Former Husker eager for role with Lady Vols

In high school volleyball, Dani Busboom excelled as a hitter.

When she committed to play at Nebraska, it was as a setter. The Freeman High graduate eventually played in a national championship match for the Huskers. Then she moved to libero and won a national title in 2006, her senior year.

What’s left in the sport? For Busboom, it’s trying her hand as an assistant coach at another NCAA Division I school.

After joining the Tennessee staff in March as an assistant coach, Busboom said that she can’t wait for August and getting back into the swing of things.

“Definitely, I miss the competition, and just being around the girls,” Busboom said last week. “Once you’re in a sport, it’s really tough to get out.”

Busboom said she first seriously considered coaching a year ago. Kentucky coach Craig Skinner, a one-time assistant at Nebraska, asked her to join his staff as a volunteer last season.

Instead, Busboom began a career as a sales representative with an Omaha-based insurance firm. She offered sideline reports on the Huskers’ radio network during NU matches last fall, and with the Huskers in the final four, Busboom took advantage of the opportunity to network with numerous college coaches.

Still, it came as a surprise -- even to Busboom -- that someone with no coaching experience could land a first job with a top national program.

The Lady Vols played in the final four in 2005, and with a young roster, Tennessee won 12 of its final 13 regular-season matches last season.

Head coach Rob Patrick said his optimistic outlook for 2009 was bolstered even more by the addition of Busboom this offseason. Busboom has “the whole package,” he said, noting that she’s played every position and trained extensively as a setter.

At Tennessee, Busboom will train the Lady Vols’ setters and coordinate equipment, travel and summer camps. She’ll also have responsibilities in recruiting. She’s been to major club tournaments already in Chicago and Atlanta.

“Obviously, I’ve been in the gym all my life, but recruiting is something I don’t have any experience in,” Busboom said. “Because I committed (to Nebraska) so early, all I went through was getting the questionnaires that everyone sends out.

“Going to club tournaments and trying to identify skills and characteristics that we want in a player, that’s all new. But I think it’s going to be an exciting part of the job.”

Patrick has no reservations that Busboom will be a winner on the recruiting trail. Her sales and broadcast work was a great training ground, said Patrick, who himself worked as vice president for a large home-building company and served as a financial consultant in the real estate business before his first big coaching gig.

“That’s what recruiting is, and when you have somebody that can do that with a championship ring on her finger, well that helps, too,” Patrick said of Busboom. “She’s somebody that you can put out there as a face of Tennessee volleyball.”