Chris Collins didn’t even raise a glass with wife Kim the night he agreed to a contract extension to remain at Northwestern.
“Maybe we gave each other a hug,” Collins told the Tribune. “I was never worried about it. I want to be here for the long haul and build a program.”
The extension, yet to be announced by the school, resulted from Collins’ end-of-season meeting with Jim Phillips, NU’s athletic director.
Phillips said negotiations were easy on the multiyear extension. Collins would not divulge the deal’s length, saying he will stay in Evanston for at least the “foreseeable future.”
“It’s not ‘coach Cal’ money,” he said in reference to Kentucky coach John Calipari’s $7 million-plus annual salary. “But it’s in the ballpark of what guys in our league are making. I want to be at Northwestern and love what we’re doing. I just wanted to be treated fairly.”
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo is at the top of the Big Ten food chain, making about $3.5 million. Collins likely signed for something close to what Illinois coach John Groce is paid, $1.6 million.
Phillips said Collins’ body of work of the past two years has been “absolutely fantastic in all aspects of building a program. It starts with recruiting, and he and his staff are doing a phenomenal job. He understands our culture and does not push back on high academic standards; he embraces them.”
Collins went 14-19 in his first season and improved to 15-17 last year after the Wildcats went 5-2 down the stretch in Big Ten play.
His third team, stocked with veterans Alex Olah and Tre Demps and talented sophomores such as Vic Law and Bryant McIntosh, will be expected to make a strong push for the school’s first NCAA tournament bid.
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
