RIP Joey Meyer

[tower912]

Blessings.   Time flies.

[Herman Cain]

Did a very good  job in the early days. Wheels started to come off the wagon at the end. Seems like yesterday when Joey  had The Blue Demons going strong

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39206841/former-depaul-basketball-player-coach-joey-meyer-dies-74

[Pakuni]

Did a very good  job in the early days. Wheels started to come off the wagon at the end. Seems like yesterday when Joey  had The Blue Demons going strong

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39206841/former-depaul-basketball-player-coach-joey-meyer-dies-74

Got kneecapped by Bill Bradshaw.

[Lennys Tap]

Got kneecapped by Bill Bradshaw.

Solid basketball guy and a good man. Kind of lost his drive/desire after DePaul screwed him over.

[Jockey]

Had one great season w/ Strickland and Comegys.

Otherwise just a baby step better than Wojo.

Always seemed to be a good guy though (like Wojo).

[rocket surgeon]

RIP young man

Joey was a chip of an old throwback-a lot of good old fashioned b-ball history in that family

Hard to develop a dislike for the guy unlike huggy bear eyna?

[Dr. Blackheart]

Last interview.

https://wgntv.com/news/wgn_75th_anniversary/wgn-at-75-depaul-basketballs-rise-was-aided-by-channel-9/

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

The root of DePaul's problems lay at their inability to deal with the obvious degradation of the program under Joey. I just thank the Lord that Allie didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Not going to lie, seeing the title I thought it was about the former Brewer firstbaseman.

[JWags85]

Had one great season w/ Strickland and Comegys.

I was too young, but how good was that 86-87 team actually?   Looking at the schedule it looked like they just beat up on a soft schedule.  Dukiet Marquette, medicore Dayton, a middling Louisville team, a down NC State team.  Lost to the best team they played (Georgetown) and split with a good not great ND team.  Then got a 3 despite being #5, barely got past a middle of the pack SJU in the second round before that LSU upset.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I thought he did pretty well until the CPL feud. Of course the game (and money) completely changes at that time too. 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I thought he did pretty well until the CPL cut him off. Of course the game (and money) completely changes at that time too. 

He had a lot of inflated records from the last days of being an independent.

[NCMUFan]

Think Ray had any influence on him getting the job?

[Herman Cain]

I was too young, but how good was that 86-87 team actually?   Looking at the schedule it looked like they just beat up on a soft schedule.  Dukiet Marquette, medicore Dayton, a middling Louisville team, a down NC State team.  Lost to the best team they played (Georgetown) and split with a good not great ND team.  Then got a 3 despite being #5, barely got past a middle of the pack SJU in the second round before that LSU upset.

Strickland and Comegys were elite College players. They had other guys who made NBA. Team was on super Station WGN so they had a national following, which translated to a high ranking with all the wins they put up.

Also Conferences were not as deep back then. The top teams dominated a lot of garbage teams . So ,on a relative basis ,Depauls schedule was not as weak as it would appear .

[dgies9156]

The root of DePaul's problems lay at their inability to deal with the obvious degradation of the program under Joey. I just thank the Lord that Allie didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps.

Could not have been worse than what we did!

[Lennys Tap]

I thought he did pretty well until the CPL feud. Of course the game (and money) completely changes at that time too.

When the CPL turned off the spigot the handwriting was on the wall. IIRC DePaul’s administration had something to do with the feud.

[Pakuni]

When the CPL turned off the spigot the handwriting was on the wall. IIRC DePaul’s administration had something to do with the feud.

Yep. Kids who were promised admission suddenly started getting rejected and the public league coaches froze Joey out.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Could not have been worse than what we did!

What?

[dgies9156]

What?

Sultan:

I was referencing a comment in which someone compared Ray being succeeded by Joey to Al by Allie McGuire.


My point was given the success of Coach Al, we made a mistake in triplicate — first Coach Raymonds, who had been passed over in 1964 and was hired in 1977, second is Coach Majerus, who wasn’t ready and the final was Coach Dukiet — enough said.

At issue would be whether hiring Allie McGuire would have been materially worse than what we did. I wonder seriously about that.

We lost the 1980s because of boneheaded decisions and only now are fully returning to what we once were — a consistent winner!

[BLWarrior91]

Hank took the team to the NCAA tournament five time in six seasons (in an era before the tournament expanded to 64 teams).  Never had much tournament success but at least got them there.  Rick was clearly not ready and Dukiet was a disaster. 

It would’ve been interesting to see what would’ve happened if Al had stayed ten more years. 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

It's a ridiculous argument. Marquette moved on from the Al-era about a decade after 1977. They made a bad hire, but then quickly changed course to O'Neill.

De Paul stuck with Joey too long.

[dgies9156]

It's a ridiculous argument. Marquette moved on from the Al-era about a decade after 1977. They made a bad hire, but then quickly changed course to O'Neill.

De Paul stuck with Joey too long.

Sultan, it's history and while moot, many of us who were there ask, "what if...."

