Creighton basketball coach emphasizes culture when retaining players in NIL era

The Creighton Blue Jays continue to be one of the top teams in men's basketball this decade.

The program has reached the NCAA Tournament the last four seasons, including last season when it reached the regional semifinals (Sweet-16) before falling to the Tennesee Volunteers.

As the team looks to come back for the fifth straight season and face the defending national champions, the UConn Huskies, for a chance at their first Big East title, the Blue Jays will have to put up their best performance again on the night in and night out.

On Thursday, Creighton head coach Greg McDermott sat down with NBC Sports to discuss the upcoming season and how his program is navigating the new landscape of college sports due to NIL.

“It’s constantly changing, and I think it seems like it changes a little bit every year. Obviously, the transfer portal or immediate transfer eligibility would have been a big change in itself. The name, image and likeness in itself would have been a big change, but both at the same time, it's crazy.”

Creighton used the transfer portal this past offseason to fill some holes on its roster, primarily players who moved up to the professional level. Players who have been a big part of the Blue Jays' success in recent seasons, such as Baylor Scheierman, who was drafted by the Boston Celtics last summer, are no longer with the program.

They went out and brought in two top transfers: Jamiya Neal from the Arizona State Sun Devils and Pop Issacs from the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Despite the need for a strong NIL when it comes to getting players out of the portal, McDermott remained focused on bringing in players he could have good relationships with.

“We tried to adapt. We tried to adapt as best we could to remain competitive. Ultimately, I still think relationships are important and I think men want to be coached, they want to grow and get better. They want to be held accountable, even if they think they don't.

“If the culture is strong, I think you can retain players that way. Obviously the NIL is part of it, and you have to be competitive in that market, but I also think you have to have a culture where it's fun, where the guys feel like they belong, and then it's a lot easier, when you have those conversations in the spring when the guys are trying to decide whether they should move on.”

No one doubts that the Blue Jays' culture is strong. McDermott was able to convince Ryan Kalkbrenner to return to Creighton for another season instead of testing his luck in the NBA. The 7'1″ senior is just the third player in Big East history to be named conference Defensive Player of the Year three times.

Creighton will begin its season on Wednesday when it hosts UT Rio Grande Valley at the CHI Health Center in Omaha.