John Cook on Harper Murray's status after shoplifting accusation: 'A lot of that's out of my control'

After the Nebraska volleyball team played a spring exhibition match, defeating Denver on Saturday, head coach John Cook addressed the status of freshman outside hitter Harper Murray. Murray was accused of shoplifting recently.

Cook generally demurred on the matter, declining to get into many specifics. He did generally indicate that whatever happens with Murray’s status going forward isn’t fully up to him.

“All that — a lot of that’s out of my control right now,” Cook said. “So it’s in other people’s hands. So I really don’t have, I really don’t know.”

Pressed more on Murray’s status going ahead, Cook said he hopes Murray can wrap up the spring semester without further incident.

“I don’t know,” Cook said. “Hopefully she’s going to finish her finals, that’s the main goal right now.”

More on Murray being accused of shoplifting

Murray was accused on Friday of shoplifting in Lincoln, according to the Lincoln Journal Star’s Amie Just. She was suspended for Saturday’s spring match, 1011 News’ Chase Matteson reported.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Murray was accused of stealing $70 worth of merchandise from Scheels in Lincoln before buying $350 worth of merchandise. Lincoln Police then filed an incident report, as the post stated, and found she took five rings worth $12.99 apiece.

Nebraska Athletics addressed the situation in a statement to the Journal Star and said the decision to suspend her for Saturday’s match was already made before this occurrence.

“We are aware of the incident report from Thursday night and are gathering more information,” the statement read. “We had previously made the determination that Harper would be suspended for Saturday’s spring match. Any further discipline will be handled internally. We will have no further comment at this time.”

This marks the second incident involving Murray in as many months. In early April, she received a citation for DUI, and a breathalyzer test showed her blood-alcohol content as .169, according to Lincoln Police – double the legal limit. She also received citations for reckless driving, obstruction of a peace officer, minor in possession and carrying a false ID.

For her efforts, Murray was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in the 2023 campaign. She was also selected for the All-Big Ten First Team, AVCA All-Region Team and AVCA All-America Third Team.

A Nebraska spokesperson said the school was aware of the situation, but had no further comment at the time.

On3’s Nick Schultz and Grant Grubbs contributed to this report.