Creighton men’s basketball head coach Greg McDermott embraces senior Nik Graves following his step-back 3-point game-winner to secure a 69-68 win over Seton Hall on Feb. 7 at CHI Health Center.

Three hundred and sixty five wins; 10 NCAA Tournament appearances; 12 NCAA Tournament game wins; 20 or more wins in all but two seasons; 17 Top-10 wins — all Creighton records set during head coach Greg McDermott’s reign. Plus, two conference titles, three Sweet 16 bids and one National Player of the Year. 

McDermott has just about done it all, but these are just the accolades that people see from the outside. 

From inside the student section, the story of the “Greg McDermott era of basketball” is different. After 16 years at the helm of the program, McDermott has the kind of legacy that’s hard to put into words — but one that students keep coming back to. 

“People got the opportunity to expect to win with him, and that doesn’t come around very often,” Stephen Klimek, a former Creighton men’s basketball manager, said. “They latch onto that localized figure that had a national spotlight, and he shared that spotlight. … He used his stage to bring people together.”

Students might not have been in the locker room, in the huddle after practice, or on the bus after a tough loss, but when the 16-player roster — trailed by the winningest coach in Creighton history — walked out of the tunnel at CHI Health Center, there was no distinction between student-athlete and student. It was about winning together and losing together. McDermott made that possible.

“Your college campus lives and dies by [its] sports teams [and that] is very much evident within Creighton … Going into the season, you get excited. … It’s something that the whole student body buys into,” Heider College of Business sophomore Eli Moe said. “They want to be there because we know that we have this culture of winning and strong leadership and strong teams … that McDermott has fostered and built within this Creighton community.”

McDermott’s 2010 hiring began with excitement and expectation, and grew into something that would define both the program and the man leading it.

“He created the community that Creighton has now and without McDermott, our basketball team wouldn’t be anything that it is now,” College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Griffin Fanderclai said. “People know Coach McDermott from anywhere around the country because of his success at Creighton.”

While the wins put Creighton on the national stage, students felt McDermott’s strong presence outside of the confines of the court.

“He [is] a local [and] national sports figure who pushed the game’s boundaries beyond the court lines with the Pink Out game and the physical structures on and off campus, like the McDermott Center and the Hope Lodge, which I know mean so much to him,” Klimek said. 

In his tenure at Creighton, McDermott helped champion a cancer awareness game into the phenomenon known as Pink Out, drawing 18,000 fans and amplifying the message of raising cancer awareness and funding for Hope Lodge, a free home in Omaha for cancer patients and their caregivers to stay during treatment.

McDermott turned talk into action — as he did so many times throughout his career — raising over $1 million in donations for Hope Lodge over 16 years, showing students what a figure of integrity and philanthropy could look like.

McDermott’s impact didn’t go unnoticed, even by those newest to campus.

“Being able to see [McDermott’s] presence on the court, especially during the Pink Out game, that’s something that really stuck out to me because … you could tell just his passion for it,” College of Arts and Sciences freshman and pep band member Natalie McLear said. “Even [at] such an intense game against UConn [at this year’s Pink Out], you could tell how much he cared about the players and their families and everyone present.” 

In countless moments like those, McDermott didn’t just lead the Bluejay program, students said, but set the standard for it.

“​​Coach McDermott’s impact goes far beyond basketball. He has helped create a culture of integrity, discipline and genuine care that you can feel as a student watching the games,” College of Arts and Sciences senior Lily Fenton said in an email. “His leadership has left a lasting mark on both the program and the Creighton community.”

He is a figurehead for student-athletes, yes, but McDermott stretched that standard further, shaping how students understand what it means to be a Bluejay.

“He really represents just how much every Bluejay just cares for one another and picks each other up,” McLear said. “Even during the most intense moments or losses you can tell that he just was ready to uplift his players and his team and I feel like he really cared about each one more than just getting wins or showing off.”

That care didn’t stop with the players. Students said it set the tone for the campus around them.

“I think Coach McDermott was not just part of the athletes’ [experience] of Creighton. The environment and the community he helped build, yes, it was around basketball, but he was just a joy to have, and the energy he brought to campus was just something I’ve never experienced before,” College of Arts and Sciences junior Rachel Flannery said.

For 16 years, McDermott’s presence was woven into the fabric of campus life, and on March 23, 2026, that presence was felt in a bittersweet way, as he stepped down and entrusted former Bluejay Alan Huss to carry forward the legacy of Creighton basketball.

It may have only been four days since McDermott’s retirement announcement, but students have wasted no time reminiscing about the glory days of the tenured head coach’s time at Creighton — a pastime sure to continue with each new class of Bluejays.

“[McDermott’s] someone whose legacy is going to carry on in the coming years. For the next few classes that come to Creighton, what they’re going to see in that environment is going to be because of him and without realizing it, they’ll be able to feel the impact he made on the program,” McLear said.

That impact isn’t just something for the future — it’s already part of the significance of being a Creighton Bluejay right now.

“Coach McDermott’s impact on students is creating a strong environment that you feel pride in when you step off this campus and tell people, ‘Hey, I go to Creighton University,'” Moe said. 

Taken together, these moments and memories help tell the story of what students say McDermott’s impact truly meant. So, from all of us — from the students who filled the stands, those who felt his impact without ever stepping on the court — thank you, Coach McDermott.