Iowa native and longtime basketball coach Greg McDermott will retire in 2026 after more than three decades of college coaching, including a career-defining career at Creighton
McDermott, who has been the Blue Jays’ head coach since 2010, announced his retirement in a lengthy press release on Monday, March 23. The Cascade, Iowa, native leads Creighton with a 365-188 record in 2024, becoming the winningest player in school history.
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Creighton finished the season with a 15-17 record and will play in the College Basketball Crown Tournament against Rutgers on April 2 after failing to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
Following McDermott’s exit, Creighton announced that current associate head coach Alan Huss would take over the program. Huss was named head coach-in-waiting when he returned to Creighton a year ago.
“It has been an incredible honor to lead the Creighton men’s basketball program for the past 16 years,” McDermott said in a release. “I am extremely proud of the young men who have proudly worn a Blue Jays uniform and represented our program in a class-leading manner. It has been especially gratifying to witness their growth and development both on and off the court…The support of the Omaha community consistently fills our arenas with 17,000 Although this chapter of my career is coming to an end, my love and respect for the Blue Jays will never fade away.”
Greg McDermott played and coached at Iowa State
McDermott graduated from Cascade High School in 1984 and left as one of the school’s top athletes. Despite playing only two varsity seasons, McDermott set multiple school records in points and rebounds per game and was named first-team All-State as a senior.
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He was also an outstanding baseball player, batting over .300 with a .978 fielding average at first base and helping lead Cascade to its first state baseball championship in 1982.
McDermott was a 1,000-point scorer at Northern Iowa from 1984 to 1988 and was a second-team All-Mid-Conference selection after his junior season.
He played briefly overseas before entering coaching in 1989 and was hired into his first head coaching position in 1994 at Wayne State University in Nebraska. He coached there for six seasons and briefly served as the head coach at North Dakota State University in 2000 before being hired as the head coach at his alma mater, UNI, in 2001.
UNI won the 2004 Missouri Valley Championship, advancing the program to the NCAA for the second time in school history. He then led the Panthers to the 2005 and 2006 NCAA tournaments.
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When did Greg McDermott become the head coach at Iowa State?
After five seasons at UNI, McDermott moved to Central Iowa in 2006 to become the head coach at Iowa State University.
There, he spent four forgettable seasons among Cyclones fans, compiling a 59-68 record but failing to achieve March Madness success in Ames.
He left Ames in 2010.
Greg McDermott shaped TJ Otzelberger’s career at Iowa State
November 25, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Creighton Blue Jays head coach Greg McDermott watches the first half of the 2025 Player Season group game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Michelob Ultra Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
One of the most lasting decisions McDermott made during his tenure at Iowa State was hiring TJ Otzelberger as an assistant. Otzelberger, the current head coach at Iowa State, is one of several current coaches descended from McDermott’s coaching tree.
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“Coach (McDermott) really gave me a chance here,” Otzelberger told the Register in December 2021. “You never know when these opportunities are going to come around. I’m very grateful. I’m very loyal to him because he gave me opportunities here. I was 27 and didn’t really have a resume to back up the opportunities I got.”
McDermott won 23 games in his first season at Creighton after leaving Iowa State in 2010 and reached the NCAA Tournament in his second season in 2011. The Blue Jays made 10 NCAA tournament appearances under his guidance, including three appearances in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
Greg McDermott’s family includes current NBA player Doug McDermott
His overall coaching record was 645-383 (before the College Basketball Championship). McDermott is a member of the Cascade High School, Iowa High School Athletic Association, UNI and Wayne State University Hall of Fame.
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In 1987, he married fellow UNI graduate Theresa McDermott. They have three children: Nick, Doug and Sydney. Doug McDermott decided to play for his father in 2010 after winning back-to-back state championships with Ames during his junior and senior seasons. He won the Naismith Player of the Year Award in 2014 and was subsequently selected with the 11th overall pick in that year’s NBA draft. He is currently a forward for the Sacramento Kings.
USA TODAY college sports insider John Bryce contributed to this report.
Cooper Voss is a services/trends reporter for The Des Moines Register. Contact him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared in the Des Moines Register: Greg McDermott, Creighton head coach, Iowa native, retiring