Finding a New Coach for Omaha, Part 2: Nobody Asked Me, But Here’s My Five “Swing for the Fence” Candidates

Nobody asked me - and for very good reason - but here is my list of "dream big" names to keep an eye on for the coaching opening at Omaha with the surprise retirement announcement from Rose Shires late last week.

First, let me acknowledge that it is real easy for me to sit here and craft of a list of candidates and that it is an ENTIRELY different thing to actually do it in the real world. I do not envy the job in front of Omaha AD Trev Alberts and any individual(s) assisting in the selection process. 

But, as back-seat drivers usually are, I'm going to be a little aggressive in my thought-process. And by that I mean I think the timing is perfect for Omaha to swing for the fences on this hire. Because of that, I have five potential candidates that I would force to tell me no before I moved on. I'm from the school of there being no harm in asking, even if you think the answer will definitely be no. Even if it's a one-in-a-million situation, as Lloyd Christmas said in Dumb-and-Dumber, "so, you're telling me there's a chance."

And if there is a chance to get any of these five, you have to pursue it further. And, you'll never know if there is a chance if you don't ask.

I'm also a big believer in the fact that the next coach needs to be someone that will have outstanding relationships with the major clubs in the state and build the program with in-state talent supplemented with kids from the vast number of region powerhouses like Northern Lights and M1 in Minnesota, KC Power and clubs in Kansas City and the vast standout clubs in Iowa. But, people are hungry for an Omaha program that keeps top in-state talent home. The next coach needs a strong finger on the pulse of local clubs.

Because of that, individuals with established relationships would, in my opinion, have a leg up and local connections are going to be important. Someone that is well respected by local clubs, has roots in the area & is likely to stay long term and someone that can energize and expand a fan base are critical, in my opinion, in this hire. I think you will see that trend in my list. 

I'm also a big fan of coaching trees. I think there is a lot of merit to who people have learned and studied under and without a doubt the John Cook and Kirsten Bernthal Booth coaching trees are highly respected nationally.

All potential candidates are listed alphabetically.

Here are my five long-shot candidates that you have to make them tell you no before you move on in your search. Tomorrow I will have my list of potential candidates I would reach out to if I couldn't sweet talk one of these five into it first.

Michaela Franklin, Head Coach, Clemson

Michaela Franklin is a Lincoln native and is well known and respected in the volleyball community. Oh, and she also happens to coach Omaha AD Trev Alberts' daughter at Clemson at the moment.

After graduating at Lincoln High, Franklin played at Kansas State where the Wildcats went to the NCAA Tournament from 2002-04. Franklin began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois from 2006-08. Franklin then spent four seasons coaching alongside current Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky as an assistant coach at Marquette before becoming the head coach at Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2013. 

After one season at Green Bay, Franklin joined Shymansky again, this time as the associate head coach at Iowa. In 2017, Franklin was named the head coach at Clemson. 

“Michaela wowed our search committee with her enthusiasm and organization and she stood out among an extremely impressive pool of candidates,” Clemson Athletic Director Dan Radakovich said at the time. “I’m confident the future of Clemson volleyball is in great hands given her passion for recruiting and developing student-athletes, as well as her experience competing and coaching at the highest levels of collegiate volleyball.”

The year before Franklin arrived at Clemson, the Tigers went 6-26 and 1-19 in the ACC. Her first season Clemson went 7-25 (2-18) and last year the Tigers made huge strides, going 19-15 (8-10).

Truthfully speaking, Omaha is probably a better job than Clemson. The question would be if Franklin feels the same and if Omaha could make it worth it for her to come back to Nebraska. 

Christy Johnson-Lynch, Head Coach, Iowa State

Before you call me crazy, hear me out on this one. There was a time when people looked at Johnson-Lynch as the front-runner to replace John Cook in Lincoln at some point. That talk has slowed in recent years. Johnson-Lynch was given a seven-year contract extension six years and one month ago, making 2019 the final year on her contract - I believe. I could be wrong, but I don't believe she has gotten an extension beyond that.

When she took over at Iowa State, the Cyclones were brutally bad - winning about two conference matches a year. Now, it's a program that is a regular NCAA Tournament team. In 2011 and 2012, she guided the Cyclones to a combined record of 47-14, reaching the Elite Eight in 2011 and the Sweet 16 in 2012.

Since then, however, the Cyclones have not advanced out of the first weekend of the tournament and Iowa State was left out of the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since Johnson-Lynch's first year. Perhaps it is time for her to come home?

