Former Duke basketball guard doing big things at Northwestern
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Chris Collins, now in his 10th season as head coach at Northwestern, guided the Wildcats to their first NCAA Tournament bid in program history in 2017. But the Duke basketball alum, who played four seasons as a Blue Devil and spent 13 years as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski, hasn't posted a winning record in any season since.
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This year, though, Northwestern (15-5, 6-3 Big Ten) is suddenly making a big splash, sitting in a tie with Rutgers at No. 2 in the conference standings following Saturday's 81-61 home win over Minnesota.
While the Wildcats aren't a lock to make the Big Dance, ESPN's Joe Lunardi currently pegs them as a No. 10 seed (he has Duke basketball as a No. 5). That was before the latest victory.
As Chicago Sun-Times' Steve Greenberg noted on Friday, the leading cast of veteran Wildcats is giving the 48-year-old Chris Collins a path to refortify his job security at Northwestern before patience expires:
"Collins, signed through 2024-25, needed this boost, and not merely for his peace of mind and his reputation. Coaching gigs don't last forever, even if the leashes have been longer for football and basketball coaches in Evanston than they are pretty much anyplace else in the power conferences...
"The building blocks this time are Chase Audige, Boo Buie, Robbie Beran and Ty Berry. They've stuck around — stuck it out — and grown. They've had their rear ends handed to them time and again but are getting some payback..."
Granted, the results have been less than desirable in the five seasons preceding this one, and Collins still boasts an overall losing record as a head coach (149-155). However, he could boost that mark above .500 in just a few weeks, given the team's apparent all-in embrace of his message, which he summarized to Greenberg.
"Be someone that can have an impact on a place that maybe hasn't had it," Collins said, "and then you can be remembered forever."
Of course, there's further evidence of Chris Collins' ability to develop talent in the play of former Wildcat and current Duke basketball graduate center Ryan Young, whose 8.0 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and leadership have been invaluable for Jon Scheyer's young Blue Devils (15-6, 6-4 ACC) this season.
RELATED: Blue Devils right the ship at Georgia Tech
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