Creighton Men’s Basketball Alumni Return To Launch Coaching Careers

Among the many things Greg McDermott has become known for during his career with Creighton men’s basketball and prior is his extensive coaching tree, which gained another branch on Wednesday when Northern Iowa hired Kyle Green to succeed Ben Jacobson.

There were 11 head coaches during the 2025-26 season that spent time on McDermott’s staff at one point in their careers, with Green and McDermott’s successor at Creighton, Alan Huss, adding to that total heading into 2026-27.

Assistant coaches don’t often garner the spotlight, and those that do tend to be spearheading recruiting efforts. However, it takes a full staff working in concert to make it through a season, from the head man down to the graduate assistants. Of the 11 head coaches from McDermott’s tree, three of them (Eric Henderson, Bryan Petersen and Paul Sather) started as GAs while a fourth (David Richman) began as a student assistant for McDermott.

McDermott’s track record and the way he’s empowered those that work for him and given them responsibility is a big reason former Bluejays Geoffrey Groselle and Justin Carter joined the staff this season, hoping to follow in the footsteps of another former Bluejay who parlayed a GA stint into a full-time coaching job in Mitch Ballock.

“That was one of the huge selling points, is Coach Mac’s coaching tree,” Groselle told Hurrdat Sports. “He’s got coaches all over the country, GAs that turn into assistants that turn into head coaches. I don’t think there’s a place in the world that’s better to start if you want to become a coach.”

For many, accepting a graduate assistant position is a way to get one’s foot in the door.  The roles are often filled by players and managers fresh out of undergrad or alumni returning after a professional career. The position isn’t glamorous or lucrative, but it’s pivotal for the full-time coaches and the players. They’re present for every practice and game — and available to the players outside of those time slots — all while taking graduate classes, which Ballock said was his biggest challenge after being out of school for a couple years.

“You have a full workload, and usually as a GA you take on a little more responsibility than just things here and there that you didn’t really expect or plan for that you’re always around for,” Ballock said. “Just availability, guys working out and being available to the guys is huge. And then on top of that, just getting your schoolwork done and staying, I don’t know, eligible, I guess, and not fired, that was kind of the biggest adjustment. And then just figuring out how to work a more strenuous schedule throughout the days and weeks.”

Groselle and Carter joined Malik Garner, who followed Huss from High Point to Creighton, and Julian Berry, who served as a student manager until graduating last year, as Creighton’s GAs this year. They’re responsible for cutting up film, participating in practice and rebounding for players who want to get shots up. They show up an hour early and stay late at every practice, they study opposing teams to fill roles on the scout team, they put players through extensive warmup routines before games and they make themselves available when players want to get extra workouts in outside of practice.

“It’s just taking a lot of that pressure off your back, so when you’re here and you show up, everything’s taken care of, all the little things that kind of go on behind the scenes,” Ballock said. “For Coach Huss and Coach Mac to be able to do what they do, it starts with them and then kind of trickles down to the rest of us, and we just kind of fall in line and try to take care of what we’re supposed to take care of. Availability for the guys is the biggest thing. When you have four GAs that are always on call and aware and around for the guys, that’s what you want. You want to make it as easy and seamless for the 16 guys that we have as we can, and then on game days, you hopefully get the best out of them.”

Groselle, a native of Plano, Texas, played for McDermott at Creighton from 2011 to 2016 before embarking on a professional career overseas that lasted nearly a decade. He said he always planned to return to the Omaha Metro as his wife, Kelsi, is from Gretna, and he had a house built close to where she grew up. When his body told him it was time to hang up the sneakers, he moved back to Nebraska, wanting to stay around the game to which he had dedicated his life.

“[Creighton administrative specialist] John McKew, who is one of my best friends, he called me and asked me if I would consider doing a GA position at Creighton,” Groselle said. “The first time he called me, I said basically, ‘Heck no, I’m not doing it. There’s no chance, I’m not doing it.’ And then he kind of made his pitch, and I was like, ‘Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad, but still, I’m not doing it.’ And then a couple weeks go by, and this is while I’m still playing last May, and I’m in the playoffs, and he calls me a few weeks later, and he made his pitch again. It was still a no, but it was like, all right, I’m growing warmer to it. Then my career came to an end, we got third place in Poland, and then I decided to come back, meet with Huss and Mac about it, and they kind of made their pitch.”

Groselle eventually accepted the position and joined the staff during the summer. He’s worked directly under assistant to the head coach Steve Merfeld, performing whatever tasks the veteran coach asks of him.

“That can be from, every game, I write a report on the opponents that we’re about to play, I look at their statistics, their advanced analytics and with the help of AI and other tools, I put together a report that Merf and some of the other assistants look at before every game,” Groselle said. “Rebounding for the guys, whatever is necessary. Mentoring the guys wherever they need help. I’ve been around the game a long time, been in a lot of different locker rooms, seen a lot of the way that the game’s been played at different levels, different styles of play, so wherever I can help, I’m there.”

Groselle experienced much of what basketball has to offer during his time as a Bluejay, redshirting his first year, battling through injuries and eventually breaking out as a senior, ending his time in Omaha as the program’s record-holder for career field goal percentage. He works closely with Creighton’s big men and leans on everything he’s learned and all the roles he’s filled to offer advice in addition to on-court technical instruction.

On game days, he’s been in charge of the iPad used to review plays and advise McDermott on which plays he should challenge.

