Fred, Fred, Fred.....
- Thread starter Spartanhusker
- Start date
Creighton was established before Altman, they had a lot of success under McManus, Eddie Sutton, and Tony Barone (multiple Sweet 16 appearances, and that was back when only 25 teams made the tournament). They went through a tough stretch in the early and mid 90s at a time when Nee had success at Nebraska. But overall, they have always been a much more successful program than Nebraska. Nebraska has never had any sustained success, just a few decent seasons overall mixed in with many mediocre to awful seasons.
And McDermott was terrible at Iowa State. He went 59-68 there and never had a winning season. He went 18-46 in Big 12 conference play (which was much worse than Sadler's win % in Big 12 play). If we hired someone with that resume now, nobody would be happy.
Ironically, Hoiberg was the one who came in after him and turned ISU around in only 2 years.
You’re right! I had completely forgotten that. Conversely, Altman had a fairly successful 4 year period at K State.
Creighton may have had more success way back when, but for a 20+ year stretch between '78-'98 here is the comparison:
NU: 7 20-win seasons, 5 NCAA tournament appearances, 0 NCAA tournament wins
CU: 5 20 win seasons, 3 NCAA tournament appearances, 1 NCAA tournament wins
Head to head record: NU 16 wins, CU 6 wins
Point being, for 2+ decades, Creighton was no better than NU and arguably worse. The kids Altman and McDermott recruited to help build Creighton into the program they are today likely cared as much about what success CU had under McManus and Sutton as kids Matt Rhule is recruiting today care about NU's under Bob Devaney.
Last edited:
McDermott was very fortunate because his long time buddy Creighton’s AD Rasmussen needed a coach and came calling. McDermott was just about ready to be let go at Iowa State because things weren’t going well. He grabbed his kid and went to Omaha and things worked out for him. Hoiberg took over at Iowa State and got things going in the right direction.
I read that Fred was Big XII Co Coach of the Year with Bill Self one year. Combining that with sharing the award with Matt Painter last year is quite impressive. What I’m curious about is why did he leave Iowa State after only 5 years? He was successful and loved there. His success overall and in conference play compared to Nebraska is just startling. We literally destroy coaches here.
He was hired by the Bulls.
Hoiberg built his rosters at ISU on transfers when no one else was doing it. Now, every one is doing it.
Current Jerry Palm, bracketology has us out. University of Omaha is in.
www.cbssports.com
Bracketology 2026 - NCAA Tournament Predictions
CBS Sports is helping you get ready for March Madness with the latest news, picks, and predictions for the 2026 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket.
www.cbssports.com
If we go 0-3 during this upcoming very difficult stretch, stick a fork in us
Bubble shaping up to be very small & not too soft this year with all the bids the SEC, B12 and B1G will soak up
Bubble shaping up to be very small & not too soft this year with all the bids the SEC, B12 and B1G will soak up
After playing in the NBA, then in Player Development even after having job security as Iowa State's head coach for probably the rest of his lifetime the lure of coaching in the NBA was too hard for him to pass up. He always had that aspiration. The Iowa State faithful to this day still can't believe he left Ames for the NBA.
ESPN rated him the worst coach in the NBA one year. Probably should have stayed at Iowa State.
What they had established prior to Altman was history for a while. 3 NCAA tournament appearances in the previous 20 years. Back to my point they had a bigger hill to climb and did it through great coaching. It’s what the Huskers have lacked the most!
Omaha is only listed since the summit league is a one bid conference and they are on top today. You have to win the conference tournament- tough task.Current Jerry Palm, bracketology has us out. University of Omaha is in.
Bracketology 2026 - NCAA Tournament Predictions
CBS Sports is helping you get ready for March Madness with the latest news, picks, and predictions for the 2026 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket.
But they’ve improved a lot in year 2 with new coach, plus they lost their top player to the portal so it’s impressive
McDermott retreated back to a mid major team decided the pressures at ISU was more than he wanted. Little did he know 3 years in that the Creighton job would become a big time conference gig. Obviously he’s handled it well.
Current Jerry Palm, bracketology has us out. University of Omaha is in.
Bracketology 2026 - NCAA Tournament Predictions
CBS Sports is helping you get ready for March Madness with the latest news, picks, and predictions for the 2026 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket.
And Lunardi still has us as the "First Team Out" right now, even despite the 5-game losing streak. We have a chance for some huge resume wins here in the next couple of weeks. I don't have much confidence we will win any of them, but we are still firmly on the bubble right now.