Chris Collins hears you.
More specifically, he hears Seth Greenberg, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist who wrote yesterday that the Northwestern program has regressed to the point that its “almost hard to believe” that Collins led the ‘Cats to the tournament in 2023 and 2024.
Of Northwestern opening round matchup with Penn State, Greenberg crowed, “The bad news was the one of these teams had to lose. The worse news was that some of us would have to watch the winner play again Wednesday.”
The back-page headline for Greenberg’s story reads, “after landing extension through 2030 season a year ago, coach Collins has Northwestern seemingly headed nowhere.”
Just textbook bulletin board material from a story gleeful in its disdain and so deliberately provocative that it felt designed to get a rise out of the head coach.
Collins – who on Tuesday told reporters that he doesn’t read “media reports and social media and all that” – took it personally.
“We’ve played so much better than our record,” Collins told Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz after Wednesday’s 76-66 win over Indiana. “Even though today I woke up and the headline in the paper said it’s a program going nowhere.”
He was as fired up as I’ve ever seen him postgame, drunk on adrenaline and hater fuel, defending his record to anyone who would listen.
“Guess what, we’re still here,” he said to nobody in particular in the United Center tunnel. “Look what we’ve done in 13 years. Look what we’ve done. See what this program has done 80 years before that.”
In a video recorded by Inside NU’s Charlie Jacobs, a staffer chimes in, “Talk your s—, coach!” Athletic director Mark Jackson is there too, more muted in his defiance, but unable to conceal a smile.
Greenberg and the Sun-Times are right to criticize Collins, if a little disrespectful in their desire to be transgressive. Collins just inked a contract extension through 2030 that put him “among the top coaches in the Big Ten in terms of salary and compensation,” according to CBS Sports’ John Rothstein. Before he affirmed his commitment to Northwestern, his name popped up as a potential candidate for a series of high-profile head coaching openings, and it’s fair to assume that the extension came with a commitment from the school to provide the men’s basketball program with adequate resources to compete in the revenue sharing era of college basketball. He went on to sign the highest rated transfer class in school history.
As the Wildcat head coach begins to reflect on his first true foray into the world of modern roster building, he admits that he didn’t get it quite right.
“You try to do your best, you try to learn as much as you can and try to fit people that are going to come in.” he told me two weeks ago when I asked what he’s learned from after bringing in the largest transfer class in program history. “We’ve had great success with guys, and some guys maybe haven’t fit as well.”
Yet against Indiana, Northwestern did not look like a program “seemingly headed nowhere.”
The ‘Cats weathered a series of body blows from Indiana — both figurative and literal — in the gutsiest win of his team’s season. Northwestern fell down by 10 halfway through the first half, but 13-combined points from Jake West and Nick Martinelli down the stretch cut the Hoosier lead to one by halftime.
The game grew chippy early in the second half, and Northwestern matched Indiana’s physicality even as the desperate Hoosiers were called for a series of hard fouls, culminating in a flagrant-1 as Nick Dorn clocked West in the face as the true freshman guard attempted a layup in transition.
“I thought we kept our poise,” Collins said. “It was clean chippiness, both teams were getting a little edgy. We were saying in the huddle, ‘Let’s keep playing hard, but let’s keep it clean, let’s not lose our heads, let’s not lose our course.‘ I thought we did that. I thought we kept our intensity.”
West spoke like a veteran when asked about that flagrant foul.
“Obviously they were feeling a lot of emotion,” he said. “I just tried to stay composed, to stay focused on winning the game and not really fall into stuff like that. When I got hit, I was just focused on the two free throws.”
West made both, and the hard foul catalyzed a 13-3 Northwestern run that extended the Wildcat lead to 13. Indiana wouldn’t get back within single-digits.
Martinelli, as always, was Northwestern’s engine. He scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half while finding another gear on the defensive end, finishing with a game-high three steals.
“When you come in the locker room, and this could be your last 20 minutes with this jersey on, all the work you’ve put in with these coaches, and these players. You just can’t let that slip. And we let it slip too much this year” he said postgame. “We obviously have an opportunity tomorrow [against Purdue], and I don’t know how we’re going to sleep tonight. We’re so excited to play again.”
While Collins may not have hung up the back page of Wednesday’s Chicago Sun-Times in the locker room — though who knows? — Northwestern like a team that felt the disrespect.
The future remains uncertain, especially without a clear candidate to take up Martinelli’s mantle once he leaves for the pros, but the ‘Cats last night flashed a get-off-the-mat capability that is indicative of a program — and a coach — that is doing something right.