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Northwestern Isn’t Duke, but It’s Trying
The Wildcats are on the verge of ending their NCAA tournament drought—largely thanks to importing a Krzyzewski disciple
By JARED DIAMOND / WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 3, 2017
Evanston, Ill.
When Northwestern needed a new basketball coach in March 2013—one who could finally take it to the NCAA tournament—athletic director Jim Phillips interviewed eight candidates.
Seven were head coaches elsewhere, including five whose teams had played in the tournament the weekend before. The eighth was Chris Collins, a former Duke guard who had spent the previous 13 years as a Blue Devils assistant under Mike Krzyzewski.
The choice was clear. Like Duke, Northwestern is an academically rigorous private school with an undergraduate population under 10,000, trying to compete athletically in a major conference loaded with enormous state universities.
“Coming from a place like Duke is a perfect example for us in terms of how to build a program,” Phillips said. “There’s absolutely been a road map by Coach K that Chris has been a part-author of.”
Four years later, it appears Phillips’s gamble will pay off. The Wildcats’ last-second win over Michigan on Wednesday all but ensured a spot in this month’s NCAA tournament, which would finally end one of the most ignominious streaks in sports. Despite hosting the first ever national championship on campus in 1939, Northwestern is the only major-conference school never to experience March Madness firsthand.
Collins is about to change that, in large part because he arrived in Evanston with a simple notion: Northwestern might not ever be Duke—but there no reason it can’t be like Duke.
“I wanted to mimic the ideals of Duke,” Collins said, “but not try to recreate it.”
For sure, aspects of Duke are imprinted on Northwestern. Collins tapped Chris Lauten, a former student manager with the Blue Devils, as his director of basketball operations, choosing him because of his institutional knowledge of how Krzyzewski runs Duke.
As a result, Lauten said the Wildcats model how they “structure, organize and execute a practice” after the Blue Devils. That principle also applies to areas like scouting opponents, film sessions and team meetings.
There are differences, of course. Lauten said Collins tends to be more hands-on with his players in practice than Krzyzewski, who at this point often acts more as an overseer who delegates the nuts-and-bolts to his assistants. Considering the burgeoning state of the program, Collins also tends to take a gentler approach than Krzyzewski when his team struggles, assuming the role of teacher more than enforcer.
But to Collins, mimicking Duke’s ideals on a philosophical level means clinging to a belief that seems to have eluded some of his predecessors: that being a small, private institution with high academic standards doesn’t inherently preclude Northwestern from attracting top talent. Or, as Phillips put it, “This idea you don’t have to compromise anything.”
For 13 seasons under former coach Bill Carmody, Northwestern tried to out-scheme its opponents rather than out-talent them. Carmody employed the Princeton offense and a 1-3-1 zone defense, bringing in quirky recruits from unsung locations to fit his increasingly anachronistic, almost gimmicky system.
It worked to an extent. Carmody’s Wildcats reached the NIT four times and twice won 20 games—something Northwestern had never done before—but it wasn’t enough.
Collins quickly abandoned that strategy, installing a standard defense comprised mostly of man-to-man and a modern offense used by most top college basketball teams. He just needed the players to make it work.
“You look at the way Duke is recruiting, it’s different than the way we’re building,” Collins said. “It’s a different type of player. We’re at different times.”
In this arena, Collins took a step away from his experience at Duke and looked toward roots that go even deeper. Collins’s father is Doug Collins, the longtime coach of four NBA teams, including the Chicago Bulls. Because of that, Chris Collins grew up in Northbrook, Ill., roughly 15 miles away from Northwestern’s campus.
Using his vast network as the son of NBA royalty, as well as his local connection to the area, Collins hired an assistant who knew Illinois basketball as well as anybody: Brian James, his former high school coach at Glenbrook North.
“He recruited me here,” said James, who had spent the previous three seasons assisting Doug Collins with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Collins rounded out his staff with Patrick Baldwin, a standout Northwestern basketball player, and Armon Gates, a Chicago native. Together, they turned inward, combining Collins’s Duke pedigree and his staff’s Illinois background to tap into the region’s rich crop of basketball talent.
The Wildcats’ top three scorers, Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Vic Law, are all from Illinois or Indiana.
“We’re not backing off if another school of our caliber or even better, with a great tradition, is recruiting them,” James said. “That hasn’t always worked for Northwestern in the past.”
Other coaches in the past have left Durham with the intention of bringing Duke elsewhere, with varying degrees of success. Johnny Dawkins made just one NCAA tournament in eight years at Stanford. Tommy Amaker never reached the tournament in six years at Michigan before faring better at Harvard. Duke isn’t easy to replicate.
That’s why when Collins took the job at Northwestern, he says the best piece of advice Krzyzewski gave him was, “Don’t try to recreate Duke. Don’t try to recreate me.”
Instead, Collins likens his mission to what Krzyzewski faced when he took over at Duke in 1980. That was the topic of a midnight telephone conversation between Phillips and Krzyzewski, right as the Wildcats were hiring Collins.
Phillips asked Krzyzewski if Collins could handle building a program from scratch after enjoying so much success at Duke. By the end of it, Phillips believed that if Krzyzewski could achieve what he has achieved at Duke, Collins could thrive at Northwestern.
Hearing its name called on Selection Sunday for the first time will be the first step in that direction.
“We’re so far away from what Duke has been and what they have accomplished,” Phillips said. “But Chris has started us on that trajectory.”
