University of Minnesota Athletics
Volleyball
- Title:
- Women's Volleyball Head Coach
Keegan Cook was named as the eighth full-time head coach of the University of Minnesota volleyball program on Dec. 12, 2022. He finished his second year in charge in 2024 and enters year three in 2025.
Cook has led the Golden Gophers to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and holds a 38-24 (.613) overall record, including a 25-15 (.625) Big Ten record at the 'U'.
In 2024, Cook led the Gophers to a significant step forward in the growth of the program. The team finished with a 21-11 (13-7 Big Ten) record, a four-win improvement from the year prior. Minnesota made its 10th straight NCAA Tournament and fell in the Round of 32 to Kentucky. The 'U' earned top-10 wins over then No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Wisconsin, both in five sets. It was the first time Minnesota defeated a No. 1 ranked team since 2019 and the program's second straight home win over Wisconsin. Statistically, Minnesota improved in hitting percentage (.226 to .242), kills per set (12.4 to 13.0), assists per set (11.5 to 11.8), digs per set (14.7 to 15.3) and blocks per set (2.6 to 2.7) from the year prior.
Four Gophers were named to the All-Big Ten teams, including three on the first team with Lydia Grote, Julia Hanson and Melani Shaffmaster. Phoebe Awoleye was named to the second team. All four players earned AVCA All-Region honors while Hanson and Shaffmaster were named AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, the first All-America honors of their careers.
Under Cook's watch, Awoleye had one of the greatest seasons of any middle blocker in program history. She ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten during conference play with 1.64 blocks per set and 125 blocks. The next closest player to her in league play had 100 blocks. Awoleye ranked No. 6 all-time for a single season in Gophers history with 1.48 bps, which also put her at No. 10 in the country for the season.
The growth of Julia Hanson was a major turning point of the team in 2024. The junior had just 98 total kills in her first two years of college before having a breakout third season. She earned a starting spot and never looked back. She hit double-digit kills in 27 of 32 matches, including seven 20+ kill matches. Hanson had 10-or-more kills in each of her last 15 matches of the year and led the team with 4.57 points and 4.01 kills per set. Among Big Ten pins, Hanson ranked seventh in kills per set and third in hitting percentage (.268). Her 473 kills ranked sixth in the league. She earned two Big Ten Player of the Week awards and won AVCA Player of the Week on Dec. 3. Hanson was the first Gopher to earn the distinction since Nov. 22, 2022.
Lydia Grote improved under Cook in a major way in 2024. She earned First Team All-Big Ten honors as an opposite after being on the second team in 2023. The former California transfer ranked second on the team with 3.60 points, 2.90 kills and 0.30 aces per set (35 aces). She tallied more points (3.40 to 3.60), kills (2.68 to 2.90) digs (1.03 to 1.45) per set than she did in 2023.
Senior setter Melani Shaffmaster was named First Team All-Big Ten, AVCA All-Region and an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention after an excellent final season at the 'U'. She became the sixth Gopher ever to reach 5,000 career assist and was the first ever to hit 5,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 400 kills and 300 blocks.
In year one of his tenure at Minnesota, he led the Gophers to a 17-13 (12-8 Big Ten) record and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. After defeating Utah State in the first round, the Gophers fell to No. 12 Creighton in the Round of 32. Four players were named All-Big Ten in 2023 under his watch, including reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Taylor Landfair and Kylie Murr (first team). Opposite Lydia Grote and setter Melani Shaffmater were both named Second Team All-Big Ten.
Minnesota started its 2023 season with a Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge Tournament title, earning a four set win over TCU and a sweep over then No. 15 Baylor. The Gophers top win of the season came on Sept. 8 in a five set win over then No. 6 Oregon in Palo Alto, Calif. Minnesota finished its preseason slate 4-4 and started the conference slate slow, going 2-4 in its first six matches. The Gophers were able to turn their season around, however, winning 10 of their final 14 league games to earn a postseason bid.
