DePaul's new hire

[ChicosBailBonds]

Looks like they are thinking similarly.  Gillespie seems to be someone that would be interesting. Lavin as well.

Best of luck to them, but not too much luck.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=430&f=2585&t=5417460

[damuts222]

 Its unfortunate the situation DePaul is in, especially since their home games are empty except when Marquette comes to play them at the Allstate Arena.
 
  Magic will have to be performed on this program and it won't be a quick fix, they need their own stadium or at least one closer to their campus.

[4everwarriors]

I've followed DePaul since I was a little boy on my transistor radio. George Mikan and Meyer are my heros.

Sounds like Crean has his speech ready.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I don't think the guys Chicos mentions are good fits at all.

How about Danny Manning? It would appear he's looking to get a head coaching gig. Matt Doherty? Dan Dakich? Darrin Horn?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Huge step down for Horn. 

I'm just throwing names out there that they may want to make a splash with.  Not sure Doherty or Dakich does that.

They need major infusion there....someone that is a rah rah PR guy and coach.


They aren't even on the map in Chicago anymore.  In my mind, their next coach has to be as much a PR guy as anything else because the place is dead.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Huge step down for Horn. 

I'm just throwing names out there that they may want to make a splash with.  Not sure Doherty or Dakich does that.

They need major infusion there....someone that is a rah rah PR guy and coach.


They aren't even on the map in Chicago anymore.  In my mind, their next coach has to be as much a PR guy as anything else because the place is dead.

Oops. I meant Dewayne Stephens, not Horn

[ChicosBailBonds]

Oops. I meant Dewayne Stephens, not Horn

That would be an interesting hire

[wadesworld]

Why not keep Tracy Webster there?  He'd recruit the heck out of the Chicago (extended) area.  Maybe this is his interview for the job, these 15 games.

[Fullodds]

Look for a current assistant to get the job after the 'national' search.

Gillespie would be a huge risk for DePaul.  Any other big name will come with a big salary....can you see DePaul paying over $1.5 mil for a coach?  Wainwright in his 4th year was only making $800,000 and that came after an extension.  

I think that the best hire would be Chris Collins.  Chicago contacts, sitting with Coach K forever.  He would need a 5 year deal with a bigger budget I would assume.  

[Lennys Tap]

Look for a current assistant to get the job after the 'national' search.

Gillespie would be a huge risk for DePaul.  Any other big name will come with a big salary....can you see DePaul paying over $1.5 mil for a coach?  Wainwright in his 4th year was only making $800,000 and that came after an extension.  

I think that the best hire would be Chris Collins.  Chicago contacts, sitting with Coach K forever.  He would need a 5 year deal with a bigger budget I would assume.  

The hiring of Wainwright was a signal that DePaul wasn't serious about being a major player. Nice guy, funny guy they got on the cheap. He came home to Berwyn to retire and today the Blue Demons made it official. If this most recent embarassment pressures the powers that be to recommit to the basketball program the new coach won't have to do much to be considered a "savior". Collins would be a logical choice - If he knows basketball like his dad maybe an inspired one.

[Avenue Commons]

I think that the best hire would be Chris Collins.  Chicago contacts, sitting with Coach K forever.  He would need a 5 year deal with a bigger budget I would assume.  

Agreed. There's always a lot of chatter that Collins is waiting for Coach K to retire, but Steve Wojo..... I think is on staff and probably thinking the same thing. They need to get a young, energetic guy to come in and get things going, a la TC and MU in the late 90's.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Huge step down for Horn.  

I'm just throwing names out there that they may want to make a splash with.  Not sure Doherty or Dakich does that.

They need major infusion there....someone that is a rah rah PR guy and coach.


They aren't even on the map in Chicago anymore.  In my mind, their next coach has to be as much a PR guy as anything else because the place is dead.

Exactly right.

That program is very similar to MU in 1998.

They have some great tradition. They have had some relatively recent success (late 90's).

But, they aren't unified as a school or alumni or fans. Everybody has an opinion about the program, but none of them are very positive.

I remember when I was a frosh. people still thought MU should move out of the BC.

Well, flash forward 5 years to when MU was selling out the place. Nobody was complaining then.

DePaul has some challenges, , but a good promoter as a head coach and winning some games will make a world of difference.

The question is: Will the administration support the program enough to let a good coach/promoter really do a good job?

[AlumKCof93]

I don't see how you can compare MU in 1998 to DePaul now.  MU was in much better shape - they won 100 games over 5 the previous 5 years and had been in the tourney and even the Sweet 16 in 1993.  Their attendance was also solid, nothing like DePaul.

