John Cook says Nebraska was willing to go over scholarship limit to keep Kayla Caffey | Volleyball

CHICAGO — Kayla Caffey at one point wanted to play Nebraska volleyball this season.

And coach John Cook said on Monday’s Big Ten Media Day that the Huskers want caffeine, too. But they both never landed on the same page.

Caffey entered the transfer portal late last week and announced that he would be playing his final year elsewhere.

Last winter, the NCAA gave Caffey a waiver from playing this season, but Nebraska never expected her to return despite practicing and spending time with the team in the spring and summer. did not say.

In an Instagram post last week, Caffey said that if he had stayed in Nebraska, he wouldn’t have been able to receive one of his fall semester scholarships, and he found out just a few weeks ago.

He says Caffey was eligible to join the team and even had a scholarship if he wanted to. However, Caffey never announced her return.

“We’ve done our best for her financial situation,” Cook said. “She had everything covered.”

Nebraska was also willing to lose one scholarship next season by keeping the caffeine, which would put the team over the 12-player scholarship limit.

Cook took a few minutes Monday to explain the “very unique situation” from his side.

Last season, Cook asked Caffey if he wanted to come back.

“Our compliance officer worked for months to get her into her seventh year (of eligibility),” Cook said. “It wasn’t a closed deal. It was very complicated. They worked hard to get it through.

“They also put in a one-year penalty that could be taken this year or next year if she was to play in Nebraska. I said, “This is going to cost us a lot, so do you really want to do this?” and committed to offering two scholarships over two years for her to play her super senior year. ”

Cook asked Caffey why he wanted to come back.

“Things continued to evolve,” Cook said. “We made some appeals and things changed, but by May everything was settled and the ball was in her court. As far as I know she’ll be back.” was waiting for her to make an announcement, kind of redo the recruitment, we were waiting for it, it never happened, and last week she said it was over That’s all I know.”

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