“It is an honor to lead a historic program in Minnesota and compete in the best conference in the nation in the Big Ten,” said Cook. “I want to thank President Joan Gabel, Director of Athletics Mark Coyle, Deputy Athletic Director Julie Manning and the entire search committee for trusting me to lead the Gophers. I am looking forward to getting to know the team, the alumni and engaging with the passionate fans and volleyball community in Minnesota. I can’t wait to get started.”
Cook has spent the past eight seasons at the helm of the University of Washington, where he led the Huskies to four Pac-12 Championships. UW made eight trips to the NCAA Tournament, six trips to the Sweet 16 and four appearances the Elite Eight under Cook. The Huskies also made a thrilling run to the Final Four in the spring of 2021.
“I am thrilled to welcome Keegan, his wife Sarah and their son, Oliver, to Minnesota,” said University of Minnesota Director of Athletics Mark Coyle. “Keegan prioritizes a holistic coaching approach and has been successful at every stop on his journey. He has a proven record of success when it comes to recruiting, developing and coaching student-athletes, and he knows what it takes to compete for conference and national championships. Gopher volleyball is tremendously important to the Minnesota community, but it is also a national program that has an ever-expanding fan base and competes at an extremely high level. I know Keegan is ready to get to work, and I am looking forward to him leading the Gophers.”
Twelve different Huskies combined for 18 AVCA All-America honors under Cook, covering every position on the court, with a Pac-12 Player of the Year award for outside hitter Courtney Schwan and two Pac-12 Setter of the Year honors for Ella May Powell. The Huskies went 198-56 (.780) over Cook’s eight seasons with a league record of 119-41, a .744 winning percentage that ranks fifth-best among all coaches in Pac-12 history.
The Huskies were the only team in the fall of 2021 to put four players on the top three AVCA All-America teams. Ella May Powell (3rd-team) got her third All-America honor, Claire Hoffman (3rd-team) and Samantha Drechsel (2nd-team) became two-time All-Americans, and middle blocker Marin Grote (2nd-team) earned her first distinction. Powell was Pac-12 Setter of the Year once again, and Cook earned a third Pacific North Region Coach of the Year honor.
In the winter of spring of 2021, following the global pandemic, Washington showed its resiliency and the willingness of its players to grow and change. In spite of graduating a First Team All-American outside hitter and two more starters from the 2019 squad, the Huskies returned to the top of the Pac-12 with a 17-3 record, and then won three-straight five set matches in the NCAA tournament to make the Final Four for the first time in Cook's head coaching tenure, and the fifth time in UW history. Washington ended the year ranked No. 4 by the AVCA, tied for the third-highest final ranking in program history.
Cook was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the first time in 2020-21, and AVCA Pacific North Coach of the Year for the second time. For the first time since 2006, the Huskies had two First Team All-Americans and a Second Team All-American. Ella May Powell, who also won Pac-12 Setter of the Year, was named to the First Team as was outside hitter Samantha Drechsel, and outside hitter Claire Hoffman earned Second Team distinction.
A third Elite Eight trip in five seasons came in 2019, when the Huskies knocked off SEC Champion Kentucky in the Sweet 16 before coming up just short at No. 1-ranked Baylor in the Elite Eight. Kara Bajema ascended to First Team All-America status in her senior season and broke the school record for most kills in a season with 597. A first-time All-America honoree was sophomore setter Ella May Powell, who was named to the Third Team. Half a dozen Huskies earned All-Pac-12 honors as Washington finished second in the Pac-12 with a 15-5 record, 27-7 overall.
The Huskies finished No. 6 in the final 2019 AVCA poll, one of three top-6 final rankings in Cook's six seasons. In addition to the win over the SEC Champs, the Huskies won the only meeting with Pac-12 and eventual NCAA Champion Stanford, beating the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion for the first time since 2007. The Huskies also had consecutive wins against NCAA runner-up Wisconsin, winning both ends of a home-and-away series to go 3-0 overall against the teams in the NCAA final.
