Creighton has its next men’s basketball coach — though it will be some time before he officially gets the job.
High Point’s Alan Huss has agreed to a contract that will make him the coach-in-waiting under Greg McDermott, sources told CBS Sports. The deal is expected to be announced no later than Friday. Huss, McDermott, Creighton athletic director Marcus Blossom and Creighton president Daniel Hendrickson have been in communication on the succession plan for weeks. On Thursday morning, Huss made up his mind and agreed to a deal.
The delay on the decision happened because Huss was a candidate at multiple high-major openings in the past two weeks, in addition to having some hesitation over leaving High Point. Huss’ decision to leave was aided by some assurances that McDermott wouldn’t be coaching into the end of the 2020s at Creighton. No concrete decision has been made on when the 60-year-old McDermott will coach his final games with the Bluejays, but sources said the expectation is no more than two years. Huss likely would not have agreed to the deal if there was an indefinite timeline moving forward.
Huss, who has deep ties to the Midwest, was previously an assistant under McDermott at Creighton from 2017-23 and helped build out the program to one of the best in the Big East during that span.
The Panthers made the 2025 NCAA Tournament and fell in the first round as a No. 13 seed to fourth-seeded Purdue. Huss’ team went 29-6, including a 17-2 mark against Big South teams this past season. Huss is 56-15 overall as a head coach. Creighton is coming off a second-round loss as a 9-seed to No. 1 Auburn. The Bluejays are 350-171 under McDermott, who has 630 career wins and taken Creighton to 10 NCAA tourneys, including the last five in a row.
With his departure from High Point, Huss’ top assistant, Flynn Clayman, is a strong candidate to take over the job. That said, High Point is regarded as a top-15 mid-major gig in the country. From a facilities and support standpoint, it’s clearly No. 1 in the Big South. It will attract attention and desire from many sitting high-major assistants.
It’s rare nowadays to have a head-coach-in-waiting in either college football or basketball. Houston basketball has one in Kellen Sampson (Kelvin’s son), while Utah football has one, too, in defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley.
In total, we’ve had 14 flips in the five power conferences in this cycle. That’s more than I expected, and in fact matches the number from 2024.
Here are the new faces in new places:
Major-conference changes
Non-Power Five changes
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