In a coaching carousel defined by lawsuits, betrayals, and midnight emails from agents, Creighton did something radical: it planned ahead.
Greg McDermott announced his retirement on March 23 after 16 seasons and 365 wins — the most in program history. He will coach through the College Basketball Crown tournament in early April, then hand the keys to Alan Huss, the 47-year-old associate head coach who was hired as coach-in-waiting a full year earlier.
No search firm. No bidding war. No leaked candidate lists. No players wondering whether to enter the transfer portal. Just a plan, executed with the kind of quiet competence that McDermott brought to everything he did in Omaha.
While other programs scrambled, Creighton's succession plan was set a year in advance
The Record
McDermott's numbers speak for themselves: 365-188 at Creighton, 645-383 across five schools and 32 seasons of Division I coaching. Ten NCAA Tournament appearances. Twelve tournament wins. One Elite Eight. Three Sweet 16s. Fourteen seasons of 20 or more wins. 147 Big East victories — sixth all-time in conference history. Six NBA draft picks developed.
He guided Creighton through the transition from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Big East in 2013, and within a decade had the Bluejays competing with Villanova, UConn, and Marquette on even terms. The program spent 121 weeks in the AP Top 25 under his watch, including victories over No. 1 UConn and No. 1 Kansas in 2024.
"It has been an incredible honor to lead the Creighton men's basketball program for the past 16 years," McDermott said. The understatement was characteristic.
The Successor Who Was Already There
Alan Huss played at Creighton from 1997 to 2001 — teammates with Kyle Korver, part of three NCAA Tournament teams. He returned as an assistant under McDermott in 2017 and spent six years helping the program to 134 victories, four NCAA Tournaments, and its first Big East title.
Then he left to prove he could do it on his own. At High Point, Huss went 56-15 in two seasons, led the program to its first-ever Division I NCAA Tournament appearance, set a program record with 29 wins, and won back-to-back Big South Coach of the Year awards.
In April 2025, Creighton brought him back as associate head coach and coach-in-waiting. The succession plan was set. When McDermott announced his retirement nearly a year later, the transition was seamless.
"I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named the head men's basketball coach at Creighton University," Huss said.
Why This Matters
In the same week that NC State learned its coach was leaving via an agent's email, that Kansas State was fighting an $18.7 million legal battle, and that North Carolina was trying to hire from a pool of candidates who kept saying no — Creighton executed the cleanest coaching transition in modern college basketball.
The lesson is not complicated. It just requires something that most programs no longer have: the foresight to plan for the inevitable, the trust to empower a successor, and the discipline to let the process work.
McDermott had that discipline for 32 years. His final act may have been his best.