,’” Cook said. “‘If you get a place way up in Whitefish, that’s a two-day drive.”

Pair that with how the area where they live is less developed than Bozeman, Big Sky and Whitefish, and how Wyoming is considered a tax haven, the Cooks eventually found their personal slice of heaven off a gravel road in an undisclosed area of the Teton Valley.

He spends as much time there as he can — heading out there once the season wraps in December and using it as his home base in the summers while on the recruiting trail and going back and forth to Lincoln for volleyball camps.

“He’s earned the right to be able to do that,” athletic director Trev Alberts said. “John, having the experience he has, has earned respect and credibility in the sense that he knows what he needs to do to get himself prepared. So, you have to trust John that he knows how to get himself and his team ready to play in the season.”

The cherry-on-top? Taylor lives with them and Lauren lives nearby after buying his old place. She lives there with her husband, Jason, and daughter Madden.

Their grown children living so close wasn’t part of the plan, Cook said with a laugh, but the family can’t envision a better setup now.

“To me, there’s evolutions in life,” Cook said, smiling as he watched Madden play with her toys. “You grow up, you go to college, you have a family. Then the next evolution is grandkids. For Wendy, that’s her mission every day with Madden.”

John Cook takes a break after hiking on his ranch in Teton County, Wyoming. Cook, in his fifth decade of coaching, believes he's at the top of his game.

The story has become a legend in college volleyball circles.

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, 2021. Nebraska volleyball director of operations Lindsay (Wischmeyer) Peterson and her husband, Ty, were searching for a horse for their four sons, then ages 3 through 9.

Ty, on a trip to Kansas, found Bud — an 11-year-old mild-tempered white horse with a dark mane.

“Bud’s a sweetheart,” Cook said. “(Ty) really liked Bud, but he was a little too much for young boys. So Lindsay’s like, ‘Hey. I’ve got a horse for you.’”

Cook didn’t buy Bud out of nowhere.

He had been looking — a cursory search, not a serious one — after Taylor declared he wanted a BMW motorcycle. Wendy put a stop to that, and Taylor decided he’d get a horse instead.

“So when Bud became available, we bought Bud as a trail horse,” Cook said. “But you can’t just have a single horse. They’ll go crazy. They’re herd animals. So I realized, ‘S—. We gotta get another horse.’ Next thing I know, I’m buying Reba.”

Reba, a red roan mare born in 2013 in central Nebraska, is an officially registered horse through the American Quarter Horse Association. Her legal name: Poco Tookie Lady — Poco from her father, Poco Six Ginnin, and Tookie Lady from her mother, Tookie Gray Lady.

How do you get Reba from Poco Tookie Lady? Well, it’s presumably how her fiery red coat is similar to the famed red locks of singer Reba McEntire.

“We went to go look at a couple of horses in different ranches, and I fell in love with Reba,” Cook said.

Reba, though, is a roping horse. And when Cook bought her in February 2022, he didn’t know much about the sport whatsoever.

Several months later, a roping dummy branded with “Nebraska Volleyball” on the back showed up at Devaney. To this day, Cook doesn’t know who sent it.

“I’ve fallen in love with the challenge,” Cook said. “I’m learning a skill at an older age.”

“I love working with horses because it’s helping me be a better coach,” he said. “You have to be very patient. You’ve got to figure things out. It’s very much like coaching volleyball.”

John Cook takes his horses Reba (left) and Bud back to the stables at his ranch in Wyoming, where he and his wife Wendy have a ranch that gives him the chance to unplug from Nebraska volleyball.

Between piloting and horses, Cook has all the coaching points he needs.

His “trust your training” mantra comes from a flight instructor he had years ago.

Around 2010, Cook was trying to master crosswind landings — where pilots essentially fly the plane sideways before straightening out at the last second before landing —and he couldn’t quite figure it out.

Two hours went by before Cook figured it out.

“I told my instructor, ‘I can’t do this,’” Cook recalled. “And he told me, ‘You just have to trust your training. If you trust your training, it’ll happen.’ That’s what I tell my players all the time. That really impacted me as a coach.”

The horse metaphors, while they’ve come along in recent years, they’re apt.

Horses can feel everything from a minuscule fly landing on their back to your heartbeat and your nerves while you’re standing several feet away.

“They’re incredibly sensitive animals,” Cook said. “If you get impatient with a horse, they’re gonna feel it. If you’re calm, cool and collected, they’re gonna do great. If you panic, they panic.

“So the analogy is with our players and with me, they’re going to feel my energy every day. They’re going to feel each other’s energy every day.”

As Cook walks along the winding, dirt trail, he feels at peace.

As the towering trees hide the surrounding scenery, he’s not letting his mind fill with thoughts about work.

He’s not worried about who his starting setter will be, nor is he preoccupied about who will get the lion’s share of playing time among the outside hitters. Instead, he’s avoiding the mountain bikers flying down the path and keeping his new pup, Daisy, out of harm’s way.

Whether he’s on his daily hike or on horseback, he compartmentalizes his thoughts so he can presently live in the moment.