So l'll throw a couple of nuggets out for your thoughts:

1) If Al had stayed 10 more years, I would argue we'd have at least one and maybe more Nattys. People argue that the Big East would have cut into Al's recruiting stream but the man was extremely creative and smart and found a way to adapt. I think that it would have been interesting to see Al coach with the shot clock and the three-point line. Those would have been bigger threats to Al but I suspect he would have adapted.

2) I get why Hank was hired. The same way I get why Bill Guthridge was hired to replace Dean Smith. Both were loyalty hires but both hindered their programs substantially. Marquette should have realized what they didn't have in 1977, much less 1978. We knew in 1964 what was lacking because Hank was passed over for Al then. What changed?

3) We ultimately moved away from the Al era when we made the colossal mistake of hiring Bob Dukiet. Ideally, we should have told Rick Majerus to go get some D1 coaching experience and then have him come back, as Roy Williams did. Maybe those Final Fours Coach Majerus reached in Utah would have been in Milwaukee instead!

4) As to Joey, should DePaul have moved on or should it have made peace with the CPL? I'm going to argue the latter. DePaul generally won with city kids and to lose the CPL the way they did was sad. I admit, many CPL coaches were not the most ethical people in the basketball world, but they supplied your recruits and you needed to treat them well. Joey wasn't a bad coach, he just had his legs cut out from under him.

[Galway Eagle]

Just gonna throw out there that DePaul didn't need to even make peace with the CPL kids as there's a crap ton of D1 talent around the Chicagoland catholic conference that they've neglected for years. Hell at Fenwick and St Joseph's alone I could probably rattle off 10 good D1 players without much thought. Let alone whatever has come through ND, St Pats, Ignatious, Loyola, Joliet Catholic, St Rita, Marist, Marion Catholic, Providence and Montini.

[88Warrior]

Strickland and Comegys were elite College players. They had other guys who made NBA. Team was on super Station WGN so they had a national following, which translated to a high ranking with all the wins they put up.

Also Conferences were not as deep back then. The top teams dominated a lot of garbage teams . So ,on a relative basis ,Depauls schedule was not as weak as it would appear .

Herman hit the nail on the head regarding WGN. The Cubs also benefitted from the same super channel.

CPS issues arose when DePaul started recruiting around the country and after Teddy Grubbs. Joey was the guy recruiting nationally and was good at it for a while. Along come conferences and tv contracts where DePaul lost it's advantage. You were lucky to see Marquette twice a year outside of Milwaukee prior to conferences.

Joey was sold down the river when an alum was making some illegal contributions and things fully went south from there. Joey was a good coach but was also dealing with similar player issues as Rick Majerus in those days. Kind of hard to retain respect of players when Rod Strickland did whatever he wanted. Same issues for him in the NBA.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Herman hit the nail on the head regarding WGN. The Cubs also benefitted from the same super channel.

CPS issues arose when DePaul started recruiting around the country and after Teddy Grubbs. Joey was the guy recruiting nationally and was good at it for a while. Along come conferences and tv contracts where DePaul lost it's advantage. You were lucky to see Marquette twice a year outside of Milwaukee prior to conferences.

Joey was sold down the river when an alum was making some illegal contributions and things fully went south from there. Joey was a good coach but was also dealing with similar player issues as Rick Majerus in those days. Kind of hard to retain respect of players when Rod Strickland did whatever he wanted. Same issues for him in the NBA.

Except DePaul started to struggle AFTER they joined the Great Midwest.  And Meyer coached a full decade after Strickland left the program.

The problem was that Meyer wasn't a great coach. And after they joined the Great Midwest, which jacked up the strength of their schedule after years of being an independent, they just couldn't compete after awhile. They just hung onto him way too long.

[Lennys Tap]

Herman hit the nail on the head regarding WGN. The Cubs also benefitted from the same super channel.

CPS issues arose when DePaul started recruiting around the country and after Teddy Grubbs. Joey was the guy recruiting nationally and was good at it for a while. Along come conferences and tv contracts where DePaul lost it's advantage. You were lucky to see Marquette twice a year outside of Milwaukee prior to conferences.

Joey was sold down the river when an alum was making some illegal contributions and things fully went south from there. Joey was a good coach but was also dealing with similar player issues as Rick Majerus in those days. Kind of hard to retain respect of players when Rod Strickland did whatever he wanted. Same issues for him in the NBA.

Excellent summation of DePaul’s/Joey Meyer’s demise.

[88Warrior]

Except DePaul started to struggle AFTER they joined the Great Midwest.  And Meyer coached a full decade after Strickland left the program.

The problem was that Meyer wasn't a great coach. And after they joined the Great Midwest, which jacked up the strength of their schedule after years of being an independent, they just couldn't compete after awhile. They just hung onto him way too long.

Depaul's slide started after national broadcasting rights went away most likely due to them joining the Great Midwest in early 90's and federal regulations. MU joined the MCC in 88 because they needed to do anything they could do to rescue things after hiring Dukiet. It also wasn't a coincidence that Rick left in the summer of 86. No one leaves a coaching job during the summer.

