MBB: McDermott to become Creighton head coach

Chris Cuellar and Nate Sandells

ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard confirmed this afternoon that ISU men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott is headed to Creighton to fill the vacant head coaching position.

McDermott’s son Doug, who is a senior at Ames High School, will join his father at Creighton, despite  commiting to the University of Northern Iowa earlier this year.

“I know this was a very difficult decision for Greg and his family,” Pollard said. ” The contract terms that Creighton offered him and an opportunity to coach his son were significant factors in his decision. We wish Greg the best of luck at Creighton.”

Pollard’s announcement comes after two days of speculation following 16-year Creighton coach Dana Altman’s decision to accept the head coaching job at Oregon.

Creighton released a statement stating that McDermott will be introduced as head coach tomorrow at 10:30 a.m at the D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha.

Reports have said McDermott’s deal is a 10-year, $9 million contract.

ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard gave McDermott a vote of confidence on March 8, after defeating then-No. 5 Kansas State on the road. It was the coach’s first top-25 win since his arrival in Ames.

McDermott just completed his fourth year at Iowa State, with four straight losing seasons. The coach had a string of NCAA tournament seasons at his former job at Northern Iowa, but was unable to translate that success to Ames, going 59-68.

The basketball staff doubled in size this week, with the hiring of Nick Nurse and Jeff Grayer. Nurse was the head coach of the Iowa Energy, the National Basketball Development League’s team in Des Moines. Grayer is the all-time leading scorer in Cyclone history, but his only coaching experience was in the Continental Basketball Association. T.J. Otzelberger was the only assistant coach still on the staff last Monday.

Keep checking iowastatedaily.net for updates on the situation.