Creighton men’s basketball Head Coach Greg McDermott announced his retirement last Monday Mar. 23 after 32 seasons of head coaching.
Coach McDermott started his head coaching career at Wayne State College from 1994-2000, accumulating a record of 166-53.
McDermott inherited a program that had five straight losing seasons, then in his next four years, recorded 20-win seasons. He also led the Wildcats to the NCAA Central Region Tournament title match in the 1999-00 season. Coach McDermott was inducted into the Wildcat Hall of Fame in October 2006.
Coach McDermott would go on to coach at the division one level at North Dakota State (2000-01), Northern Iowa (2001-06), Iowa State (2006-10) and Creighton (2010-26). He saw much success at the highest level of college basketball, making 13 NCAA tournament appearances. Three with Northern Iowa, 10 with Creighton. He would take the Creighton Bluejays to three sweet 16 appearances and the school’s first elite eight appearance.
The Hall of Fame coach had to make many transitions and adjustments as he climbed divisions and conferences. No matter division two to major division one, McDermott always seemed to find a way to bring in All-American talent.
“While the change in level requires attracting a higher level of athlete and expanding our recruiting reach geographically, it’s still about developing lasting relationships.” Coach McDermott said.
He has proven too that he could draw in talent from all over. Jon Dolliver, Eric Henderson, Brad Jones, Justin Patton, Baylor Scheierman, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Doug McDermott are all players that saw Coach McDermott’s vision and ended up as All-Americans.
Coach McDermott not only brings in and produces successful players, but he also brings in and mentors rising coaches at the division one level. Alan Huss, the successor of McDermott at Creighton, is one of those coaches under McDermott’s coaching tree who saw promise as head coach at McNeese State for two seasons. Coach Huss was an assistant of McDermott’s for six seasons.
“I’m thrilled that a member of my coaching family is now leading the Bluejays,” McDermott said. “He has all the attributes of a great coach. I look forward to watching him grow the program.”
Coach McDermott has also emphasized that he wants the full attention on the man taking charge in Coach Huss. Which perfectly describes who McDermott is as a person, unselfish and never about him.
McDermott has also shown no worry whatsoever about what is to come to Creighton. Coach Huss attended Creighton, played basketball at Creighton, and was an assistant coach at Creighton under McDermott while also having a successful campaign at McNeese, has put the former Bluejay head coach at ease.
“College basketball has changed significantly. Coach Huss is more equipped to navigate the world than I was.” McDermott said.
Coach McDermott enters retirement with a 680-372 record across the division one and two ranks.