The 2018 season saw a young Huskies team come of age in the postseason, as Washington traveled for the opening weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2011, and came away with its biggest tournament upset since 2010 with a 3-0 sweep of No. 9-seed Creighton in front of a packed gym in Omaha to advance to the NCAA Round of 16.
Cook's third season in 2017 was complicated by multiple injuries throughout the year that caused the Huskies to use seventeen different starting lineups, and yet UW battled through the adversity to still tie for second in the Pac-12 with a 14-6 record. Washington earned the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, but was upset in a five set battle in the second round of the tournament by Illinois, finishing with a 25-8 record.
After the tremendous success of his first season at the head of the bench, Cook had the year two challenge of replacing six seniors, including four starters and a pair of All-Americans. But the 2016 Huskies, without a single senior in the starting lineup, saw new leaders emerge and freshman starters grow into their roles, and Washington emerged from a grueling Pac-12 season on top of the standings once again with a 16-4 league record. It was the third Pac-12 title for the Huskies in Cook’s four years on staff.
The Huskies advanced through to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, and at season’s end three Huskies earned AVCA All-America honors for the first time in their careers. Junior outside hitter Courtney Schwan was named to the First Team, and won Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, the fourth Husky to win that honor. Junior setter Bailey Tanner and junior opposite Crissy Jones each earned All-America Second Team distinction. Schwan, Jones, and Tanner were all named All-Pac-12 as well, with Kara Bajema named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.
Only Washington and Texas had three All-Americans on the AVCA’s top two teams in 2016. With the All-America honors for 2015 seniors Lianna Sybeldon (middle blocker) and Cassie Strickland (libero), Cook had a Husky All-American at every position in just two seasons.
The first season under Cook saw the Huskies maintain their place among the nation’s elite, as the Dawgs claimed a share of the Pac-12 Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight, losing a close four-setter to eventual national champion Nebraska. The Huskies went 31-3 for a third consecutive thirty win season. The Dawgs went 18-2 in Pac-12 play for the third year in a row, sharing the conference title with USC for Washington's second Pac-12 title in three years. The 2016 Pac-12 title would make it three in the past four.
That Washington did not skip a beat was all the more impressive considering the Huskies had to replace 2014 grads Krista Vansant, the two-time Honda Award winner and two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year, plus Third Team All-American outside hitter Kaleigh Nelson. Yet the Huskies led the Pac-12 and ranked second nationally with a .305 attack percentage, while senior middle blocker Lianna Sybeldon ranked second in the NCAA with a .450 attack mark.
Sybeldon headlined a long list of 2015 awards in Cook’s first season, as she earned First Team AVCA All-America honors, the first UW middle on the first team since 1997. Senior libero Cassie Strickland was an All-America honorable mention, and also became the first Husky in any sport to win the Senior CLASS Award. Tia Scambray, Crissy Jones, Melanie Wade, and Bailey Tanner were all All-Pac-12 honorable mention and Cook in his first year was named AVCA Pacific North Region Coach of the Year.
Cook was an assistant coach at Washington for the 2013-14 seasons, which happened to be the program’s first consecutive 30-win seasons. The Huskies won 30 games in 2013 and advanced to the national semifinals and then won 31 games in 2014 and competed in the regional semifinals. Cook was also tasked with leading Washington’s beach volleyball team, which made its debut in April 2014.
Prior to his time at Washington, Cook was an assistant coach from 2007-12 at his alma mater St. Mary’s College of California. Cook helped the Gaels win their first West Coast Conference title in 2009 and saw the team compete in the NCAA tournament three times.
Cook got his start in collegiate coaching at St. Mary's, first as a volunteer assistant, then a full-time assistant coach, eventually promoted to the top assistant for the Gaels. He spent eight years on the St. Mary's staff, six as assistant coach from 2007-12, helping the Gaels become one of the top teams in the West Coast Conference.
