Website Manager

Chris Collins enters his 10th season as the head men's basketball coach at Northwestern in 2022-23. He was named the University’s 24th head men’s basketball coach on March 27, 2013. Entering the 2022-23 season, Collins has guided the Wildcats to 133 victories, the third-most wins by a head coach in program history.

Collins led the Wildcats to heights never before reached during the 2016-17 season. The unforgettable campaign saw Northwestern accumulate a school-record 24 wins while earning the program’s first NCAA tournament berth and victory in school history.

NU captured the nation’s attention with its outstanding start to the season. An 18-4 start, including a six-game winning streak in Big Ten Conference play — the program’s first since 1933 — saw the team crack the top 25 of the Associated Press poll on Jan. 30, the team’s first national ranking in seven years.

Northwestern went on to record 10 wins in league play, its most since the 1932-33 campaign. Five of the victories came on the road, including a 66-59 triumph at No. 7/5 Wisconsin on Feb. 12.

The ’Cats picked up a pair of wins in the Big Ten tournament in Washington D.C., including defeating 25th-ranked Maryland in its own back yard, to give NU its first appearance in the conference tournament semifinal round in school history.

Chris Lauten is in his tenth season as the team's director of basketball operations.

His duties include assisting in all day-to-day operations of the Wildcat basketball program, including scheduling, team travel, serving as the team's academic liaison and directing the summer basketball camps

Lauten came to Northwestern after working for the NBA Development League in New York, N.Y., since October of 2008. During his time with the NBA D-League, Lauten was responsible for scouting and signing players for the league's annual draft, for processing player personnel-related transactions, for providing NBA teams with information highlighting the D-League's top prospects and for managing the basketball operations behind the league's Showcase, All-Star and Summer League events among other responsibilities. He also served as an NBA Employee Volunteer from 2010-12, where he mentored New York-based middle school students.

Lauten is a 2008 graduate of Duke University with degrees in sociology and history.

He was a five-year letterwinner as a student manager for the school's men's basketball program and served as the head senior manager for the Blue Devils for two seasons. Lauten assisted with the logistics behind team practices, meetings and scout sessions, compiled video and statistical reports and was involved with on-court drills and skill work. He also served as a youth basketball camp counselor during the summers. He is a native of Orlando, Fla.

Maura Walsh began her position as Assistant Director of Basketball Operations in January 2025. She previously held the role of Operations Assistant with Northwestern’s Men Basketball Program, beginning in January 2024.  
 
In her role, she manages recruiting visits, arranges team and coach travel, oversees event logistics, communicates with donors and alumni of the program, and handles game-day needs such as ticketing and visitor coordination. 
 
A native of Lemont, IL, Maura earned her undergraduate degree in Sport Management from Loras College in 2018, where she was recognized as both an All-Region Athlete and All-Region Scholar for her contributions to the Women's Soccer program. She went on to complete her master’s degree also in Sport Management at Baylor University in 2020, further solidifying her expertise in the sports industry. 
 
Outside of her professional work, Maura is dedicated to coaching soccer, working at both the club and high school level, to develop young athletes and foster a love for the game. 

Brian James completed his ninth season as an assistant coach at Northwestern on Chris Collins’ staff in 2021-22, and begins his first season as special assistant to the head coach in 2022-23.

James is in charge of working with the Wildcats’ big men and has developed many all-conference student-athletes during his time in Evanston. Most recently, he oversaw Pete Nance's career that saw him become the 38th player in program history to score 1,000 or more points. Nance was one of two players in the Big Ten to average 16+ points, 6+ rebounds and 2.5+ assists per game in 2021-22.

In 2021-22 he helped lead NU to seven Big Ten wins, the program's most in a year since the 2016-17 season. The Wildcats tallied a 64-62 road win at No. 10 Michigan State on Jan. 15. Northwestern defeated Nebraska 71-69 in the Big Ten Tournament, earning the team's first postseason win since 2016-17.In 2020-21,the 'Cats opened Big Ten play 3-0 for the first time since the 1967-68 season and earned a No. 19 ranking from the AP.

NU recorded a 79-65 win over No. 4 Michigan State on Dec. 20, it's first win over a top-five opponent since beating the Spartans in 1979. Later that week, the Wildcats knocked off No. 23 Ohio State, 71-70.

Under James, Alex Olah became Northwestern’s all-time leader in blocked shots in only three seasons while finishing with 181 for his career. He also posted 1,161 career points and left NU with 663 rebounds to rank ninth in program history in the category.

A veteran college coach with more than 25 years of experience, Chris Lowery begins his first season at Northwestern as assistant coach in 2022-23. He comes to Evanston after spending 10 years as associate head coach at Kansas State.

Lowery has played an instrumental role in one of the best stretches in K-State history, which includes 170 wins, two Big 12 regular-season championships (2013 and 2019) and five NCAA Tournament appearances (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019). The Wildcats’ two conference titles are the second-most by a Big 12 school in that span with the 2012-13 championship the first-ever in the Big 12 era and the first conference title by the school in more than 36 seasons.

Lowery helped K-State post consecutive 25-win campaigns in 2017-18 and 2018-19 for the first time in school history, as the Wildcats collected a 25-12 overall record and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in eight seasons in 2017-18 before posting a 25-9 mark and earning a second Big 12 regular-season title in 2018-19. The school was one of 24 programs nationally, including 15 in power conferences.

Lowery arrived at K-State after an eight-year stint (2004-12) as the head coach at his alma mater, Southern Illinois, where he posted a 145-116 (.556) record with four postseason appearances, two Missouri Valley Championships and one State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title. His teams averaged 18.1 wins over his tenure, including three 20-win seasons, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament on three occasions (2005, 2006, 2007), including a 2007 trip to the Sweet 16.