Northwestern Basketball: Wildcats should remain patient with Chris Collins

Northwestern Basketball suffered an awful loss to open the season. Should head coach Chris Collins be on the hot seat at this point?

Coming into the season, there wasn’t much optimism for Northwestern Basketball. They lost their top three scorers from a team who won just four games in the Big Ten last season and outside of bringing in star lacrosse player Pat Spencer and top-100 freshmen Robbie Beran, the talent level was a lot to be desired. It was nowhere near the level of the group coach Chris Collins took to the NCAA Tournament just a couple of years ago.

The schedule also didn’t bode well for the Wildcats, with tough matchups including Providence, Purdue, Michigan State and a couple of tough mid-majors. But at the very least, they’ll be able to beat Division I newcomer Merrimack to open the season right?

Wrong.

In a slate of quality games on a Friday night and the groundbreaking news of James Wiseman’s eligibility issues with Memphis, the upset of Merrimack beating Northwestern, 71-61 after a late second-half run. The Warriors lost their opener to Maine by 20 points, a team that won just five games total last year. Could Merrimack be better than expected and be competitive in the Northeast Conference? Sure. But this is truly the worst possible start for a program that has taken a nosedive in recent years.

The attention now turns to Chris Collins, who arguably is already the best head coach in Northwestern Basketball history. His record all-time is currently 101-97 but based on the current trajectories, it will likely be under .500 by the end of 2019-20. That would make it three straight seasons below .500 and five out of seven overall. That one NCAA Tournament appearance and win in 2017 was historic and awesome but is that enough to keep Collins around if things continue to slide?

It’s a tough call because you don’t want to continue this being the norm for the Wildcats program. The shine of the March Madness experience has worn off and the team has crawled back to the back of the Big Ten, with top-tier recruits and transfers either not coming or working out to their perceived potential.

But can Northwestern Basketball really do better than Chris Collins? Firing someone for the sake of “making a change” doesn’t make a program better and could create more problems if things don’t go well. And the program itself is unique with both their lack of history and academic standards, which wouldn’t be appealing for the “hot” coaching name this offseason compared to other likely vacancies that’ll be around.

Coach Collins hasn’t lost his ability to coach. He just doesn’t have the roster capable of making a true run to being a viable NCAA Tournament contender. And to some degree, that’s his fault. But with how Northwestern operates, getting certain players just isn’t going to happen. Look at other examples such as Stanford and Vanderbilt and look at their struggles. Even Boston College in the ACC can be put into this category. With transfers being more prevalent, schools with lower admission standards and any kind of postseason history will automatically have the edge.

So if Northwestern can find a coach who can – and is willing to crack the code and make them consistently successful, by all means, make the move. But before you start to push Chris Collins out the door, be very sure you know exactly who the replacement is…. and if it’ll be ultimately worth it. Sometimes, the best move is to make no move.