Since new Northwestern head coach Chris Collins was hired in March, he's done countless interviews, received unrelenting attention and brought hype never seen around Wildcat basketball.
Judging by the way he's handled it, you'd never guess this is completely new to him.
It helps that as an assistant at Duke for 13 years, he was exposed to major media coverage, which seems to have prepared him for this moment. It just took a little while for the moment to come.
The Northbrook, Ill., native turned down multiple offers for head coaching jobs before coming home to the Chicago area. And why not? He had a job at his alma mater. A job working for the all-time winningest coach in NCAA men's basketball history, Mike Krzyzewski. A job he left with two national titles.
"I loved where I was," Collins said. "I had a job at a place that was my school. It was more than a job to me. It was where I went. It was a place I dearly loved."
He had it made at Duke, but this is a new, unique challenge.
Collins didn't ask to be born into basketball, but he doesn't regret it. His father, Doug Collins, was a first-overall pick in the NBA Draft and a four-time NBA All-Star. After years of growing up around the game, Collins is a self-proclaimed "basketball junkie."
When his father was on the Philadelphia 76ers from 1974-79, a young Chris Collins would often play with the children of other players. At one point, that group included future NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Mike Bibby, as well as WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings.
"I was actually posting Kobe up because I was four years older than him," Collins said with a chuckle. "I was dunking on him on the Little Tikes goal in the family room."
His love for the game continues, even if he can't back down future Hall of Famers anymore. As Collins grew up, he developed several father-son relationships in basketball, whether it was with his own father, his high school coach or Krzyzewski.
That might explain why Collins stuck by Krzyzewski's side for so long and why he came back to Duke as an assistant just four years after playing there. Krzyzewski was more than a mentor.
"Coach K's like a father to me," Collins said. "I think for Coach, he views all of us like his sons."
But eventually it was time for Collins to build his own program and blaze his own trail. It was an option that had been there for a while, but one he had never rushed into.
At Northwestern he finds himself in a tough spot, much like another new face in the Big Ten, Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, son of Louisville coach Rick. They both come with impressive pedigrees and are trying to succeed in the Big Ten, one of the most competitive conferences in the country.
Still, he has fit in right away. He said that he and his fellow Big Ten coaches have an immense respect for each other, and they seem to agree. In a league with such great coaches as Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Wisconsin's Bo Ryan and Ohio State's Thad Matta, that says a lot about Collins' potential to succeed.
"Chris, I think he's got a couple advantages," Izzo said. "He's been well tutored, and he's been in a very good program. He's from Chicago, and he's well-respected around here. He's a good coach and, I think, a good person."
While he still uses the tools provided by his mentors, Collins is in a totally new position. He's now the one in charge. His high school coach, Brian James, is now his assistant. Being a head coach is a whole new challenge for Collins, but he's ready to take it on.
After all, he's had similar opportunities for years. If he had wanted to be a head coach a year ago, he could have been. If he had wanted to stay at Duke, he could have. But there was something about Northwestern that just felt right.
"Things always kind of work out the way they're supposed to work out," Collins said. "For me, when this opportunity came about, the time it came about, where I was in my life, what I was looking for, it became a perfect fit."