Northwestern extending Chris Collins' contract the right move for program on the rise

The Northwestern Wildcats are working to lock up men's basketball head coach Chris Collins on Friday, ensuring the program's continued upward trajectory, according to ESPN's Jeff Borzello. The school is deep in talks with the coach about a long-term extension to ensure he stays put.

Collins had previously been linked to the opening at Villanova, due to his strong Philadelphia ties, and the Wildcats feel they needed to make sure that Collins stayed with the program long-term.

Collins, the son of former NBA head coach Doug Collins, is already the best coach in school history in his 12 years on the job, and has the Wildcats heading in the right direction. Giving him an extension to stay was not just smart, it was almost essential to the program's continued success.

Consider: Collins is arguably the best coach in program history already, after just 12 seasons in charge. He's 42 wins behind Dutch Lonborg to be the winningest coach in the history of the school, a number he could easily eclipse within two or three seasons.

He's made the NCAA Tournament three times, and won a game on each trip. In case you were wondering, those were the first three NCAA Tournament berths and first three tournament wins in program history. He's won 20 games four times, which is two more 20-win seasons than the Wildcats had in the previous 108 years of having a basketball program.

Collins has Northwestern moving in the right direction, even after this season's injury-plagued step backward. We're talking about a school who has never had any kind of basketball success at any stage of their existence. They're a perennial doormat, the sub-basement beneath the cellar of the Big Ten, a place with no history of success at basketball.

The fact that 17 wins this season was a disappointment is a testament to what Collins has accomplished in his time in Evansville. You don't let a coach like this leave without doing everything in your power to keep him, and the Wildcats are rightly doing just that here.

Keeping Collins ensures that the Wildcats will continue to grow as a program, and could see them continue to hit historic milestones in the future.

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