Hagar Takes Charge of Huskers' Serving Strategy

When John Cook retired, he left a large void for the Nebraska program.

Dani Busboom Kelly stepped in to handle most of the responsibilities as head coach, but assistant coach Brennan Hagar is filling a subtle yet vital role on game day.

Hagar is tasked with signaling which zone Husker servers should aim at from the end line. He’s settled into the role in his first year as a full-time assistant. Busboom Kelly said she can get locked into other parts of the game and wants to have an assistant own the job, and Hagar was the first one to volunteer for the task.

“I think he’s been doing a great job,” Busboom Kelly said. “We don’t have a ton of aces, but I do feel like our serving has continued to improve week to week and get teams out of system, which is the goal.”

The Huskers got a slow start to the season with 0.89 aces per set during the non-conference schedule. However, in league matches, Nebraska is ninth in the Big Ten in aces with 1.47 per set. Even though aces haven’t been plentiful, the Huskers are limiting the opponent’s offensive success as they are recording a first-ball sideout on just 22.6 percent after NU serves.

It’s not just a one-man job for Hagar. He collaborates with fellow assistant Jaylen Reyes to devise a game plan for opponents.

Andi Jackson sends a serve. — Andi Jackson sends a serve over the net. She is second on the team with 14 aces. | Amarillo Mullen

During a recent appearance on The Dig podcast, Hagar said it isn’t as simple as aiming for the weakest passer. Sometimes, they aim for zones that make it more challenging for a team to run their preferred offense. Other times, Hagar doesn’t worry about a zone and calls for the player to deliver their most comfortable serve.

“I trust your best is better than their best, and making them really believe that,” Hagar said. “If we have six or seven servers going who truly believe their best is better than any passer, any service receive, then we’re setting ourselves up for the long run.”

However, not everyone aims for zones on the opposite court. Freshman opposite Virginia Adriano utilizes a top-spin jump serve, which can be a little more challenging to control. Instead of specific targets, she directs her serve to one side of the court.

Andi Jackson, who is second on the Huskers with 14 aces, said they all have their go-to serves that they can get in nine times out of 10. When games get tight, they are more likely to resort to their comfort zone. She said Hagar does a great job building up the servers, especially in difficult situations.

“He instills that confidence in us before we go out,” she said. “If they call a timeout to try to ice us, Brennan’s going to be the first person to come up to you and let you know that you got it and thump the ball.”

Illinois volleyball coach Chris Tamas speaks next to his players at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. Tamas was an assistant coach with Dani Busboom Kelly at Nebraska before they both got head coaching jobs. | Ryan Kuttler

Assistant Reunion

Busboom Kelly will see some familiar faces on the opposing bench Thursday night. She served as an assistant coach on John Cook’s staff at Nebraska from 2015-16 with Illini head coach Chris Tamas.

Chris’s wife, Jen, was a volunteer coach with the Huskers and is now an assistant at Illinois. Tamas and Busboom Kelly both left NU after the 2016 season for head coaching positions. Tamas has been at Illinois ever since, accumulating an 161-103 record in the nine seasons.

She said Tamas does a good job of game planning and expects him to have a good scout on the Huskers.

“It’s always fun to play against people you respect and enjoy,” Busboom Kelly said. “I think they have a way to bring out the best in their players. He’s a little bit like myself, like going to enjoy the little things and not take for granted how hard it is to win.”

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Broadcast Barrage

Nebraska’s match against Illinois will air on FS1, marking the third of four appearances on the network. Then on Saturday, the Huskers will make their debut on the streaming platform Peacock against Minnesota.

Jackson said the exposure has helped grow the game, and every time the Huskers are on TV, they draw a big crowd. It’s part of a larger trend of increased popularity in women’s sports.

“I’m biased, but I wish that every single game could be streamed on TV, because I think everyone would watch,” she said. “If it’s on, people are going to watch it. So I think it should be on more.”

This season, NU will have matches shown on FOX, ESPN, ABC, BTN, FS1, Nebraska Public Media, ESPN+, Peacock and B1G+. Nebraska attracted 1.2 million viewers on ABC earlier this year for its match against Kentucky. The Huskers had 943,000 people watch their match against Penn State on Fox. They are also averaging 300,000 viewers for their five matches on BTN.

“It wasn’t too long ago we were begging for this as a coaching group, and trying to set up meetings with ESPN and all these big networks of what do we have to do to get on more,” Busboom Kelly said. “Now there’s almost like arguments over who has rights to this game and who doesn’t. It’s huge for our sport, and the fact that it can be on multiple networks all over the country, it’s just going to continue to grow, and the viewership continues to go up every single year.”

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