Nebraska volleyball coach Dani Busboom Kelly’s BOLD choices turned into the difference maker for the Huskers in the reverse-sweep win over Kentucky. 10/11 Sports Director Kevin Sjuts joins Hurrdat Sports Live to discuss with Ravi Lulla and Damon Benning how DBK’s coaching style is style of POWER and PERSONALITY.
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K, let me ask you something because yeah, you’ve seen this for a while and I don’t know how to say it without coming I’m not favoring one over the other. I love Coach Cook. He was sensational. Um, his record speaks for itself. He’s a Hall of Famer. But the way I kind of tried to explain the transition is is it’s all about timing, right? And you got DBK’s personality with the way the roster is constructed. It could be the right person at the right time. And it seems like in the five setter this weekend, it played out where she where DBK had every opportunity and took every opportunity to really make this her team, right? The the fluid the fluidity of how she thinks, the willing to press all buttons, the the being upfront during the practice schedules about it’s going to take all 17, right? Did you feel like it’s pretty good timing for her personality traits to have taken over this program? I mean, we got a chance to see it in full bloom against Kentucky. I think that’s the biggest thing is, you know, everybody’s impressed with Danny so far, her coaching ability, and now we’re seeing her gumption. And I think Nebraska fans are also learning that, you know, this wasn’t just a one time. She did this at Louisville regularly, and that’s what made them a really good program. She tweaked the lineup regularly. She went deep on her bench and was not afraid to make bold decisions. And sometimes you hear it, but you don’t believe it until you see it. And I think Nebraska fans are now seeing the way Danny coaches a team within a game and throughout the course of the season. And the fact that she put a freshman, a freshman that hasn’t played a lot of like United States volleyball in her career, she put her in a big time moment and just trusted her. I I mean I think that stuff goes a long long way. Not just from the optics of Nebraska volleyball and what the DBK era is going to look like, but also internally in that locker room. Like, yo, my coach says I need to be ready at all times. Well, I better be ready at all times. I just imagine the intensity at a practice, right? Like if any moment could be your moment, I’d approach it differently. I mean, you have to have them ready. And plus, we we know that Danny loves to scrimmage at practice. And I think this is a reason why. Yes, there’s a lot of drill work and you a lot of breakout and skills development, but ultimately she loves to just play. Whether it’s four on four, six on six, she loves to see them play. And part of that is you don’t know who’s going to be on the court at any given moment throughout the course of the season because you might be in a spot where you are down 02 to a top 10 opponent and you need to switch a liberos. I mean what a baller move like that that’s not that is not normal and that is gutsy. That is risky and so from so many different ways because what if that what if that doesn’t work? Yeah, you have to really know your team. Yeah, you do. And you just have to trust your players. And you have to trust that your players can thrive when that happens because Laney Choy went from a libero and it’s not like she’s just on the bench. Now she’s the DS. Like you have to be mentally tough enough to say, “Okay, I’m giving up this shirt, but I still got to pour into my team and they need me right now.” So, like the fact that Danny can get that out of Laney Choy to make that bold move and to trust that Laney is still going to play at a high level just in a different role that that’s that is crazy. It’s not normal. Um, but like I said, these are things maybe not this specific uh scenario, but this is something that Danny has done over her career and she believes in it and she has the confidence that she can continue to do that. And now for Nebraska fans, they’re saying like, “Oh my goodness, when she says these things, she means them and she’s willing to make some pretty crazy decisions like that in game and trust that it’s going to work out.” Okay. Kevin, we I’ve talked to you about this and I think we’re we’re seeing it play out real time. I love It’s not I don’t even know if it’s quirky or awkward. It’s just different, right? Her cadence. I love her delivery style at the podium. I think it I’m enamored by it. I I think it works. Uh it’s totally authentic, you know. It’s not always super smooth or, you know, this like crazy good ortor. It’s effective and it’s concise. Like I I love her delivery style. I think you hit the nail on the head, Damon. It’s so authentic. Um, and I think she wins a lot of people over with her smile because sometimes when she says things, she just has a smile and a very positive presence about her. And it’s hard to like disagree with somebody when they have that sort of and she could be telling you, “You need to get your rear end in gear, right?” And just say it with a smile like, “Oh god, I guess I need to get my butt in gear.” That’s how you talk about Phil Simpson, too. Yeah, kind of. Yeah. Yeah. It’s got some Simpson to him. Yeah, for sure. when we we as media members, we were able to go to the first practice and watch the entire thing and after 20 minutes I was like, I’ve seen enough. This team’s ridiculous. Uh, but my other takeaway was that Danny Busoon Kelly smiles all the time. like, yeah, she’s coaching her team and she’s challenging them and she’s trying to figure out like what’s going to work with this squad, but there’s just a positivity about her and a happiness and I think that’s infectious, especially in female athletics. You know, sometimes male sports, you need the coach that’s going to have spit flying from his mouth and he’s got to grab a face mask and get after somebody. And I’m not saying Danny’s not not willing to do that. We talked about this in our group text. This is crazy you’re bringing this up, but but but in order to sometimes, you know, effectively communicate to females, there has to be encouragement and positivity. And, you know, I think just