NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2013 season

5. Chris Collins (Northwestern)

The story about Northwestern was pretty simple: they were one of just a small list of programs that had been eligible for but never made the NCAA Tournament. This Big Ten program had never competed in one of the nation’s best basketball conferences. Anytime they were hiring a new coach, you knew that this was the initial goal, and they finally found the man to accomplish that feat.

Chris Collins knew firsthand about Northwestern’s struggles, having grown up nearby in the suburbs north of Chicago. He played his collegiate ball for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke before his coaching career began a few years later. He’d spent time coaching in the WNBA and under Tommy Amaker before joining the Duke staff in 2000. After thirteen seasons with Coach K, Collins was certainly ready to take over his own program, let alone the added challenge at Northwestern.

Obviously, Northwestern isn’t a national power in basketball, but Collins did break the drought, leading the Wildcats not only to the NCAA Tournament in 2017, but to a first round win over Vanderbilt in the process. There have been some rough seasons, especially the most recent few, but no prior coach could accomplish this feat, meaning Collins has already made undeniable history with the program.