“Honestly, I like it,” Groselle said. “I like it a lot. I don’t really feel the pressure. I like the responsibility. It’s not the easiest job, because a lot of times the ball gets inbounded by the time you even get to look at it. You basically have one look at it live, one look at it on the iPad, maybe two if the ref gives you enough time, and they’re inbounding it. There’ve been a few that have been really obvious, and a few that haven’t. Most of the time the refs are right, 90-something percent of the time the refs get the right call, and which really makes my job easy. That’s why Mac turns to me, and most of the time I’m like, no, don’t challenge, don’t challenge it. They’re, most of the time, pretty obvious. I’m happy in the role.”

Unlike Groselle, Carter didn’t play for McDermott. He was a standout under Dana Altman from 2008 to 2010. The Gaithersburg, Md., native played professionally overseas until 2023 while living in Omaha during the offseason with his wife, Laura, and his kids. As his career approached its end, he began putting feelers out, looking for opportunities to get his foot in the door of college coaching. That search led back to Creighton this year, though his connection to his alma mater and the current coaching staff began long before 2025.

“I would say coming back, it was always love,” Carter said. “I would come back, play scout team, kind of best guy. Just from afar, I would watch, ‘Hey Coach, I like the way you’re doing this.’ ‘Hey, great, keep it going.’ When they were going to that Sweet 16, I was like, ‘Hey, let’s get another one,’ then that Elite Eight, ‘let’s get another one.’ Just giving those little insights and trying to stay around and stay relevant, kind of.

“Coming back and working for [McDermott], I just know he’s a family guy first, which is what helps all his coaching staff. And then he wants to teach you as much as possible, the ways how he did it, how he started, and then obviously, how it’s going now. So I think those little things that he’s saying to us as a GA, or not even playing for him and still giving me those insights is pretty, pretty cool.”

Carter has been a key piece of Creighton’s scout team work this season, showing the current crop of Bluejays he can still get after it at 38 years old. He’s been a valuable resource for the young players on the team, particularly the wings. As a Bluejay, Carter’s motor was his biggest asset as he rebounded at a high rate for his size and often had to guard opposing forwards at 6-foot-4. He brings that same persona to the practice court as he seeks to challenge the current players and make them better.

“JC, I feel like with him, he kind of brings that swag, attitude, that whatever work you put in, that’s what you’re going to get out of it,” freshman Hudson Greer said. “I just feel like with him, just getting reps up with him has been crucial, for sure, with all the guys.”

Despite his late start, Carter is hoping to parlay his experience as a GA into a full-time assistant role somewhere, and eventually into a head coaching position. To that end, he’s latched onto assistant Trey Zeigler, who begin his coaching career at Creighton as a graduate manager, followed Huss to High Point in 2023 to become a full-time assistant then returned to Creighton in 2024 when Jalen Courtney-Williams departed for LSU.

“That’s kind of my mentor as well,” Carter said of Zeigler. “I try to hold on to his coattails as much as possible. Obviously, he’s like head of recruiting right now, so just learning how he’s recruiting, what does he say to the kids and every recruit that comes? I just kind of hang out with him, just to learn. He’s like, ‘Yo, it’s possible,’ so it gives me that hope.”

While the season hasn’t gone the way anybody in the program hoped for in terms of results, McDermott has high praise for the way the two first-year GAs have gone about their business and the impact they’ve had on this year’s team.

“They’ve been great,” McDermott saod. “Obviously, they both played a long time overseas, so I think that professional experience is helpful to our guys, and Creighton means a lot to them. Obviously, Justin didn’t play for me, he played for Dana, but the fact that he is raising his family in Omaha, Geoff’s got a house in Gretna, raising his family here, so this community, this university, this program, means a lot to both of them. To have those guys as mentors for these young guys has been absolutely huge for us, and they both have an opportunity to be really good in this profession.”

Before Groselle and Carter, Ballock took advantage of his time as a GA to prove his worth and acumen, such that McDermott made it a priority to find a full-time position for him on staff after his two years in the graduate program ran their course. He’s been instrumental in the team’s offensive game-planning as he continues his rapid rise in the profession, with the goal to one day run his own program. For now, though, he’s happy to see his fellow alumni following in his footsteps.

“No doubt it’s special,” Ballock said. “Coach Mac has a really good understanding of what this place means. And obviously Coach Huss playing here for Coach Altman, Creighton means something, and it means something to the people. It means something to the whole city of Omaha. The Creighton community is beyond supportive of us, so we want our guys to understand how important it is to them. So Huss playing for Dana, and just the trickle-down culture effect from Dana and Huss and JC, then to Mac and me and Geoff, and then understanding what this place is about, what the Creighton uniform means, and it’s not what the back of your jersey.

“That’s really fun and what they’re able to do, and when Huss takes over, he’ll do similar things to the previous two before them. But when you have two coaches that have been here for 32 total years, that’s pretty special. The turnover’s pretty elite, and we’ve won a lot of games. He’ll put his own twist and do things that he liked with Dana and Coach Mac, so it’ll be really good. It’ll be fun.”

With Huss, Carter, Groselle and Ballock, McDermott’s final staff as Creighton’s head coach featured representatives from the last 30 years of Bluejay basketball, and while his assistants will point to the culture McDermott has established, the head man says it’s a testament to the place itself — and that will continue to be true long after he moves on.

“It starts with our community, I think,” McDermott said. “For our former players, the way they were treated when they were here, I think that has a lot to do with the pull of people wanting to come back. Creighton’s a great place. We’ve got things in place for this program to have a chance to be successful for a long time.”