She earned All-America honors playing for the Huskers in 1994 and 1995. Johnson-Lynch was the starting setter on the 1995 Nebraska team that won the school's first NCAA championship. The Huskers made four NCAA tournament appearances and won three Big Eight titles during Johnson-Lynch's collegiate career. In her junior and senior campaigns in Lincoln, Johnson-Lynch led Nebraska to a 63-2 mark, the second-best winning percentage of any setter in Nebraska history. The Huskers were a perfect 24-0 in Big Eight play during that span and captured two Big Eight crowns.

Johnson-Lynch spent one year coaching at Millard North High School in her hometown of Omaha and also served as a coach in the River City Juniors Volleyball Club program for two years.

Dan Meske, Associate Head Coach, Louisville

Meske cut his teeth early at Sports Performance - one of the top clubs in the nation out of Chicago - and then spent eight seasons at the University of Nebraska as a graduate assistant, volunteer assistant and a full-time assistant coach. He was in charge of coordinating the Huskers' blocking defense as well as video scouting, team managers and assisting with camps. He worked primarily with Nebraska's middle blockers. He also coached with VCNebraska during his time in Lincoln. 

Meske left Nebraska and took the head coaching job at Augustana, where he led the Vikings to a 45-17 record over two seasons. In 2016, the Vikings made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008, finishing the year at 27-6. Augustana won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2006 with a first-round victory over #2 Nebraska-Kearney. The 2016 season proved to be a year of landmark wins for the Vikings as they knocked off the AVCA #1, #2, and #3 teams throughout the year with wins over #1 Minnesota-Duluth, #2 Nebraska-Kearney, and #3 Palm Beach Atlantic. In my opinion, the Division II Northern Sun Conference might actually be a stronger conference top-to-bottom than Omaha's Summit League.

Meske left Augustana to reunite with former colleague Dani Busboom at Louisville in 2017. It's my understanding that Louisville was willing to make a hefty financial commitment to get Meske on staff and he could probably leap straight to a Top 25 program at some point if he wants. But, Meske knows what Omaha is capable of becoming and maybe he wants to run his own program now. Doesn't hurt, I wouldn't think, that his wife Laurel was a standout player at Creighton and they still have roots here.

Undoubtedly it would probably take quite a bit to get Meske to Omaha.

Angie Oxley-Behrens, Assistant Coach, Creighton University

Quick history lesson here on Creighton assistants. Tom Mendoza was at Creighton and he just took what was a pretty bad South Carolina program to the NCAA Tournament in 2018. Ryan Meek replaced Mendoza on Creighton's staff and eventually left for High Point, which he guided to the NCAA Tournament last year. Bernthal-Booth's coaching tree is impressive and Oxley Behrens has been with her from day one at Creighton. 

Behrens has seen Creighton go 317-160 in her 15 seasons on the bench, including NCAA Tournament wins in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 (2), 2016 (3) and 2017.

As a player at Nebraska, Behrens won three Big 12 titles, was named 1997 Big 12 Freshman of the Year and was chosen as the University’s female student-athlete of the year in 2001 after leading the Cornhuskers to a 34-0 mark and national title in the fall of 2000 as a senior. She closed her career as the NU’s all-time digs leader with 1,086.

Oxley Behrens is both well respected and more than qualified for the position. Personally, though, I have a hard time seeing her ever leaving Creighton. But, if she were to ever leave Creighton, one would think that the head job at Omaha would be about the only thing that could make her do it. She belongs on this list even if she isn't looking to be a head coach.

Jaylen Reyes, Assistant Coach, Nebraska

Probably the longest shot of them all, but I still think you have to make Reyes tell you no. There is also a really good chance that even if the one-in-a-million came through and Omaha could hire him, it likely wouldn't long before he was off to a big-time program. And, he could certainly stay at Nebraska and make the transition from assistant to head coach of a big-time program just as Busboom and Chris Tamas have done recently. 

But, you talk about a hire that would be like Omaha planting its flag as a potential national power, Reyes could be it. Before coming to Nebraska as an assistant, Reyes spent three years as an assistant for the BYU men's program. And, when hired by Nebraska, John Cook had this to say to the Omaha World-Herald about Reyes.

“We wanted someone who was willing to crawl here just like Andy Dufresne in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ ” Cook said at the time. “Our players and the Husker Nation will love his energy, passion and ability to teach the game.”

Reyes was BYU’s starting libero from 2012 to 2015, receiving All-America honorable mention as a senior. He’s the program’s leader in games played (431) and second in career digs (762). His dad, Tino Reyes, was the women’s volleyball coach at Hawaii from 2010 to 2015 and spent 17 years as associate coach of the school’s men’s program.