Greg McDermott is headed to Creighton

Its not often that you see a head coach go from a power conference team to a mid-major team willing, but that is exactly what Greg McDermott is doing.

The now-former Iowa State head coach is headed to Creighton, filling the void left when Dana Altman decided to take the Oregon job.

He may not have had a choice.

Greg McDermott is head back to the Missouri Valley.
(photo credit: Iowa State Daily)

McDermott was able to land the Iowa State job after turning around the Northern Iowa program. In 2000-01, the year before McDermott got there, the Panthers finished last in the MVC. After sub-.500 seasons in his first two years, UNI won 20 straight games the next three seasons, making the NCAA Tournament each season.

But McDermott failed to equal that level of success in Ames. His first season was the only year he finished better than 10th in the Big XII, and the last three seasons have seen the Cyclones muster just 12 total league wins. With his two best players -- Craig Brackins and Marquis Gilstrap -- going pro and the defections of Lucca Staiger (who left mid-season to go back to Germany), Chris Colvin, Justin Hamilton, and Dominique Buckley, the Cyclones were left with just six scholarship players.

Simply put, things weren't going to get better next season.

And another year like the past four likely would have ended up with McDermott getting fired.

So he made the smart career move.

He left arguably the worst job in the Big XII for arguably the best in the Missouri Valley. Have you ever seen the Qwest Center, the 18,000 seat arena in Omaha where Creighton plays their home games, when its packed and rocking? There are schools in the power conferences that don't have the kind of following that Creighton does.

He also earned himself some job security. A 10 year contract worth $9 million is about as secure as a job can get in this business.

If you ask me, McDermott made a pretty smart move.

At Creighton, he will have a bigger, better fan base and he may even be taking over a better basketball program. I'm sure that I'm not the only one that believes Creighton has a better shot at being an NCAA Tournament staple than Iowa State.

McDermott has built one MVC program. There's no reason to believe he can't resurrect another.

As an interesting side note to all of this, Greg McDermott's son, Doug, has signed a letter of intent to play at Northern Iowa. The elder McDermott said that his son would be joining him in Omaha, but apparently that isn't quite true yet.

For what its worth, Ben Jacobson, the UNI head coach, is best friends with Greg McDermott, which probably means that Doug will be granted his release once the request is put in.