BIG TEN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA DAYS

August 1, 2023

John Cook

Lexi Rodriguez

Merritt Beason

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Press Conference

JOHN COOK: Big Ten is stepping it up. This is awesome to have this. It's exciting to be here. Makes you feel special to be a volleyball coach and a part of this conference. I got to meet the new commissioner.

Anyway, just thank you to the Big Ten for having all this and how we're treated here, you feel like rock stars.

I think these athletes deserve it. It's been a long time coming. But this is really, really cool.

Q. How does it feel getting to play in front of 80,000 people this fall? How do you feel about that? How do you think it's going to feel to walk out -- 90? 100? How do you feel about that, both Coach and the players?

JOHN COOK: Well, I'm not playing. But a couple weeks ago I wanted to get a feel of what it's going to feel like, so I went to Folsom Field -- Dead & Company, you ever heard of them? I went to their concert, and the stadium is completely sold out, the field is sold out, so you can't even move.

I just remember -- and they start at 6:30 at night. Most concerts start late, and they start at 6:30, and we're starting at 7:00, so I thought this will be perfect. Just to get the feeling. My adrenaline and goose bumps were going through the roof. I'm just thinking of trying to take that, what it's going to be like playing a volleyball match in Memorial Stadium where they're actually cheering for our team.

It's really hard to imagine for a volleyball match.

We're going to have to do some breathing exercises before we go out.

LEXI RODRIGUEZ: You're making me nervous. I think it's going to be an amazing opportunity and experience. I'm so honored that I'm still in college to be a part of it because it's going to be something that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

I just think -- I've said it earlier, but for women's sports, not just volleyball but women's sports in general, I think this is a huge monument for where we need to go in the right direction, and I'm just, again, super excited to be a part of it.

It's going to be nerve-racking, but I think if -- Husker Nation is amazing, and they are going to give us the biggest warm welcome ever, so it's going to be super exciting.

MERRITT BEASON: Yeah, I think they both touched on kind of all of the emotions. It's a really hard thing to grasp that that many people are going to be there watching us, but at the end of the day we're very grateful that Husker Nation is as strong as it is and that we even have the ability to play in the football stadium. I think that's really cool.

Like Lexi said, it's huge for volleyball but women's sports in general, so for us to be a part of it is really special. It'll be history in the making, and for us to be a part of it and to play in it is really cool. Not many people get to say that they did.

Q. Lexi, you've done such an outstanding job navigating the NIL landscape. There is not a place you can't turn where somebody can't find a T-shirt of you. How have you been able to navigate that successfully, and what advice can you give to your teammates coming in and maybe want to experience the same sort of success you've had on and off the court?

LEXI RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, so like Nebraska has a lot of support staff that have kind of helped all of us navigate through it, and they have like programs that can help you kind of figure out how to do time management and deal with all of that.

I have a great support staff that helps me, also.

But I think just for newcomers, it's great opportunities. You get to brand yourself, and it helps brand our team, also, as well. Like we're trying to still continue these sellouts and still have Husker Nation following us around the world, and I think that NIL is allowing us to even build connections and build relationships with some of those people who have always supported us.

I think it's a really cool opportunity, and I think if younger girls coming into college want to jump on that opportunity, I think it's great. When you see a little girl with your name on her shirt, like it's a really great feeling.

Q. John, obviously, as far as attendance records go, you've been going back and forth with Wisconsin over the past couple seasons. Back a little over 20 years ago when you left the school, could you have imagined you'd be fighting for records of this magnitude and these types of records to begin with?

JOHN COOK: Not of this magnitude. I remember what year it was -- maybe '94, '95, we were playing Penn State. They were No. 1 undefeated at the time.

I told our administration, guys, we're going to pack the Field House. They had two people taking tickets, and of course we actually beat Penn State, great match. I think there was 8,000 in there.

But a lot of people were disappointed because they did not want to wait in line that long or got turned away. That was the first glimpse of you create something really big and special, people will come and see it.

I think the competition between Nebraska and Wisconsin and whoever else wants to try to hold these attendance records, this is great for volleyball. It's what makes the world go around, and people love that. That's why they tune into ESPN and Big Ten and follow sports.

We're trying to take it so we can keep it and we don't have to go back and forth with anybody.

Q. If they do beat it, though, where is the next biggest venue?

JOHN COOK: Well, I don't think Camp Randall is going to seat 90,000. I don't know. I think we're going to be on a world record here.

Again, I didn't think any of this was going to happen. I was thinking if we could get 20,000 we'd be happy. President Carter and our AD, Trev Alberts, they believed we would sell out Memorial Stadium because it's been sold out in every event there since the '60s. I don't remember the exact year. But it's been sold out. President Carter said we sold out every time since whatever year in 1960s, and we're going to sell it out for this, and he was right.