I will take DP's run from 84 to 92 when they made tournament NCAA tournament 7of 8 years as opposed to ZERO for Marquette. All of us suffered through those years.

Grew up in Chicago and Depaul was Chicago's team in the 70's and 80's until the Bears came along.

[dgies9156]

It's hard for more recently born people to understand how strong DePaul's hold on Chicago was in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Back in the very early 1980s, before we fully hit the slide that nearly took down the program, a Marquette/DePaul, or a Notre Dame/DePaul ticket was gold. DePaul began playing at the Rosemont Horizon and, as crappy as that arena was, it was unbelievable how many people showed up. DePaul truly was Chicago's team and they were good. Some of the games we had with them were legendary, though after Al left, we rarely won.

Mind you, this was pre-Michael. The NBA had a serious drug problem. Magic and Larry were just about to enter/entering the NBA and the Bulls absolutely sucked. The Bears were really terrible and the Cubs were years removed from the infamous Summer of 1969. Other than the 1977 South Side Hit Men, the Sox were nothing. Then, as now, Chicago had no real college football. Oh, and today's ever-present cable television was relegated to WTBS, WGN, WOR and a station or two in Los Angeles. Sports was the Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Sunday NFL and regional/local college basketball. WGN broadcast the Blue Demons, who were really, really good.

The biggest factor, apart from bad management, in DePaul's fall, may have been ESPN!

[Goose]

dgies

I agree that DePaul was a big deal for nearly decade. The Rosemont was jumping and a difficult place to play. I made the trek down many times during that era and cannot remember driving home a happy MU fan. They had great players and Al made them media darlings which added to the excitement. Add in that half their team should have been at MU, it made for a great rivalry.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Oh I completely understand De Paul's history. But some here want to let Joey off the hook for how it fell apart so quickly. Sure there were factors outside of his control, but the product on the court was bad the last half of his tenure - and they just let it ride even though there was no indication that his coaching was ever giving their talent any "extra."

[mujivitz06]

Wife's cousin is married to his son. Joey was an amazingly kind man and a coach that did his best to live up to a huge legacy. Laid to rest today in Chicago. Meyers were synonmous with Chicago hoops and Ray and Al were close friends has been documented a lot. RIP Joey Meyer.

[mujivitz06]

dgies

I agree that DePaul was a big deal for nearly decade. The Rosemont was jumping and a difficult place to play. I made the trek down many times during that era and cannot remember driving home a happy MU fan. They had great players and Al made them media darlings which added to the excitement. Add in that half their team should have been at MU, it made for a great rivalry.

Is it true that Marquette would have gotten Aguirre and Cummings had Al stayed a couple more years? I always hear those rumors.

[real chili 83]

Is it true that Marquette would have gotten Aguirre and Cummings had Al stayed a couple more years? I always hear those rumors.

You should ask Sultan. He is an expert on this, and everything else.

[Goose]

chili

Huh? Sultan an expert?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

You should ask Sultan. He is an expert on this, and everything else.

Damn right...but I don't know the answer to this one.

[Lennys Tap]

Oh I completely understand De Paul's history. But some here want to let Joey off the hook for how it fell apart so quickly. Sure there were factors outside of his control, but the product on the court was bad the last half of his tenure

Good first 8 years (7 NCAA, 1 NIT), not good last 5 (2 NIT), so “the last half” is inaccurate.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Good first 8 years (7 NCAA, 1 NIT), not good last 5 (2 NIT), so “the last half” is inaccurate.

[dgies9156]

Is it true that Marquette would have gotten Aguirre and Cummings had Al stayed a couple more years? I always hear those rumors.

Good question.

The urban legend is yes and that much of the talent that made DePaul successful in the 1980s otherwise would have gone to Marquette.

Al made a habit of recruiting outstanding talent from Chicago and you can bet he knew well about the talented players DePaul ended up recruiting. Al rarely lost players he really wanted and there’s a good chance some of DePaul’s talent would have ended up in Milwaukee.

Would it have happened the way we with blue and gold glasses wanted, had Al stayed, is anybody’s guess. It is hard to predict what never was.

[cheebs09]

Good question.

The urban legend is yes and that much of the talent that made DePaul successful in the 1980s otherwise would have gone to Marquette.

Al made a habit of recruiting outstanding talent from Chicago and you can bet he knew well about the talented players DePaul ended up recruiting. Al rarely lost players he really wanted and there’s a good chance some of DePaul’s talent would have ended up in Milwaukee.

Would it have happened the way we with blue and gold glasses wanted, had Al stayed, is anybody’s guess. It is hard to predict what never was.

I believe it was those guys and Isiah Thomas had MU at the top of their list with Al. Not sure if any of that is true.

[Uncle Rico]

I heard Jordan had Marquette at the top of his list before Al quit

[4everwarriors]

What did Wilt tell 'bout Al's recruitment of him, hey?

[tower912]

Ask Herman.