As Husker fans already know, when Northwestern won its first NCAA Tournament game last week (in its first NCAA Tournament appearance) it left Nebraska as the only Power 5 school without a tournament victory. It also probably helped the Wildcats jump the Huskers in a set of coaching-job rankings from Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune (though maybe Chris Collins had already achieved that pre-tournament win).
With Indiana looking for its next head coach, Greenstein set out to rank the basketball jobs in the Big Ten “[a]fter consulting with several Big Ten coaches and media members who cover the conference.”
The ranking was not kind to Nebraska hoops, which finished 13th out of 14 teams. Here’s how Greenstein encapsulated the Nebraska job:
Nebrasketball is fun to say, but it wasn’t muttered much this season as the Cornhuskers went 12-19. They’ve made seven NCAA tournaments and managed to win zero games, a sum even Northwestern has passed. Pinnacle Bank Arena is a beaut that manages to draw a crowd during football season, but there’s almost no recruiting radius to speak of. Trend: Down.
It’s an interesting set of rankings. These things rarely diverge from what could be considered the consensus, but Greenstein’s rankings offered a few genuine surprises.
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.