Write to Jared Diamond at jared.diamond@wsj.com
The Wildcats are on the verge of ending their NCAA tournament drought—largely thanks to importing a Krzyzewski disciple
By JARED DIAMOND / WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 3, 2017
Evanston, Ill.
When Northwestern needed a new basketball coach in March 2013—one who could finally take it to the NCAA tournament—athletic director Jim Phillips interviewed eight candidates.
Seven were head coaches elsewhere, including five whose teams had played in the tournament the weekend before. The eighth was Chris Collins, a former Duke guard who had spent the previous 13 years as a Blue Devils assistant under Mike Krzyzewski.
The choice was clear. Like Duke, Northwestern is an academically rigorous private school with an undergraduate population under 10,000, trying to compete athletically in a major conference loaded with enormous state universities.
“Coming from a place like Duke is a perfect example for us in terms of how to build a program,” Phillips said. “There’s absolutely been a road map by Coach K that Chris has been a part-author of.”
Four years later, it appears Phillips’s gamble will pay off. The Wildcats’ last-second win over Michigan on Wednesday all but ensured a spot in this month’s NCAA tournament, which would finally end one of the most ignominious streaks in sports. Despite hosting the first ever national championship on campus in 1939, Northwestern is the only major-conference school never to experience March Madness firsthand.
Collins is about to change that, in large part because he arrived in Evanston with a simple notion: Northwestern might not ever be Duke—but there no reason it can’t be like Duke.
“I wanted to mimic the ideals of Duke,” Collins said, “but not try to recreate it.”
For sure, aspects of Duke are imprinted on Northwestern. Collins tapped Chris Lauten, a former student manager with the Blue Devils, as his director of basketball operations, choosing him because of his institutional knowledge of how Krzyzewski runs Duke.
As a result, Lauten said the Wildcats model how they “structure, organize and execute a practice” after the Blue Devils. That principle also applies to areas like scouting opponents, film sessions and team meetings.
There are differences, of course. Lauten said Collins tends to be more hands-on with his players in practice than Krzyzewski, who at this point often acts more as an overseer who delegates the nuts-and-bolts to his assistants. Considering the burgeoning state of the program, Collins also tends to take a gentler approach than Krzyzewski when his team struggles, assuming the role of teacher more than enforcer.
But to Collins, mimicking Duke’s ideals on a philosophical level means clinging to a belief that seems to have eluded some of his predecessors: that being a small, private institution with high academic standards doesn’t inherently preclude Northwestern from attracting top talent. Or, as Phillips put it, “This idea you don’t have to compromise anything.”
For 13 seasons under former coach Bill Carmody, Northwestern tried to out-scheme its opponents rather than out-talent them. Carmody employed the Princeton offense and a 1-3-1 zone defense, bringing in quirky recruits from unsung locations to fit his increasingly anachronistic, almost gimmicky system.
It worked to an extent. Carmody’s Wildcats reached the NIT four times and twice won 20 games—something Northwestern had never done before—but it wasn’t enough.
Collins quickly abandoned that strategy, installing a standard defense comprised mostly of man-to-man and a modern offense used by most top college basketball teams. He just needed the players to make it work.
“You look at the way Duke is recruiting, it’s different than the way we’re building,” Collins said. “It’s a different type of player. We’re at different times.”
In this arena, Collins took a step away from his experience at Duke and looked toward roots that go even deeper. Collins’s father is Doug Collins, the longtime coach of four NBA teams, including the Chicago Bulls. Because of that, Chris Collins grew up in Northbrook, Ill., roughly 15 miles away from Northwestern’s campus.
Using his vast network as the son of NBA royalty, as well as his local connection to the area, Collins hired an assistant who knew Illinois basketball as well as anybody: Brian James, his former high school coach at Glenbrook North.
“He recruited me here,” said James, who had spent the previous three seasons assisting Doug Collins with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Collins rounded out his staff with Patrick Baldwin, a standout Northwestern basketball player, and Armon Gates, a Chicago native. Together, they turned inward, combining Collins’s Duke pedigree and his staff’s Illinois background to tap into the region’s rich crop of basketball talent.
The Wildcats’ top three scorers, Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Vic Law, are all from Illinois or Indiana.
“We’re not backing off if another school of our caliber or even better, with a great tradition, is recruiting them,” James said. “That hasn’t always worked for Northwestern in the past.”
Other coaches in the past have left Durham with the intention of bringing Duke elsewhere, with varying degrees of success. Johnny Dawkins made just one NCAA tournament in eight years at Stanford. Tommy Amaker never reached the tournament in six years at Michigan before faring better at Harvard. Duke isn’t easy to replicate.
That’s why when Collins took the job at Northwestern, he says the best piece of advice Krzyzewski gave him was, “Don’t try to recreate Duke. Don’t try to recreate me.”
Instead, Collins likens his mission to what Krzyzewski faced when he took over at Duke in 1980. That was the topic of a midnight telephone conversation between Phillips and Krzyzewski, right as the Wildcats were hiring Collins.
Phillips asked Krzyzewski if Collins could handle building a program from scratch after enjoying so much success at Duke. By the end of it, Phillips believed that if Krzyzewski could achieve what he has achieved at Duke, Collins could thrive at Northwestern.
Hearing its name called on Selection Sunday for the first time will be the first step in that direction.
“We’re so far away from what Duke has been and what they have accomplished,” Phillips said. “But Chris has started us on that trajectory.”
Write to Jared Diamond at jared.diamond@wsj.com