Former Bluejay formally named to lead men’s basketball, becoming the program’s 17th head coach.

With Creighton’s postseason coming to an end in the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown against West Virginia, 87-70, on April 4, the Alan Huss era of Creighton basketball has begun. 

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named the head men’s basketball coach at Creighton University,” Huss said in his induction press conference on March 25. “Creighton helped shape who I am, and the opportunity to now lead this program is something I do not take lightly.” 

Creighton’s choice for head coach was in the making long before McDermott’s retirement announcement in March. Huss spent the 2025-26 season as associate head coach and head-coach-in-waiting under McDermott.  

But Huss’s connection to the Bluejay culture extends beyond a year at McDermott’s side prior to his induction as head coach.  

The Kansas City, Missouri, native spent his undergraduate years clad in white and blue, graduating in 2002 from Creighton after playing center for the Bluejays from 1997-2001. 

“This university has meant so much to me as a former player, as an alum and through the seven years I’ve spent serving this program. Creighton helped shape who I am,” Huss said. 

After graduating from Creighton and starting his coaching career at the high school level, Huss began his collegiate coaching tenure as an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico from 2014 to 2017.  

The next six years, from 2017 to 2023, saw the former Bluejay return to his alma mater as an assistant coach under McDermott, a foreshadowing of what lay ahead.  

Leaving the nest one final time in 2023, Huss took his first collegiate head coaching job at High Point University in North Carolina, holding that position until 2025.  

Huss’s two years at the helm of the Panther program were marked with success, as the Kansas City native earned back-to-back Big South Coach of the Year honors. He led his team to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and a program-record 29-6 record in the 2024-25 season.  

Now, as Huss returns to Creighton, it isn’t as a player, student or assistant coach, but as the next figurehead of an established program with a winning culture. 

“Alan is a Creighton Bluejay in every sense of the word. He’s an alumnus. He’s a former player. He married a Bluejay,” Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, S.J. said. “And in recent years, he helped build the culture that defines the program today. He’s ready to lead. And I’m confident that he will guide Creighton basketball into the next era with energy, with great expertise and with a clear commitment to success.” 

Huss said he has every intention of retaining the winning culture as the 17th Creighton men’s basketball coach in program history. 

“I think it’s quite simple. Culture is what’s won. Culture is going to continue to be what wins for us at Creighton,” Huss said. “We’re going to get the right human beings here. We’re going to keep the right human beings here. We’re going to work our tails off. But we’re not going to reinvent the wheel there. We know that elite human beings win here at Creighton…. That’s not going to change.” 

That continuity in culture all begins with the recruitment of players who reflect the values that have defined Creighton basketball in McDermott’s 16-year tenure and the larger Creighton community. 

“We’ll continue to recruit talented student athletes that share the ball, that are unselfish and that want to play at that tempo. That’s not going to change,” Huss said. 

Huss’s mentality also reflects that of an admired quality of McDermott’s coaching foundation: supporting and building relationships with athletes. McCormick Endowed Athletic Director Marcus Blossom saw that same foundation reflected in Huss.  

“Coach Huss brings with him a remarkable combination of experience, energy and vision. He is a tireless worker, a relentless recruiter and a passionate leader who is deeply committed to developing young men both as basketball players and as people,” he said. 

By focusing on the development of people as much as players, Huss brings more than just a playbook to the role of Creighton men’s basketball head coach. His philosophy is grounded in one simple word: joy.  

The philosophy was passed on from none other than McDermott. 

“I made a note on day one to make sure that there was joy involved in the program every day. Mac would remind me of it … he reminded me of that joy. I took that with me,” Huss said. “I’m fully committed to bringing that back. So, I’m super excited about that.” 

In his new position, Huss looks to help the roster of 2025-26 — which faced innumerable struggles with injury and loss this season — rekindle its joy and foster that feeling throughout his tenure.  

“Probably the thing that we have to get back right now — and this has been something that’s been also there through Mac’s entire run, and I can tell you it was there when Coach Altman was in charge —this group this year went through so many things as a group, so many ups, so many downs, that we lost our joy a little bit … at times. We’ll get back to that,” he said. 

While half of the program’s success hinges on the heart of the program, the other half lies in the hardware — the X’s and O’s of basketball that will bring success to the program. 

 
For Huss, that means preserving Creighton’s identity as a high-level shooting team. 

“Let It Fly has been a … huge part of why we’ve been able to develop our brand as one of the premier offenses in college basketball. … We will continue to Let It Fly,” Huss said. 

 
It also means striking a careful balance between keeping the identity of the team and sharpening its edge. 

“Defensively, we’ll stay what we do. We’re going to play man-to-man defense [and] maybe get a little bit more disruptive,” Huss said. “I’d like to take full credit for that, but that’s something that Coach Mac and I’ve been talking about here for weeks. I think we’re going to move that direction.” 

With McDermott passing on the baton after a success-filled, historic run at the helm of the Creighton men’s basketball team, Huss assures the Bluejay faithful that they will see a continuation of all the attributes that make Creighton basketball a top-tier program. 

“To everyone here, I just want you to know, as I speak to the players here in closing, really simply, fellas, we are going to work. We’re going to do it together. We’re going to have fun doing it. We’re going to continue so much of what’s made this program great,” he said. “But I’m going to tell you; we are going to live up to the standard. And I make that promise to everyone here, staff, players, everyone that came out today … We will live up to the standard.”