Q. Coach, in addition, we're talking a lot about volleyball today at Nebraska, but when we're talking about growing the sport, not only just in the Big Ten but beyond, Fox and BTN announced a slew of game coverage today, which is going to include the first time ever that women's volleyball will precede and follow NFL games on television. Can you speak to what it means? We've talked about if they see it, they will become fans, they will follow it, but having that exposure where people will see Big Ten volleyball following their NFL games?

JOHN COOK: Yeah, I just was up in the Big Ten studio, and Rick made an interesting comment to me, he thinks volleyball is the most fun spectator sport to watch now because it's so fast, it's happening so fast, the games go by and there's always action and you've got these great athletes playing a very highly skilled game. I think he's right.

You just see the ratings keep going and the talent level gets better and better. There's so many great teams all across the country now. People are into it.

I see it at the younger ages at the club tournaments. I was just in Chicago last month, and there's 104 courts going on in the convention center. 104 courts going, 8:00 to 2:00 wave and a 2:00 to 9:00 at night wave. Think how many kids are playing.

Volleyball is booming now, and it's going to be interesting because I know we're going to play Sunday night at 6:30 a couple Sundays, and it's going to be interesting.

But could be a really cool TV time.

Q. Nebraska picked to finish second in the preseason poll. Over the years you've been here, how much harder has it gotten to win this conference?

JOHN COOK: Well, Bobby Knight said it way back, winning the Big Ten is harder than winning a National Championship, and I've said that many times, as well. It's ten weeks against great competition, home and away.

Now that the conference is getting bigger -- you used to play everybody, but now you don't play everybody twice. It's a great accomplishment to win the Big Ten. It's really, really hard to do.

Hats off to Wisconsin. They won it the last three years. They've done a tremendous job, and everybody is chasing them right now.

Q. I'd love to hear from Merritt and Lexi here. It's wonderful that we're all together talking about the ascendency of women's volleyball, whether that's big games on linear television or, if I'm hearing this right, playing a game in front of 11 gajillion people later this year. But we're also in an era of very significant change in college athletics. There's court cases that could potentially rule on the employment status of athletes and potentially organization movements elsewhere. Typically, those conversations are always from the perspective of football or basketball players. I'm curious, given how high profile your program is, if there have been any conversations among the players at Nebraska about how some of those court cases or the changing nature of the sport might impact volleyball and what kind of perspective you would want athletes like you to have.

MERRITT BEASON: I don't think there's been any sort of conversation about that with us. Obviously NIL was a huge addition for all student-athletes, but females and Nebraska volleyball, specifically, with the fan base that we have, it's a huge addition for us.

Honestly, I think right now the biggest things for us are just kind of getting volleyball out there like we've been talking about, the advancements that volleyball but also women's sports have made. Obviously we're taking very big steps forward right now and we're trying to continue on that path, but there's not been any conversations like that amongst our team.

Q. Merritt and Lexi, having five freshmen on your roster, and being the leaders as just juniors, how special is that and how the younger girls brought competition and energy to your team?

LEXI RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I think these five freshmen are key pieces to our team, and just the competitiveness in them is just something so special that I think is very vital.

MERRITT BEASON: All five of them are going to play a very pivotal role in our team, and they bring a lot of energy, they bring a lot of competition, and they add a lot to our team. So that's really cool.

But our entire team as a whole is a really fun group of girls to lead. We all bring tons of experiences, tons of knowledge and things of that sort.

It could have been anyone picked as captains from the freshmen to the juniors. It could have been anyone, and I don't think any of us would have been surprised because our entire team is full of natural leaders. It makes it even more special for us to be the leaders, but also it makes it more fun for our entire team to be able to help and provide input and things of that sort.

But it's definitely an honor, and being able to be there for them is going to be really cool this spring and fall.

Q. For all three of you, how important was it for you to be able to go to Brazil on an international trip, spend 16 days together and play together, especially with six newcomers?

LEXI RODRIGUEZ: I think it was extremely important, especially, like we've discussed a lot today, just we have five freshmen. We have, Merritt included, six new people on this team. It's a very young and new team.

So I think going on this trip kind of it was a long 17 days, but I think it got everyone kind of acclimated to what this season is going to be like and what kind of -- what our team is going to be like and how we're going to play through hard matches and everything like that.

We got a lot of experiences over there in Brazil, and I think it was all beneficial for us, and ultimately it brought our chemistry a lot closer together. So I think it's really important and a great opportunity for especially this team.

MERRITT BEASON: It was very important for us, and it's going to benefit us a lot this fall.

I think playing a team sport, it's really about how you can fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. And I know that those 17 days helped us a ton not only growing on the court, figuring out how people play together, things of that sort, what Lexi needs when she's maybe struggling a little bit and vice versa, things of that sort.

