"I get in the car with Marcus Jordan" - Doug McDermott recalls partying with Michael Jordan's son in recruiting trip to UCF
NBA star Doug McDermott recently shared a hilarious story from his college recruitment days that saw him meet the legendary Michael Jordan’s son, Marcus Jordan. McDermott, who originally hails from Iowa, considered a range of colleges before eventually committing his future to the Creighton Bluejays as a high-school graduate.
It came after he had already committed to Northern Iowa, which happened after an initial trip to UCF in Orlando. Doug McDermott’s father, Greg McDermott, is himself a former college player and a basketball coach, currently working with Creighton Bluejays men's basketball team. Greg eventually ended up at Creighton, despite his flirtations with multiple other institutes.
Regardless, as it turns out, UCF, situated in Orlando, gave McDermott the opportunity to meet Marcus Jordan, who picked him up in a white Range Rover. McDermott shared how he was initially drawn by UCF as it gave him the chance to meet and party with Michael Jordan’s son:
“I get to the airport in Orlando. My dad gets in the car with their coach, and then, I get in the car with Marcus Jordan, MJ’s son. He picks me up in this all-white Range Rover, Jordan logo is on the headrest. I am just this kid from Iowa, you know? I am just starstruck. I am like, ‘this is MJ’s son.’ “
He further claimed:
“And we stopped by the, we stopped by the dry cleaners and he brings his whole bin of laundry, from college to the dry cleaner. Being from Iowa, I am like, this is usually where you get like suits and sports coats taken care of. He had his whole laundry bin taking it into the dry cleaners, and I just thought that was hilarious.”
McDermott shared that while his immediate thought was to simply sign with UCF, his parents wanted him to be patient with his decision, as he eventually, through a hilarious turn of events, ended up at Creighton.
Doug McDermott had the opportunity to play for his father at Iowa State
McDermott joined college back in 2010, when his father himself was the head coach of the Iowa State University team. However, the older McDermott was of the opinion that he was about to be fired, which led to Doug looking at further teams:
“So he was at Iowa State. He wasn’t doing great there. So, he kind of saw the writing on the wall that he could potentially be out there. So we kind of just made the decision that you know, I am probably not going to play for you at Iowa State. So I was gonna look at more mid-major schools that were recruiting me. Central Florida, UCF is one of them.”
Gregg McDermott was eventually fired in 2010 by Iowa State, which led to the UCF trip in the first place. He has been the head coach of Creighton Bluejays men's basketball team since 2010.