Coach Chris Collins has inked a contract extension to remain Northwestern basketball’s head coach through 2030, Vice President for Athletics & Recreation Mark Jackson announced Friday.
“Northwestern is my family’s home – I am really proud of what we have built over the last 12 years with our basketball program and couldn’t be more excited to continue the journey together,” Collins said in Northwestern Athletics’ press release. “I am grateful to President Michael Schill and Mark Jackson for their continued belief in me. We are all aligned to work to create even more history in the future. Go ‘Cats!”
In the press release, Jackson said that Collins, NU’s second all-time winningest coach in program history “has no doubt proven himself as one of the top coaches in the country.”
CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein first reported the news on Thursday. He said that Collins is expected to become one of the Big Ten’s highest paid coaches with the deal.
During his 12-year tenure in Evanston, Collins has led the program to unprecedented heights, including its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017 and consecutive second-round berths in 2023 and 2024.
Collins recruited and developed NU’s all-time leading scorer, former guard Boo Buie, who entered college as an under-the-radar prospect ranked outside the top 150 in the 2019 class.
During Buie’s five-year stay in Evanston, Collins guided the ’Cats from a three-win Big Ten slate to two 12-win conference seasons, which included a pair of shocking home-court victories over No. 1 Purdue in the 2023 calendar year.
After NU’s 2024-25 campaign ended in Indianapolis, Collins announced that the team would decline an invitation to the College Basketball Crown — a postseason tournament in Las Vegas. The ’Cats capped the season off with a 17-16 record, their third consecutive winning season.
For the 2025-26 season, Collins looks to move past a season plagued by injuries to key players and is in the process of retooling his roster. Multiple program cornerstones, including Brooks Barnhizer, Ty Berry and Matthew Nicholson, are graduating this year.
Junior forward Nick Martinelli, coming off a season where he led the Big Ten in scoring and set the program single-season scoring record, has declared for the NBA draft while retaining his collegiate eligibility. There remains a chance that Martinelli returns to Evanston for his final season of eligibility.
With the NCAA’s transfer portal in full swing, prospective players have been touring NU’s campus and athletic facilities, per reports. Former USF guard Jayden Reid, who will be a junior this coming season, announced that he will transfer to NU Thursday. He averaged a team-high 12.6 points and 3.6 assists for the Bulls last season.
The lovingly-nicknamed “Pioneer” is calling Welsh-Ryan Arena home for several more years.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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