On the court, obviously, it was huge for us to have a chance to play together before the fall season starts, but also off the court just being able to get closer with one another and build those connections was also really huge.

I think it was a very good trip for us because we were able to grow on and off the court together.

JOHN COOK: Brazil is an amazing country. I would highly recommend it to go visit Brazil. I think it's one of the most unknown countries in the world. I've been all over the world, first time to Brazil, and it's a great, great country.

Q. John, this off-season there were several transfers that went from one Big Ten team to another Big Ten team. What's your reaction to that, and what do you think of players that want to transfer but stay within the league?

JOHN COOK: You know, the portal is great, and it provides, I guess, opportunities. I think there's some negatives to it, as well. It bothers me when a team -- when somebody transfers within the conference.

I feel like you train those -- you invest all that time and energy and then they turn around and go to another team and you're going to play against them, potentially twice.

As an old-school coach, that part bothers me. I don't like it.

Q. Merritt and Lexi, been about a month post-Brazil. Did you have to take some time to get away from each other? What's been the focus of the open gyms that you have had?

MERRITT BEASON: Actually we didn't take time away from each other. As soon as we got back, we started lifting again, started having open gyms, and then we started camps, and now we're gearing up to start preseason.

We've been together all summer. But it's been great for this team because, like I said, we've been able to bond in a lot of different ways.

Yeah, we just started lifting as soon as we got back, started open gyms, and then camp was a long 16 days. We were lifting and doing open gym throughout camps, as well.

We get a little break this weekend before we start next week. So that will be nice. We'll be able to get a refresher before we hit the ground running.

Q. John, a lot of those transfers are fifth year. You have no fifth-year players, no fourth-year players on your roster. How do you try to counter the experience of the other Big Ten teams that you play with the youthful talent that you have?

JOHN COOK: I tell our players two things. There's two things you remember in this whole press conference day. You can write these down; they're simple: One, volleyball doesn't know how old you are. So the game does not know how old you are. The second thing is if a dog is going to bite, it's going to bite as a pup. These guys need to be ready to come out and get after it.

I think they have the mindset -- get this, Maggie Mendelson is the youngest player on our team, and she's already been here a year. It's nuts. We're going to be young and aggressive, and these guys are going to be fearless, and it's going to be fun to watch.

Q. You mentioned you don't have any seniors, you have five juniors, two captains here. What's the next step for the other juniors, Lindsay, Ally, and Kennedi on and off the court as they transition into being upperclassmen for this program?

JOHN COOK: Well, I think Merritt said it great. She's leading a group of leaders. It's a tremendous group, and I think almost anybody in our team could or will be a captain at some point.

Those guys are going to be the older players on our team and have to show these guys, which they've been doing all summer and in Brazil, what it's going to take.

I think they've done a tremendous job, and they've been through the wars, and so they're the ones that, like I said, are going to have to show the way.

Q. I would be remiss if I didn't ask this. What was the best thing you ate in Brazil?

LEXI RODRIGUEZ: I tried a lot of different food. I remember I really liked -- I don't know which place we were at. We went to a lot of restaurants. But I had squid for the first time, and I actually really liked it. It was really good.

But the food over there is amazing. When we actually got to have meals prepared for us from big restaurants in Brazil, I thought it was actually amazing. I wish we had food like that over here, but that's okay.

MERRITT BEASON: Like Lexi said, we ate at a ton of different restaurants, and I don't think anyone complained about any of them that we were at. They were all so good. Just the food as a whole over there was amazing.

And it was a cool opportunity, obviously, for volleyball and things like that, but also as a foodie you get to explore and get outside. So we were able to try a bunch of new things.

I didn't try the squid. I left that one up to Lexi. But the one thing I do remember is one of our staff members that was with us ate tongue one night for dinner. I didn't try that, either. I left that up to her. She said it was pretty good.

But all of the food as a whole was really good, and it was a very cool experience.

Q. Lexi, when you and the rest of the juniors came in, you were part of a No. 1 recruiting class. You bring in the No. 1 recruiting class. What's your word of advice to the group about the pressure that comes with that, being the No. 1 recruiting class at a program like Nebraska?

LEXI RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, there's obviously going to be a lot of pressure, especially at this level, and at a program like Nebraska.

But I think just going into every game and especially like their first season at Nebraska, just having no expectations, I think as a class when I was a freshman, we kind of had that mentality that like it doesn't really matter what we did in high school anymore. We're at a whole 'nother stage of our lives and our volleyball careers, and we haven't played a lot of these people.

So just kind of reminding them that it's a fresh start. You have to prove yourself again as a team, as a player, and just knowing that every single game you've got to go -- you go into like you've got to prove that you belong and that you can compete at this level.

And I think just reminding them that they deserve to be here, and they weren't the No. 1 recruiting class for no reason. Like they deserve it, and just -- they've just got to go out there and show it.