Thomas Robson Stays True in His Moment with the Supernovas

By Lincoln Arneal 

Not too long after he was named the interim head coach of the Omaha Supernovas, Thomas Robson’s phone buzzed. 

One of the first people to reach out to Robson when the news became public was a former boss and mentor to the 25-year old — Kelly Sheffield. The Wisconsin coach congratulated Robson on the new job and offered him a simple: don’t change — stay true to who you are in the new position.

Robson is one of the youngest coaches in the United States in the college and professional ranks, however, he’s built an impressive resume during his short time in the coaching ranks. While his youth allows him to build connections with the players, his work ethic and volleyball knowledge have helped put him in position to guide the Supernovas during the final stretch of the 2026 season. 

“That’s a heck of a responsibility, and that’s a heck of an opportunity. It’s pretty cool,” Sheffield said. “He’s smart enough. My advice was just to be him. Down the stretch, he can be really good for not just the team but individual players,  and how can you get them playing free.”

While he’s fairly new in the coaching ranks, he’s learned from an impressive collection of coaches along the way including Viterbo coach Ryan DeLong, Sheffield, Supernovas coaches Laura “Bird” Kuhn and Luka Slabe. He also has Supernovas general manager and former Nebraska coach John Cook on speed dial and can call up whenever he needs advice or a sounding board. 

Count Cook as another believer in Robson’s future as well. 

Cook signed Robson to a two-year extension through the 2028 season as an assistant coach because he was concerned someone else might poach him. So even though Robson is temporarily serving as the team’s head coach, he will return to his role as an assistant next season. 

“I think he’s one of the top up-and-coming talented young coaches in this country,” Cook said. “He’s a very confident guy. He’s been through some battles and some wars, and been around some great coaches and programs.”

Robson is one of just a few people who have been with the Supernovas since the first year. He was initially hired as the team’s technical coordinator before the 2024 season. After Shelton Collier was moved to franchise advisor and replaced as head coach by Laura “Bird” Kuhn, Robson was promoted to assistant coach. He’s been in the right place at the right time, but he’s also put the work in to climb the coaching ladder. 

Sydney Hilley played for Omaha during the first year and then re-signed with the Supernovas for the 2026 season. She said he’s grown a lot since he first joined the franchise. He’s more confident and has built strong relationships with players, built on trust. 

“Thomas is someone who just brings so much positive energy. It’s hard not to have a smile on your face when he’s around,” Hilley said. “He’s always joking, but he definitely knows his stuff, and so he has all of our respect as well. It’s kind of a fun balance between fun and the X’s and O’s.”

Robson’s journey to the Supernovas wasn’t an obvious path, but he knew from a young age it was a trail he wanted to blaze. During middle school, he wrote down that he wanted to win an NCAA championship and an Olympic medal when he grew up. However, even then, he knew he wouldn’t accomplish those goals as a player, but rather as a coach.

He got into volleyball through his sisters and stuck with it. Robson played libero for one season at Quincy University, a Division II school in east-central Illinois. However, he transferred back to his home state of Wisconsin to continue his college career at Viterbo, where he was named conference libero of the year twice. 

Continuing his playing career was only a part of the motivation for the transfer, as he also arranged to be a student assistant coach in 2019 before he took on a full-time role for the two seasons. The V-Hawks advanced to the NAIA tournament quarterfinals each year that Robson was on staff. 

Robson continued to expand his coaching world and served as a volunteer assistant coach at Wisconsin during the 2022 season. Robson did a little bit of everything for Sheffield during the season, including cleaning up stats in VolleyMetrics, running the summer camps and clinics, breaking down video, helping with individual and small-group practice sessions, and overseeing the managers. 

Staying true to himself also means keeping the mood light in practices and around the team. 

This shines through the most in Robson’s affinity for pranks and practical jokes. He doesn’t consider himself a strict or stern coach. He said he wants to keep his good-natured, fun-loving approach after his promotion. He will still scout the same, run practices the same and keep adding light-hearted moments into the daily grind of professional volleyball. 

“Player buy-in and relationships are the most important, especially at this level, so I kind of have that pre-built relationship,” Robson said. “A couple of players actually asked me yesterday if they can still joke with me, and so I had to find ways quickly to kind of get some one-liners at them, just to make them feel comfortable again.”

Nothing can better exemplify his approach than last year, when he got into a prank war with the Omaha coaching staff, culminating in him waiting behind a backdrop, waiting to surprise a small group of Novas during a postmatch media session. Once the questions started, Robson jumped out from behind the backdrop and shot off a confetti cannon to startle Kuhn, Brooke Nuneviller and Ally Batenhorst. 

Allison Holder knows all too well what it’s like to be on the receiving end of those pranks. She said she falls for Robson’s jump scares nearly every day. Holder has also worked closely with him as he served as the team’s main passing coach, and she appreciates his insights on how to be a better libero.

“I love his technical feedback. I love the relatability that he has to us, in a sense, and I’ve just enjoyed Thomas as a person, too,” Holder said. “All that combination in one as a coach, he has a really great future ahead of him from the coaching realm, and I’m just excited to see what he does from here.”

With just a few weeks left of the season, Robson isn’t trying to reshape the team or shake things up too much. He will work with assistant coach Blake Rawlins to guide the Supernovas down the stretch, rather than add a new assistant coach to the bench.

During each media session last week, every player quickly gave an endorsement of Robson.

Leyla Blackwell, who posted career bests in kills (10) and attacks (18) in Robson’s first match as interim head coach, said Robson and Rawlins have been their biggest supporters all season. 

“I love them,” she said. “We respect them so much. We got their back, and they have ours, and that’s the best sort of relationship you can have as a player and coach.”

Said outside hitter Sarah Parsons: “He’s so positive, and he brings a really great light to this team. He’s done a great job of stepping into this role.”

The past week has been a whirlwind for Robson as he figures out the new role and how best to serve the players. While he admits to being an emotional coach, Robson channels that energy to find the positive in any situation. 

Even though Omaha lost his first two matches as the interim head coach, Robson said he couldn’t be too upset because he’s still coaching the sport he loves with a group of players he feels a strong connection to.

He’s thankful for the trust the front office has shown him. He said he’s fortunate to be in a community that cares about volleyball and to have a coach in front of a fanbase that shows up for matches and other events.

Robson is still putting in his best effort and focusing on what they can do to finish the season as strongly as possible and earn as many wins as possible for the players. In the meantime, he’s remaining grateful, enjoying the ride as much as possible, and trying to stay true to himself. 

“I almost don’t have enough time to process it right now,” Robson said. “Maybe after the season, I’ll take a little bit just to be like, ‘Wow, that was really cool. That was a cool moment.’ Until then, it’s stay off social media, stay off my phone as much as possible.”