[2] On March 29, 1994, he accepted his first head coaching position at Division II Wayne State College.

[2] McDermott remained as the head coach at Wayne State College for six seasons and compiled an overall record of 116 wins and 53 losses (116–53) during his tenure there from 1994 to 2000.

[4] In his lone season with NDSU, he led the Bison to an overall record of 15 wins and 11 losses (15–11) en route to an eighth place finish in the North Central Conference.

[5] On April 3, 2001, McDermott was introduced as head coach at his alma mater, Northern Iowa.

[6] McDermott was the Cyclones' head coach for four seasons between 2007 and 2010, and during his tenure led them to an overall record of 59 wins and 68 losses (59–68).

[7] The contract with Creighton was a reported ten-year deal, worth well over one million dollars per season.

[8] In his first season with the Bluejays, McDermott led the team to a 23–16 record, 10–8 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Creighton reached the final round of the College Basketball Invitational tournament where they lost to Oregon two games to one.

[9] In just his second year, McDermott led Creighton to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship.

After the end of the 2012–13 season, Creighton left the Missouri Valley to join the Big East.

The team finished the regular season 23–8, and lost to Villanova in the Big East tournament finals.

6 seed in the Midwest Region, and lost to the Rhode Island Rams 84–72 in the first round to finish the season 25–10.

[11] McDermott led the 2017–2018 Bluejays to a 21–12 record, 10–8 in Big East play to finish in a three-way tie for third place.

2 seed in the NIT bracket where they defeated Loyola and Memphis before losing to TCU 71–58 in the quarterfinals.

Entering the 2019–20 season, the Bluejays were picked to finish 7th in the Big East, however McDermott and his team were able to finish tied for the Big East regular season championship with Villanova and Seton Hall.

In the second round, the Bluejays defeated the Ohio Bobcats 72–58, to reach the program's first regional semifinal since 1974.

During the 2021–22 regular season, largely regarded as a rebuilding year after the departure of star point guard Marcus Zegarowski and three other starters from the 2020–2021 roster, as well as two assistant coaches, McDermott nevertheless guided the Bluejays to a 20–10 regular season record (12–7 in Big East play), good enough for 4th place.

[18] On November 13, 2024, McDermott passed Dana Altman for the most coaching wins in program history (328) when the Bluejays defeated the Houston Christian Huskies 78–43.