“You’ve gotta have a hobby,” Cook said. “When I’m riding a horse, I’m not thinking about Nebraska volleyball. You can’t be thinking about recruits and whether they want to come to Nebraska or not. It’s a total break.

“It’s good to have those breaks because you can be consumed by it, 24/7.”

At the age of 67, Cook knows better. He’s wiser. He knows that constantly being plugged in leads to burnout.

For him, it’s a balance of work hard, relax hard because he knows his time at Nebraska will come to a close sooner rather than later.

He used to plan out his future in five-year increments. Then he shortened it into a three-year plan. Now, he’s thinking one or two years ahead.

He recently signed a one-year extension with Nebraska — giving him a $50,000 raise and a contract that now expires in January 2025.

When 2025 rolls around, he could hang things up and retire to the mountains full-time. Or, he could re-sign and coach into his 70s. He might only be worrying about a few years at a time these days, but that doesn’t mean he’s set on retiring at a specific moment just yet.

Whenever that time comes, he’s not going to coast into his next chapter, either.

No. He’s as hungry as ever to win another title.

Or two.

“Nick Saban’s won four nattys (national championships) since he was 60 years old,” Cook said, invoking the success of Alabama’s 71-year-old skipper. “I’ve won two. I tell the recruits I have two more to go to catch Nick.”

Cook believes he and the Huskers can do it — citing an academic paper he and six others were interviewed for recently: “Moving Beyond Fulfillment: Wisdom Years Stories of Passion, Perseverance, and Productivity.”

“They call it the ‘Wisdom Years,’” Cook said. “They’ve come to this conclusion in this paper they wrote that you’re doing your best in your 50s, 60s and 70s.”

Cook offers Nebraska’s resume over the last eight years as an example.

Since 2015, the Huskers have played for the national championship four times — winning two (2015, 2017) and losing two (2018, 2021). In the two title matches NU lost, the defining scores in the fifth set were 15-12 and 15-13.

“We’re five points away from winning four of the last eight national championships,” he said. “That confirms to me that I’m coaching better than I ever have.”

Check out John Cook's career as Nebraska volleyball's head coach since 2000.

Lexi Rodriguez, first team (2021)

Kayla Caffey, second team (2021)

Lauren Stivrins, first team (2018, 2020-21), second team (2019)

Lexi Sun, third team (2019, 2020-21)

Nicklin Hames, second team (2020-21), honorable mention (2021)

Madi Kubik, third team (2021), honorable mention (2020-21)

Kenzie Maloney, third team (2018)

Annika Albrecht, second team (2017)

Briana Holman, honorable mention (2017)

Mikaela Foecke, first team (2018), second team (2017)

Kelly Hunter, second team (2016), first team (2017)

Amber Rolfzen, second team (2015), third team (2016)

Justine Wong-Orantes, third team (2015), first team (2016)

Kelsey Robinson, first team (2013)

Kadie Rolfzen, third team (2013, 2014), first team (2015, 2016)

Lauren Cook, first team (2012)

Gina Mancuso, first team (2011), second team (2012)

Lindsey Licht, second team (2010)

Hannah Werth, second team (2010, 2012)

Brooke Delano, second team (2009), first team (2010)

Sydney Anderson, second team (2008), third team (2009)

Tara Mueller, second team (2008)

Jordan Larson, first team (2006, 2008), third team (2007)

Tracy Stalls, second team (2006, 2007)

Rachel Holloway, third team (2006), second team (2007)

Sarah Pavan, first team (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)

Jennifer Saleaumua, second team (2004), third team (2005)

Melissa Elmer, second team (2003), first team (2004, 2005)

Christina Houghtelling, first team (2005), second team (2007)

Jenny Kropp, second team (2001)

Greichaly Cepero, first team (2000, 2002), second team (2001)

Amber Holmquist, second team (2000), first team (2001, 2002)

Laura Pilakowski, first team (2000), second team (2002)

Nancy Metcalf, first team (1998, 1999, 2001)

Megan Korver, second team (1998)

Fiona Nepo, first team (1996), second team (1997)

Lisa Reitsma, first team (1995, 1996), second team (1997)

Christy Johnson, first team (1994, 1995)

Kelly Aspegren, second team (1994)

Allison Weston, first team (1993, 1994, 1995)

Stephanie Thater, second team (1990), first team (1991, 1992)

Janet Kruse, first team (1989, 1990), second team (1991)

Karen Dahlgren, second team (1985), first team (1986)

Nebraska has had seven other players selected to the AVCA All-America teams, including Val Novak, Virginia Stahr, Lori Endicott, Enid Schonewise, Tisha Delaney, Annie Adamczak and Cathy Noth.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Husker sports reporter/columnist

There will be ample opportunity to catch NU on TV this season. Check out the broadcast schedule for the Huskers' volleyball team in 2023.

Several first-team all-Big Ten players from last season are at a different league school now. John Cook says that "bothers" him. Check out mor…

John Cook has "200,000 reasons" the league shouldn't add a tournament. Meanwhile, Purdue's coach is in favor of it, and others are on the fence.

In 2014, John Cook had a list of 32 ways Nebraska could improve, ultimately to catch Penn State. The Huskers did it. Now, NU has its eyes on W…