A quick look at Tom Ostrom’s phone contacts will tell you a lot about the relationship the new Creighton men’s basketball general manager has with his boss.
Under Alan Huss’ name, it reads “Decatur Christian Illinois.” That’s where Huss got his start as a head coach back in 2006, leading the high school program in the town where he was born.
One day, Ostrom — then an assistant at South Alabama under John Pelphrey — dropped by the Decatur Christian gym on a recruiting trip. The visit didn’t produce any future Jaguars, but it did plant the seed for a friendship that would span more than two decades.
Ostrom never signed one of Huss’ players from Decatur Christian, Culver Military (Ind.) or La Lumiere (Ind.), yet as the two continued to navigate the basketball world — with Huss joining Ostrom in the college ranks eight years later — they stayed in touch, and Ostrom never changed Huss’ contact information.
“You have very few real friends in this business, and he’s been one of them,” Ostrom told Hurrdat Sports. “… There were some weeks we’d talk five, six days a week … He’s been a real, dear and trusted friend for 20-plus years.”
Right Person for the Job
Huss officially took over as Creighton’s head coach following Greg McDermott’s retirement in late March. He retained most of the staff while hiring Corey Edwards to fill the open assistant spot his promotion created, then Ostrom hopped on board during the summer as the program’s general manager.
“The last couple of decades, I followed his career,” Huss said. “I respect it. I’ve always respected his ability to understand the nuances of roster management and roster building. I think he’s made for this world. He’s a guy that he’s obviously a basketball coach also, and he’s got some basketball responsibilities, but you just look at the way the timeframes have shifted in college basketball now, and as we near the end of the kind of the peak point of the season from a basketball standpoint, it’s important that we have somebody that’s always got two eyes kind of singularly focused on what we’re doing from a roster management standpoint.
“So I think the time was right. I think we had the right person for the job, and I think he’s certainly a value add for our program and our university.”
Ostrom said that the two of them discussed the possibility of working together if either one ever became a head coach over the years. After two decades spent pursuing their goals separately, their paths finally converged when Huss reached out to his old friend, “Tommy,” with an opportunity the latter couldn’t refuse.
The conversations began last year after Huss returned to Creighton as coach-in-waiting, then he put the wheels into motion following McDermott’s retirement. Ostrom officially joined the program during the summer.
Oswin Erhunmwunse stands with his arm around Tom Ostrom’s shoulders at Creighton practice inside CHI Health Center Omaha, with Alan Huss in the background. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
“I know what kind of person he is,” Ostrom said. “I know how hard he works at it. There’s no doubt that when he took the High Point job — High Point back then wasn’t the High Point that everyone sees now, and he was the main one responsible, with their administration, of turning it around, and now everybody sees this unbelievable program. He’s had success wherever he’s gone. I know how hard he works at it. I know how he treats people.
“Philosophically, we really align, how we want to do things, how we want our teams to look, how we want to play, and then even off the court, I think our core values and what’s important to us off the court really align.”
Making the offer even more appealing was his familiarity with the Creighton brand. While his coaching journey has taken him all across the country, he’s from the Midwest and graduated from Minnesota in 1997. He was also on staff at Florida when Terrell Taylor buried a 3-pointer with 0.2 remaining to give the Bluejays an 83-82 double-overtime victory over the Gators in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. He’s seen the blue-clad masses that fill CHI Health Center Omaha and the passion from those who support the program.
“I know there’s a very small handful of programs that get 17,000 fans in their stadium every single night,” Ostrom said. “When it’s five degrees outside and it’s snowing and 17,000 people still show up regardless to support you, that’s a special place …
“Just being where I’m from, being a basketball guy, just knowing the Creighton brand, the amount of success they had first under Coach [Dana] Altman, and then Coach McDermott, and then obviously Huss. We talked about it the other day, there are very few programs in the country, maybe three or four, that have had three coaches in 32 years, and that just shows you how special this place is and how it’s built for success.”
A Boss Who “Just Gets It”
As big of a draw as Creighton itself is, Ostrom wouldn’t be in Omaha without Huss. Following his retirement, McDermott said his protege was better equipped to navigate the current landscape of college basketball. Ostrom, too, believes Huss has what it takes to be successful. In his old friend’s words, Huss “just gets it” — and his background as both a long-time college assistant and as a high school head coach has a lot to do with that.
