DENVER — His son has scored more than 5,000 points in the NBA and the Creighton team he coaches is headed to the Sweet 16 of March Madness.
But know what gives Creighton basketball coach Greg McDermott the most pride?
Being Earl and Mary’s kid.
“Yeah, my parents are 89 years old, Earl and Mary are back home watching this tonight. You become who you become because of how you grew up and the expectations that were placed on you when you were a child: What was right and what was wrong,” McDermott said Sunday, after Creighton thumped Baylor 85-76 in the men’s NCAA Tournament.
“I am who I am because of Earl and Mary McDermott, and I’m proud to say I’m their son.”
The sixth-seeded Bluejays, stuck with a 6-6 record in mid-December after losing six straight, beat the No. 3 Bears, and it didn’t look anything like an upset.
Creighton guard Ryan Nembhard scored 30 points, thoroughly outshining Baylor backcourt star Keyonte George, a projected lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft who shot a ch-ch-chilly 1 of 10 from the field on the last evening of winter in Colorado.
But enough blah, blah, blah about the basketball score sheet. Want to know a far more impressive statistic? Earl and Mary got hitched way back on Aug. 24, 1963, exchanging wedding vows at St. Pius Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The parents of Creighton’s coach will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this summer. Not too shabby.
I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Earl and Mary McDermott. But when the 6-foot-8 coach of Creighton rises from the bench to offer guidance to the Jays, I feel like I know his parents. The corn grows tall in Iowa. And the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“My mother is about as Irish Catholic as it gets,” McDermott said, “and she won’t let me be critical of anyone.”
Which reminds me: When’s the last time you saw this happen at the NCAA Tournament?
The four squads that assembled in Ball Arena all had strong ties to the church. It was the Baptists (Baylor) breaking bread with the Jesuits (Creighton) during the early service, before Texas Christian University and Gonzaga, a proudly Catholic institution, offered the benediction on a glorious celebration of college hoops.
Holy moly. On a Sunday when basketball and religion congregated in Denver, God must have had a tough time picking winners in the tourney office pool.
“I was fortunate to grow up with two parents that were always about treating people the right way and putting your head down, going to work and seeing what happens,” McDermott said.
After a failed stint at Iowa State that made him rethink everything about coaching, McDermott started building something special at Creighton with his son, before Doug began an NBA career that has now spanned nine seasons.
And my, my, my. Look at how these Jays have taken flight.
During a wild season when they experienced the giddiness of being ranked in the top 10 and the humbling reality check of dropping six games in a row, the Jays put their heads down, treated each other the right way and got on a late-season roll. Now Creighton joins Xavier and UConn in repping the Big East Conference at the Sweet 16.
The Big East hasn’t sent three teams to the Sweet 16 since 2013, when dapper coach Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals won the national championship from a truly powerful conference that included Syracuse, Georgetown and Notre Dame before it all fell apart that glorious season because of money, in a seismic shift of realignment that foretold why it’s all about the Benjamins in the college athletics of today.
A basketball league left for ashes to be scattered from the wind in 2013 rose from its deathbed.
“You know,” McDermott said, “I remember the first meeting 10 years ago, the first spring meeting, and (Villanova coach) Jay Wright’s leadership was incredible about this league. (He said) if the new version of this league is going to work, we as coaches have to stick together. We can’t shoot daggers at each other. We have to have each other’s back. The decisions that we make, even though they may not be in the best interest of each individual school, if they’re in the best interest of the league, we collectively have to support it.”
Do what’s right, not just for the guy in the mirror, but everybody on the team bus. Keep your head down, work hard and never be defeated by setbacks, great or small. Most of all, be eternally grateful for all the people who made your success possible, because nobody wins alone.
Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner was a force to be reckoned with in the paint and Nembhard can make it rain from beyond the 3-point arc. That’s why the Jays are rolling in March Madness.
But I wonder if Earl and Mary McDermott might deserve an assist in the boxscore.
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