McDermott’s run ends at Crown

LAS VEGAS — It has been quite a run to say the least.

Ten NCAA appearances. Fourteen years of 20-plus wins. A trip to the Elite Eight. A smooth transition from the Missouri Valley to the Big East.

Not bad for a small Catholic school in Omaha, Nebraska.

Greg McDermott was the guiding hand to Creighton’s basketball success over the last 16 years. Saturday, he coached his final game with the Bluejays, falling to West Virginia 87-70 in the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown at T-Mobile Arena. The Mountaineers will meet Oklahoma for the Crown championship at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The Sooners earned their spot with an 82-69 win over Baylor in the first semifinal Saturday. The winner will receive $300,000 for its NIL collective.

The final tally on McDermott’s ledger — 366-189.  

“I’m going to take a step back for now. I do not think anybody ever says ‘never say never,’ but I am comfortable if I never coach again, I am in a really good spot, with what has transpired here and the relationships I have developed over the last 16 years,” McDermott said last month when he announced his retirement plans.

Saturday, he reiterated those remarks while getting to reminisce about his time on the court and the many special moments he was part of. Perhaps the biggest was getting to coach his son Doug, who became a First-Team All-American and won the John Wooden Award and the James Naismith Award in 2014 as college basketball’s top player.

But even after his son left for the NBA, McDermott was able to maintain a level of excellence with the program for a school whose enrollment is just over 8,400. And that might be the biggest part of McDermott’s coaching legacy.

“When we first talked about the job, it was about the people in the Omaha community and how they’ve been so supportive,” McDermott said. “It’s always about the people stepping up.

“You don’t have success without having good people around you. We were fortunate to have a lot of really good assistant…

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Publish date : 2026-04-05 00:25:00

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