Alan Huss oversees Creighton practice. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
“I think Coach Mac, when he was an assistant here, put a tremendous amount of trust in Alan into dealing with [roster management],” Ostrom said. “That was kind of under his umbrella. People say Alan’s been a head coach for two years; it’s really not true. He’s been a head coach a lot longer, because when you’re a high school coach, especially at La Lumiere, where you’re trying to win their own version of a national championship, you have to do everything. You have to recruit, you have to manage, you have to fundraise, you have to drive the bus, you have to sweep the floor, you have to coach your team. You have one or two assistants, you have one or two managers; you don’t have what we have right here.
“Guys who start out as long time and successful high school coaches like Coach Huss, I think, have almost even a greater advantage on people who have just been assistants their whole life, because they know what it’s like, and they’ve had to do everything when they’re at the head coaching spot.
“He’s been working for this opportunity for a long, long time. Obviously, there are very few places where they have a head coach who played here, got married here, was an assistant coach here and then came back as a head coach. There are very few places who can say that. He loves this place. He literally bleeds Creighton blue, and he’s more than prepared to continue the tradition and to win at Creighton the right way.”
“You’ve Got to Be True to Yourself”
Personal connection aside, Ostrom’s history qualifies him to speak on what makes a successful coach. Two-time national champion Billy Donovan gave him his start at Florida. He also worked for Archie Miller at Dayton and Indiana as well as former long-time Creighton assistant Darian DeVries at Drake and West Virginia. Most recently, Ostrom spent time on hall of famer Rick Pitino’s staff at St. John’s. He’s had a front row seat to see some of the best coaches in the country over the course of the past two and a half decades.
“Everybody has a different style,” Ostrom said. “You’ve got to be who you are. That’s what was really interesting about — even Billy, way back in the day, the only coach he knew from college was Rick Pitino, but from day one at Marshall, he didn’t try to be Rick Pitino. He knew he had to be Billy Donovan, and he was just so comfortable in his own skin. You’ve got to be true to yourself, whether you’re Billy or Coach Pitino … They’re very comfortable in who they are. They try to be true to themselves, and I think Alan’s the same way.
Tom Ostrom walks by as Isaac Traudt prepares to perform a drill at Creighton practice. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
“He’s not Coach McDermott; he’s not Coach Altman; he’s got to be Alan Huss. He takes things from those guys and obviously implements them and understands what’s won at Creighton for a long, long time. But he also has to put his own mark on it and be who he is and be true to himself.”
The opportunity to work with Pitino this past spring carried a title change for Ostrom. He signed on as a consultant and interim general manager in early March to help the Red Storm get through the offseason. Pitino fired previous general manager Matt Abdlemassih in January, creating a void Ostrom was happy to fill for his long-time friend and his coaching inspiration.
“I had so much fun with him and Coach [Steve] Masiello, their associate head coach at St. John’s, those six, seven months,” Ostrom said. “I learned so much. He was an open book with me. He treated me with so much kindness and gave me trust for a guy who wasn’t on staff very long. I had unbelievable synergy with Coach Masiello. At his age, the energy he has — I told him he’s going to come to my funeral, I’m not going to his funeral. I think he’s got the fountain of youth somehow. In my opinion, he’s the greatest basketball coach in the history of college basketball, and it was just so much fun.”
Ostrom had the option to remain in his role at St. John’s after helping Pitino build the 2026-27 Red Storm roster, picked to finish second in the conference this season behind UConn. It’ll be a little strange for Ostrom to sit on the opposing bench for the two (at least) meetings between the Bluejays and Johnnies this season, but he’ll also have something to look forward to with those games.
“When I told him I think the best move for me is to come to Creighton, he said, ‘Well, Tommy, if that’s the best for you, here’s the deal: when we come to Omaha, you’re going to take me out to eat; when you come to New York, I’m going to take you out to eat,’ and that’s just the kind he is,” Ostrom said. “He wants what’s best for me. He calls, I talk to him about once or twice a week, and the only thing he asks me is, ‘How’s it going? How’s your family? Are you happy?’
“So not only is he the greatest coach, in my opinion, of all time, he’s an unbelievable human being, and if you’re in his circle, he cares about you. There are no boundaries on what he’ll do for you.”
