Hlas column: Creighton bails out both McDermott and Iowa State

Last month in downtown Oklahoma City, a familiar voice called out to me.

It belonged to Greg McDermott, then the Iowa State men's basketball coach. He had been recruiting the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.  He took a three-hour side trip to Oklahoma City to see Northern Iowa play UNLV in the NCAA tournament.

“Gotta support my buddy,” said McDermott, referring to UNI Coach Ben Jacobson.

Even after another rocky season in Ames with a postscript that turned rockier with yet more player defections, McDermott seemed happy in that moment. His alma mater, the school that enjoyed his services as head coach for five years, was in a big game. He could be a fan for two hours.

The previous March, McDermott made the time to get to Portland, Ore., to see the Panthers play Purdue in the NCAAs. Jordan Eglseder, Adam Koch, Kwadzo Ahelegbe - McDermott recruited those players to Cedar Falls.

McDermott should have stayed there himself, at least a little while longer. Hindsight is 20/20.

He ended his four-year run at Iowa State Monday. It won't be remembered kindly. There were no winning seasons, an unsightly 18-46 Big 12 record, and seemingly as many transfers as detainees.

Creighton bailed Iowa State out of a bad situation that had the potential to get even worse next season. There wasn't much hope on the horizon for Cyclone basketball, nothing even resembling the false hope of a year ago when Craig Brackins spurned the NBA draft to spend another year on McDermott's team.

ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard firmly stood by McDermott. Naturally. He was Pollard's hire. But the Cyclones' lack of returning experience in a league full of basketball sharks made you wonder if next year ISU could even duplicate its 4-12 Big 12 marks of the last three seasons.

McDermott didn't walk into a basketball boneyard at Iowa State. The program enjoyed NCAA tourney wins under its previous four coaches, Johnny Orr, Tim Floyd, Larry Eustachy and Wayne Morgan. Three of them got the Cyclones to a Sweet 16, and Eustachy had them a win from the Final Four.

Hilton Coliseum has had more nights of terrific basketball atmosphere over the last quarter-century than the average major-college arena.

After firing Morgan four years ago, Pollard was hailed by many for scooping up a hot property in McDermott, fresh off three straight NCAA tourney seasons at UNI.

But the Big 12 isn't the Missouri Valley. Yes, UNI beat Kansas in this year's NCAAs. But look past that shining moment, and you see the Big 12 stuffed with NBA prospects most years, while the Valley has a lot of hard-nosed, competitive teams that would have hard times finishing .500 in the Big 12.

That means you recruit a different level of player in the Big 12, players who have worn superstar tags as high school players and even before. It's a different kind of recruiting than in the Valley, and it's probably a different kind of working with players after you get them.

McDermott clearly never mastered that at ISU. The seven transfers Iowa State has had in three years is more than any other program from a BCS conference in that period of time.

Despite his Iowa State record, McDermott is a good coach. Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen knows this.

Basketball is huge at Creighton. In the 2008-2009 season, the Bluejays ranked 12th in the nation in attendance with 15,930 fans per game at Qwest Center Omaha. That outpaced every Big 12 and Big Ten school except Kansas and Wisconsin.

Dana Altman had 11 seasons of 20-plus wins and 14 straight seasons with winning records in Valley play. He was a king in Omaha for a long time, but his empire was in decline. Creighton dipped just enough last season (10-8 in the league, 18-16 overall) to give McDermott a chance to become royalty there if he bumps things back up.

Iowa State, meanwhile, is freed of McDermott's contract. What the next Cyclones coach inherits, however, can generously be called a challenge.