Over Cook's final five years at St. Mary's, the Gaels advanced to the NCAA Championships three times, including a trip to the second round in his last season in 2012. He helped lead the Gaels to their first West Coast Conference title in program history in 2009 and another NCAA second round appearance, falling just short of fourth-seeded Stanford in five sets.
A native of Pleasanton, Calif., Cook earned his Bachelor of Arts from St. Mary's in 2007, majoring in Mathematics with a minor in Religious Studies and has excelled in statistical analysis as a Volleyball Information Supervisor (VIS) for the FIVB. Additionally, Cook was the head coach of the NorCal Volleyball Club for ten years, with ten club teams under his guidance. All of Cook's teams qualified for the Junior Olympic Championships over his last five years and his 16-Under team won the 2008 Junior Olympic gold medal.
Cook has also stepped in to work with USA Volleyball in recent years. In 2016, he was the head coach for the U.S. Collegiate Women's National Team for its tour of China, and in the summer of 2018 Cook led the U.S. Junior Women's National Team to compete in the NORCECA Championships in Mexico. He was tabbed to lead the U.S. Girl's Youth National Team at the NORCECA Continental Championships in 2020 though the event would be canceled. In the summer of 2022, Cook was an assistant on the U.S. Girl's U19 Team that won gold at the Pan American Cup.
Cook married Sarah Ammerman in the spring of 2020. The couple welcomed their first child, Oliver, in 2021. His son, Finley, was born in the spring of 2024.
Keegan Cook's 2 Seasons at Minnesota:
- Two NCAA Tournament Appearances
- Eight All-Big Ten Selections
- Two All-Americans
Keegan Cook's 8 Seasons at Washington:
- Eight-straight NCAA Tournament Appearances
- Six Sweet 16's, Four Elite Eight's, One Final Four (2020-21)
- Four Pac-12 Regular Season Championships
- Three-time AVCA Region Coach of the Year (2015, 2020-21, 2021)
- 2020-21 Pac-12 Coach of the Year
- 37 All-Pac 12 Selections
- 18 All-America Honors (12 individuals)
- One Pac-12 Player of the Year
- Two Pac-12 Setters of the Year
Keegan Cook's Team USA Coaching Experience:
- 2016 - USA College National Team - China Tour - Head Coach
- 2018 - USA U20 National Team - NORCECA Championship - Head Coach
- 2019 - USA College National Team - World University Games - Head Coach
- 2022 - USA U19 National Team - NORCECA Pan Am Cup - Assistant Coach
- 2023- USA U19 National Team - NORCECA Pan Am Cup - Head Coach
- 2024 - USA U19 National Team - NORCECA Continental Championships - Assistant Coach
- 2025 - USA U19 National Team - FIVB World Championships - Head Coach
| Year By Year | ||||
| Year | School | Record | Postseason | Responsibilities |
| 2015 | Washington | 32-3 (18-2) | NCAA Regional Finals | Head Coach |
| 2016 | Washington | 29-5 (16-4) | NCAA Regional Finals | Head Coach |
| 2017 | Washington | 25-8 (14-6) | NCAA Second Round | Head Coach |
| 2018 | Washington | 20-13 (10-10) | NCAA Regional Semifinal | Head Coach |
| 2019 | Washington | 27-7 (15-5) | NCAA Regional Finals | Head Coach |
| 2020 | Washington | 20-4 (17-3) | NCAA Final Four | Head Coach |
| 2021 | Washington | 26-5 (17-3) | NCAA Regional Semifinal | Head Coach |
| 2022 | Washington | 20-11 (12-8) | NCAA First Round | Head Coach |
| 2023 | Minnesota | 17-13 (12-8) | NCAA Second Round | Head Coach |
| 2024 | Minnesota | 21-11 (13-7) | NCAA Second Round | Head Coach |
| Career | 10 Seasons | 236-80 (.747) | ||