Derek Kellogg and Tom Ostrom converse at Creighton practice. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
General Manager, Assistant Coach
One requirement Ostrom had — that both Creighton and St. John’s were willing to meet — is that his role would include on-court coaching responsibilities in addition to the roster management work. On Creighton’s website, Ostrom’s title is listed as “General Manager, Assistant Coach.” He’s as engaged and vocal as anyone on the practice floor, working his way around the court to converse with other coaches and players while occasionally stepping in to offer instruction or advice during drill work and live play.
“I still love being on the floor,” Ostrom said. “I still love teaching and coaching basketball, and hopefully having some kind of influence on these young men.”
The “assistant coach” part of Ostrom’s title comes first throughout the early stages of the season as the Bluejays look to put everything together and win games. The “general manager” part takes over later on, around the time when the calendar turns from January to February and roster management becomes vital for sustaining success. It starts with self-inspection — identifying the key players the staff wants to retain, touching base with agents and families, determining roster needs based on how the current season is playing out — before anticipating who might become available in the transfer portal that could become priority targets for Creighton.
The program under Huss is collaborative where everyone has a say and the head man is willing to listen. However, he also wants much of the communication with agents and family members to funnel through one person: the general manager.
Tom Ostrom and Alan Huss observe practice from the baseline inside the McDermott Center. Photo by Jacob Padilla.
“It’s managing the current roster and their people, and then obviously I look out at the transfer portal,” Ostrom said. “Alan said this publicly, high school recruiting is very important at Creighton. It’s very important, development and retention. I don’t know if we’re ever going to go sign the highest-paid guy in the transfer portal, but I think what Creighton has proven in the past is if you get a young man and you develop him, and he turns into maybe the 75th best player, turns into an All-Big East player because of our development and our style, I think Creighton’s been willing in the past to show that we’ll retain that guy.
“I think they want to see guys here multiple years. I think Alan and myself are in agreement — it doesn’t mean we’ll never take a one-year guy, but as a general rule, we want guys, whether it be the transfer portal, high school, who are here multiple years, and they develop and they become a fabric of the community and really entrenched in the Creighton way.”
Huss and his assistants put a premium on honesty in the recruiting process. They don’t make promises on the way in and they’re up front about how they view players and their expected roles in Omaha. That kind of dialogue makes it easier for the coaches to identify the traits they’re looking for and to keep players happy.
“Whether it be a high school kid or a portal kid, they’ve got to fit into that Creighton community,” Ostrom said. “There’s a certain way and a certain type of kid who’s been successful here, and that’s one thing Alan’s been very smart about, that he’s got to put his own imprint on this program, do it his way, but he also knows there’s a certain player that fits here and that has success here, and there’s a certain player that may fit somewhere else that doesn’t fit at Creighton.
“You have to identify if they’re a Creighton kind of guy, and once you do that, then you get into positional need, you get into finances, do they fit within your budget, you look at the analytics, you have the eye test, and you put all that together, and you kind of mix it all over in a formula, and it comes out whether, A, they fit us; B, is there a need there, and C, if the financials are aligned.”
The Creighton Way
Based on what he’s seen thus far, Ostrom believes Huss found that balance with this year’s team, which features six returners, seven transfers (including one back for a second stint in Omaha) and two freshmen who all fit the “Creighton way.”
“It’s a hard-working bunch,” he said. “I think Coach Huss did an unbelievable job with keeping the core group of guys that had the option to return, and that helps a lot. It just helps. They know what to do, they know what to expect, they kind of know the way to do things, and then the new guys have done an unbelievable job at incorporating themselves.
“It’s going well. Now we’re undefeated, which is good. So as long as we stay undefeated, it’ll be easy. Obviously, there are a lot of ups and downs during the season, but just staying together and keeping each other kind of rolling in the same direction is going to be important.”
Ostrom, his wife Lisa and their kids have only been in Omaha for a few months, but they’ve already experienced much of what makes it an “awesome” basketball city — and the Jays haven’t even taken the court yet.
“In this business you move around a lot,” Ostrom said. “My wife has commented multiple times at how welcoming this community’s been to her, my kids. Creighton basketball is extremely important to everybody. They live it, they’re a part of it, it’s part of who they are, and that’s what makes this place so special … They’ve been so just welcoming and kind, both professionally and personally. We absolutely love it.
“Basketball is really, really important, and that’s what you want. You want a place where what you do is important to them, and it means a lot to them. It’s been everything that we hope for and then some.”
Ostrom is hoping to help his long-time friend deliver another deep NCAA Tournament run to the fan base that has been so welcoming.
Perhaps if he does, he’ll finally update Huss’ contact info.
