Head Coach-In-Waiting, Alan Huss is Back!
Well, well, well. Surprise, surprise. Then again, no. In the current shifting landscape of collegiate sports, stuff happens. Recruits change their minds, players transfer annually, coaching hires & fires, AD’s come and go. Continuity…program continuity, what’s that look like? In today’s sporting world, leadership must continually peer the horizons – what’s ahead, what’s coming down the pike? NIL, conference’s playing musical chairs, player unions, new revenue streams and sharing modalities, player’s ‘Bill of Rights’, the death of Grant of Rights agreements, coaching musical chairs, equitable profit sharing.. It’s a business these days and never a dull moment it seems.
Every year we see the scramble of coaching firings and hirings, The cobbling together of committees, the hiring of consultants, or both for buying a new coach. Some surprising, some not. Recently, a growing group of the old guard, longtime college basketball coaching stalwarts, are hitting the retirement trail, the beach, the golf courses, and a less tumultuous, stressful life. A changing of the guard. It is also a time of refreshment and opportunity for the younger generations of coaching talent to finally move up!
auf Wiedersehen – tschüss old guys, bienvenidos young coaches!
The hope is that an infusion of new blood, new coaching philosophy, new ideas – a fresh start – will jump start failing programs, energize average programs, and sustain current successes in top programs. In the modern era, Creighton’s athletic program (M/W basketball, futbol, baseball/softball, volleyball, and other sports) have sustained very good successes and have shown a consistent continuity of sport integrity and performance. Men’s basketball since 1985, has shown only one performance dip, during the Rick Johnson era. The Barone, Altman, and MeDermott tenures have all shown a consistent effort and successes.
Over the last several years, the designation of a “head coach in-waiting” has evolved at a handful of major schools. Notably Gonzaga, Houston, & Duke has used this sort of feature for continuity, and to a lesser degree, North Carolina and Villanova. The notion is to have a ‘chosen one’ successor to a legend to follow-on and maintain program continuity and trajectory.
In Creighton’s case former assistant coach Alan Huss is the heir apparent. Coach Huss will become the 17th coach in the Creighton men’s basketball lineage. He left CU two years ago for the HC job at High Point University, NC. Coach turned the HPU program around, winning 56 games (56-15 ) over his tenure and taking the Panthers to their 1st NCAA Tournament this season. Given the need for assurances and certainty, especially since Coach Huss has been a candidate for other high level positions, it is assumed that the timeline is relatively short (1 to 2 years) for Coach McDermott’s retirement.
In the 106 years* of organized, coached, and documented men’s basketball history at Creighton University, there have been 16 head coaches. Beginning with the phenomenal, unmatched legend Thomas E. Mills, up to today with the winningest (total wins) coach in our history, Greg McDermott. Creighton is, and seemingly has always been, blessed with coaching giants: The list is long…Thomas Mills, Charles Kearney, Arthur ‘Schabie’ Schabinger, Eddie Hickey, Tommy Thomsen, Red McManus, Eddie Sutton, Tom Apke, Tony Barone, Dana Altman, and Greg McDermott. Alan Huss will continue the tradition and legacy. Through the span of these 106 years, Creighton Men’s Basketball has accumulated a record of 1,915 – 1,074, with a win percentage of .641 (64.1%), as of the 2023-2024 season.
James Harvey, a.k.a. gtmoBlue
*Organized basketball began in 1916 according to Creighton archival documents, with the hiring of Thomas Mills and official recordkeeping. There are accounts of unofficial Creighton team(s) prior to this time (1912), but are not considered as part of official Creighton basketball history.
(Note: In men’s basketball, since 1955 – the Tommy Thomsen era, there have only been two Creighton coaches with losing records – Willis Reed (1981-85) and Rick Johnson (1991-94).)
Bluenotes 