Missouri Valley Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose | Jun 5, 2020

ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 10: Members of the Bradley Braves celebrate after beating the Northern Iowa Panthers in the final game of MVC Basketball Tournament at the Enterprise Center on March 10, 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Bradley Braves beat the Northern Iowa Panthers 57-54 to win the MVC Championship. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

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NEWARK, NJ – FEBRUARY 12: Head coach Greg McDermott of the Creighton Bluejays (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images) /

3. Missouri Valley Basketball coach – Greg McDermott

Northern Iowa (2001-2006), Creighton (2010-2013)

With respect to Moser and former MVC coach Barry Hinson, it’s rare to see a head coach succeed at multiple programs in the same conference. McDermott has done great things at both Northern Iowa and Creighton during his long head coaching career, making him quite a rarity in college basketball.

McDermott arrived at Northern Iowa in 2001 and began his D1 coaching career on the right foot. He led the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament in 2004, 2005 and 2006 before accepting the head coaching job at Iowa State. While those four years were unsuccessful, he landed on his feet at Creighton in 2010. While the Bluejays left the MVC in 2013, McDermott’s three years were very successful, making and winning a pair of NCAA Tournament games. He won 80 games in those three years at Creighton after winning nearly 60% of his games at Northern Iowa.

McDermott’s son Doug is a major reason for his initial success with the Bluejays, while he played a major role in building Northern Iowa into a current MVC power. To see a coach like McDermott have this type of varied success is impressive. The only knock on McDermott is that he’s yet to see the second weekend of the Tournament with any of his teams. Even in the Big East, Creighton has yet to make an NCAA Tournament run, but who knows what the future will hold.