Hames, eyeing volleyball coaching future, shifts from setter to DS for Nebraska

By Greg Echlin for VolleyballMag.com

LINCOLN, Nebraska — One day, when she’s a coach, Nicklin Hames figures there will be a time when she’ll have to ask a player to change positions.

And when that player balks, Hames can tell her about, well, Hames.

A 5-foot-10 fifth-year senior at Nebraska, Hames has been an All-American setter for four years. Her career includes two trips to the NCAA final, including one last December when Nebraska lost in five to Wisconsin in a battle of Big Ten titans.

“I’ve lost two (championships) by six points,” Hames said. 

“Six total points, and that’s heartbreaking.”

Now, to stay a part of it and maybe win it all, Hames is transitioning to defensive specialist.

Hames said that she and Coach John Cook talked about the move in the offseason and came to a mutual decision.

“We knew I possibly wanted to stay my last year and then go into coaching,” Hames said. “We had conversations about it.”

After playing four years but getting a fifth from the NCAA because of the pandemic, Hames had transfer options.

“People asked me a lot, ‘Why didn’t you want to transfer and go set somewhere else?’ I couldn’t see myself leaving,” Hames said. “I love this program, I love the team, I love the culture.”

And, when she graduates, she’ll be able to stay on as a grad assistant to Cook.

“One of our goals has been to be a leader, especially for women’s sports in this state and inspire young girls and players to dream big,” said Cook, who is developing quite a coaching tree of former assistants.

That list includes: Craig Skinner, who led Kentucky to the 2020 NCAA title; Dani Busboom Kelly, who led Louisville to the 2021 NCAA semifinals (and was last year’s VolleyballMag.com national coach of the year); Chris Tamas of Illinois; Kayla Banwarth of Ole Miss; and Tyler Hildebrand of Long Beach State.

And most recently there’s Jordan Larson, perhaps the greatest native Nebraska (Hooper) volleyball players. After the USA won the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics, Larson went to Texas as an assistant coach. Then she got a contract in Italy. and in the interim her husband, David Hunt, left as Pepperdine’s men’s coach to join the Texas staff. Larson came back from her pro season and is now a volunteer coach at Texas, where she brings another level of play to practice.

Stories like that are not…