While the Nebraska basketball team will keep its own head coach for at least one more season, there are plenty of Big Ten schools that have started the search for a new head man this month.
Indiana, Minnesota, and Iowa are all on the hunt for new men to lead their programs. Could another Big Ten team join the coaching carousel soon? There are some rumblings that Northwestern might need to go on the hunt before things slow down for the offseason. Reports are starting to circulate that Wildcats’ head coach Chris Collins is a hot name when talking about openings all over the country.
Louie Vaccher of Wildcatreport believes that there is a very real chance that Collins might move on from Northwestern. On its face, that would seem like good news for the Nebraska basketball program. Assuming he doesn’t stay in the conference and move to one of the other vacant B1G spots.
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Among the reasons why Collins might move on? Vaccher said that a source thinks that now would be the perfect time to make a move because of family dynamics. Collins’ son, Ryan, is graduating from Northwestern. He served as a manager for the Northwestern program for the last four years and was honored on Senior Night. Collins’ daughter, Kate, is now in college at Duke, the coach’s alma mater.
As the analyst points out, if he felt as though he had to stay at Northwestern for his family, that’s not an issue anymore.
There’s also the lack of respect the Wildcats get. Despite turning into the kind of program that can be the thorn in the side of any other team, Collins clearly feels as though his school is still an afterthought in the Big Ten.
Collins leaving Northwestern isn’t a given. But Nebraska basketball fans should hope he does, as long as it means leaving the Big Ten as well. While the Huskers have won two of the last three matchups, they are an astounding 2-8 against Northwestern since 2020. That’s easily one of the worst records against a team they’ve played that often over that period.