LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska volleyball head coach John Cook announced on Friday that BYU men's assistant coach Jaylen Reyes has been named the new assistant coach for the Husker volleyball program. Reyes replaces Tyler Hildebrand , who accepted a new director position with USA Beach Volleyball in February.

Reyes, a former BYU libero, has been an assistant coach for the BYU men for the last three seasons. He handled player development and was the recruiting coordinator for the Cougars, who reached the NCAA Championship match each of the past two seasons. Reyes will join the Huskers at the conclusion of the BYU men's season and will continue in the role that Hildebrand had, coordinating game plans and scouting reports while assisting in coaching all positions. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Reyes is the son of Tino Reyes, who was the head women's volleyball coach at the University of Hawaii at Hilo from 2010-15 and spent 17 years as associate head coach on the Hawaii men's volleyball coaching staff.

Reyes helped lead BYU to a 26-5 (16-2 MPSF) record in 2017, winning a share of the conference regular-season title. The Cougars reached the national championship match for a second-consecutive season. BYU went 27-4 (19-3 MPSF) in 2016 – Reyes' first season on staff – also winning the conference title and playing in the national final. Reyes coached four AVCA All-Americans in both 2016 and 2017. This year the Cougars are 18-4 with a perfect 8-0 conference record.

“With Tyler leaving for USA Beach Volleyball, we had to find someone who could step in and replace what he did for Nebraska volleyball, and we had a big challenge,” Cook said. “My first call was to one of my closest advisors in the volleyball world, and he told me about a young coach and rising star, Jaylen Reyes . Jaylen's team knocked Tyler's Long Beach State team out of the final four last year, so I decided to start with that accomplishment. After interviewing all of our candidates and putting them through an extensive interview process, Jaylen separated himself from the others.

Jaylen is a second-generation coach. His dad, Tino, coached for years, so Jaylen has grown up in a gym. He was hired to coach at BYU a few days after completing his playing career. Coaching volleyball is in his DNA. We wanted someone who was willing to crawl here just like Andy Dufresne in the movie, 'The Shawshank Redemption'. Our players and the Husker Nation will love his energy, passion and ability to teach the game.”

Reyes' other coaching experience includes serving as the lead coach at the Gold Medal Squared Clinic since 2014, and he was an assistant coach with the SCVA High Performance Team in the International Youth Division at the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships, winning silver in 2017 and bronze in 2016.

“I would like to thank Coach Cook for this amazing opportunity to be a part of the Nebraska volleyball family,” Reyes said. “I look at this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with Coach Cook, Kayla (Banwarth), Lindsay (Peterson) and the rest of the support staff at Nebraska. I'm extremely honored and humbled to be able to join the Husker family and help continue the success of this storied program, and to get to work with some amazing young athletes along the way. Growing up as a lifelong volleyball fan, I've always appreciated and even idolized Coach Cook. Getting to know him these past couple weeks, I can see the type of leadership qualities and attention to detail it takes to be as successful as he has been. I'm excited to head out to Lincoln after our season at BYU is finished and get to work at the Devaney Center, which I have heard is home to the best fans in college volleyball.­­”

Reyes received his bachelor's degree from BYU in exercise science in 2015. He was the starting libero for the Cougars from 2012-15 and received AVCA All-America honorable mention in 2015. Reyes helped his team to back-to-back MPSF regular-season and tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2013-14. Reyes is BYU's all-time rally-scoring era leader in games played (431) and is second in career digs (762).