she has an incredible gift to be able to communicate and relate with these players. And I think a lot of it is done through smiling and through encouragement. And it’s less like don’t mess that up. It’s more like you truly have the next one. just forget that we’re good. You’re a good player. And that’s an effective way to say it to a female as opposed to sometimes grabbing the male and grabbing the face mask and getting after and chewing his butt, you know. Um she she she just is hitting all the right notes. And one one thing that’s really cool for me to see this whole thing play out, uh, having known Danny for ever, over 20 years now, you know, like she is still the same Danny right now as Nebraska’s head volleyball coach as she was when I knew her as a player and then as an assistant at Nebraska. like the authenticity that you spoke of, Damon, like it it is really cool to see that through the success of her career, through the her success as a player, she still just has this joyful um spirit about her and and the smile just continues to radiate and I think that it is just it it provides a lot of warm and fuzzies within the locker room and across the fan base. That’s our guy, Kevin Suits, 1011 News in Lincoln. Kevin, appreciate the time as always. We’ll talk to you soon. Thank you, boys. Thanks, Kevin. It’s it’s interesting even early on in the in fall camp when you know she was talking about interchangeable parts and you know she was talking about wanting to harness uh Choy’s enthusias she she’s all over the place and which you know we’re going to we’re going to harness it and or she’ll talk about you know Andy Jackson defensively or something and she’s telling the players what they need to know in order that that she’d like to to see improve but the way that she’s He’s delivering the message. Mhm. I don’t know what it is, but it it makes it easy to receive. I noticed I’ve talked about this for how long? Yeah. Even in set two when you tapped out on us, I go, “This is where her awkward personality and her being a straight shooter can pay dividends.” Mhm. And I think that was the one where Jacob sent me the the a guy’s response. He goes, “Hey, this guy in my mentions disagrees with you.” And it wasn’t me. I got his point right cuz he didn’t know what I said. I’m just talking to the volleyball guys in the group chat. But you know, his the guy’s sentiment was was what did he say? She needs to get off her butt and coach. Yeah. And I’m thinking that’s not like she knows exactly what she’s doing. Mhm. And and how about how we contemplated whether she would take boy’s jersey and then so somebody must have text boots on the ground because we got confirmation like five minutes later. That was crazy. Yeah, it was. I I also I mean I don’t know like I was that demer innocent thought. Yeah. Yeah. He thought we may have to make a ch. Yeah. Yeah. And I go that would be pretty gutsy. Yeah. Well, and that’s there’s a there’s a toughness there that you have to instill not only in the way you coach and communicate, but also in your players to be able I mean I mean it’s it’s a demotion, right? Like if you’re if you’re cho like you got demoted and it’s like hey I need you to stay locked in here though because I need you to do this other thing right I need you to go play DS I need you to do this other thing and I need you to do it well but you lost your job right so it I don’t know I mean there’s not a good example in football really unless it’s I mean Tua and Jayen Herz actually is a really good example Tua what about Harvard or what about Satderfield Satderfield’s a great example yeah it’s like hey you’re no longer the offensive coordinator still need need you to be a really good tight end’s coach though, right? Need you to be a really good tight end’s coach. So, go ahead and take care of that, right? Like that’s a really you have to have a special kind of relationship with a person and you have to be wired a certain way as a person as a co and as a coach whether it’s rule or DBK. You have to understand that that person is wired that way in order to pull something like that off. I think it’s really really challenging. I will I’ll push back on what Kevin said a little bit about the communication styles because I don’t think it’s a gender thing. I think it’s more of a generational thing. I agree. I I would I’m I’m inclined to agree with that. I think generationally I mean you coach high school boys like you know a lot of times you need to say things in a certain way so they know the way that I coach, right? Yeah. You’re not a big yeller. Like you’re you’re a put your arm around a guy to explain to him what’s going on. Like there are times when you need to yell, whether you or anybody else, but to me that’s a generational thing. Now there’s people in pockets throughout generations, throughout genders, throughout sports, whatever that like they respond the best when you chew them out for whatever reason. That’s just how they receive information and they can handle it. But even in those people, if you want them to have long-term success, you better pour into them as a person before the chewing. That’s where the authenticity matters in high lever situations. The relationship has to be there because that’s what I believe, right? If the relationship is there, the communication style matters less. Yeah. It takes care of it. Yeah. Because you know I ride with you. I say crazy things to you and you make fun of me and whatever. But I It happens. We’re fine. Right. Totally. If somebody in the chat that doesn’t know you says crazy things to you, it’s says the exact same thing I would say to you. It’s a whole different story, right? Even when mine are probably says more about me, but yeah, generally more inflammatory. That’s 100%. No, it’s it’s it’s whatever the communic communication style, the relationship underneath it is what matters, I think, more than the style. But I do think it was just cool to watch it play out cuz we’re talking about it real time. I was still reading and watching. I just wasn’t responding because I didn’t have a lot to add. But I’m like, this is going to be interesting. understanding her team well enough and having the relationship with Choy to be able to pull that off is incredible. Yeah, that’s really impressive.
