Creighton Basketball Coach Focuses on Culture When Retaining Players in NIL Era

The Creighton Blue Jays have had no problem retaining players over the past few seasons as they continue to be one of the best teams in college basketball.

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Creighton Blue Jays continue to be one of the top teams in Men’s Basketball this decade.

Over the past four seasons, the program has reached the NCAA tournament, including last season, when it made it to the Regional Semifinal (Sweet-16) before falling to the Tennesee Volunteers. 

As the team looks to make it back for a fifth straight season and compete against the reigning National Champions, the UConn Huskies, for a chance at their first Big East Title, the Blue Jays will once again need to perform at their best night in and night out.

On Thursday, Creighton’s head coach, Greg McDermott, sat down with NBC Sports to discuss the upcoming season and how his program is navigating the new landscape of college sports due to NIL.

“It's ever-changing, and I think it seems like it changes a little bit every year. Obviously, the transfer portal or immediate transfer eligibility in itself would have been a huge change. Name, image, and likeness in itself would have been a huge change, but both of them at the same time, it's crazy.” 

Creighton went to the Transfer Portal well this past offseason to fill some holes in their roster, mostly from players who moved on to the professional level. Players who have been a big part of the Blue Jays' success over the past few seasons, such as Baylor Scheierman, who was drafted by the Boston Celtics this past summer, are no longer with the program. 

They went out and brought in two top transfers: Jamiya Neal from the Arizona State Sun Devils and Pop Issacs from the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Despite the need for a strong NIL when bringing players in from the portal, McDermott continued to focus on getting players with whom he could have good relationships. 

“We've tried to adapt. We've tried to adjust the best we can to remain competitive. I still think at the end of the day, relationships are important, and I think guys want to be coached, they want to grow, they want to get better. They want to be held accountable even though they may not think they want to be.

“If your culture is strong, I think that's how you retain players. Obviously, the NIL is a piece of that, and you have to be competitive in that market, but I also think you have to have a culture where it's fun, where guys feel like they belong, and then it's much easier when you have those conversations in the spring when guys are trying to decide whether to stay go.”

No one is debating the Blue Jays culture as being strong. McDermott was able to persuade Ryan Kalkbrenner to return to Creighton for another season instead of testing his luck in the NBA. The 7’ 1” senior is just the third player in Big East history to win conference Defensive Player of the Year three times. 

Creighton will begin its season on Wednesday when it hosts UT Rio Grande Valley at the CHI Health Center in Omaha.