The question for DePaul is what promising assistant would want the job.  If Chris Collins has bided his time on the Duke sideline for this long, why would he go to DePaul.  The facilities, the fan base, the program in general has nothing going for it right now.  If Collins wants the Duke job after Coach K leaves, he'd need to have a lot of success if he does take a head coaching job.  I don't see how he can accomplish that at DePaul.

[Litehouse]

I don't see how you can compare MU in 1998 to DePaul now.

I was about to say the same thing.  MU made the NCAAs in '96 and '97.  That's light years ahead of where DePaul is now.

[Lennys Tap]

Exactly right.

That program is very similar to MU in 1998.

They have some great tradition. They have had some relatively recent success (late 90's).

But, they aren't unified as a school or alumni or fans. Everybody has an opinion about the program, but none of them are very positive.

I remember when I was a frosh. people still thought MU should move out of the BC.

Well, flash forward 5 years to when MU was selling out the place. Nobody was complaining then.

DePaul has some challenges, , but a good promoter as a head coach and winning some games will make a world of difference.

The question is: Will the administration support the program enough to let a good coach/promoter really do a good job?

De Paul's program very similar to MU's in 1998? Average/mediocre is equa-distant from the top and the bottom. So if we were "very similar" to De Paul were we also "very similar" to Norfh Carolina?

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I don't see how you can compare MU in 1998 to DePaul now.  MU was in much better shape - they won 100 games over 5 the previous 5 years and had been in the tourney and even the Sweet 16 in 1993.  Their attendance was also solid, nothing like DePaul.

The question for DePaul is what promising assistant would want the job.  If Chris Collins has bided his time on the Duke sideline for this long, why would he go to DePaul.  The facilities, the fan base, the program in general has nothing going for it right now.  If Collins wants the Duke job after Coach K leaves, he'd need to have a lot of success if he does take a head coaching job.  I don't see how he can accomplish that at DePaul.

You're right, not exactly the same. DePaul's situation is worse, but really, MU wasn't a hot sell in 1998. Also, DePaul landed a lot of top talent in the last 10 years and has several players in the NBA.

In 1998, MU was an NIT team that played in a mid/lower level conference, couldn't sell out it's oversized arena and had an ancient practice facility.

- DePaul averaged 9,000 in 2008 while MU averaged 12K in 98 but only 9,900 in 1999.

- DePaul plays in a big (and crappy) arena, but if they sold out, the building could be an advantage (see Center, Bradley)

- I've never seen DePaul's practice facilities, so I can't comment


They are different, but the right guy could turn DePaul around like what happened for MU. I know KO certainly helped MU a ton, but, in 1999 if MU hired another "Deane", the program would have slid downhill fast.


- DePaul plays in the Big East, so they are much better off in that sense

[GGGG]

Why not keep Tracy Webster there?  He'd recruit the heck out of the Chicago (extended) area.  Maybe this is his interview for the job, these 15 games.

Well the guy can recruit.  Honestly, they need a guy who can keep Chicago's guys right there.  That's where both Kennedy and Leito had some success.  But boy...that would not go over well.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

De Paul's program very similar to MU's in 1998? Average/mediocre is equa-distant from the top and the bottom. So if we were "very similar" to De Paul were we also "very similar" to Norfh Carolina?

I went to the games in 1998. The building was empty. The team was terrible. Nobody on campus cared about MU hoops.

The star player quit the team with personal issues (lovette), the "star recruit" couldn't dribble with his left hand (henry), and I'm pretty sure "polo" won the dunk contest at "9 o'clock madness" and all of the students were given gray t-shirts with their student tickets. Apparently Blue and/or Gold were too expensive.

The team wasn't on TV at all. We listened to road games on the radio at the Annex (a loss to BC if I remember right).

We even talked about moving the team back to the MECCA in our BUAD classes. (I think it was marketing with Joe T)

Listen, I'm not saying that MU was the worst team in the history of the game, I'm just saying that it was a program with issues and ZERO hype.

DePaul is a team with that has had success in the past, but is suffering from no internal and/or external support. They have some strong points, but also some issues to overcome.

[MU B2002]

I went to the games in 1998. The building was empty. The team was terrible. Nobody on campus cared about MU hoops.

The star player quit the team with personal issues (lovette), the "star recruit" couldn't dribble with his left hand (henry), and I'm pretty sure "polo" won the dunk contest at "9 o'clock madness" and all of the students were given gray t-shirts with their student tickets. Apparently Blue and/or Gold were too expensive.

The team wasn't on TV at all. We listened to road games on the radio at the Annex (a loss to BC if I remember right).

We even talked about moving the team back to the MECCA in our BUAD classes. (I think it was marketing with Joe T)

Don't forget you could show up 15 minutes before the game and sit in the front 3 rows of the student section.

But I thought wardle was the star player....

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Don't forget you could show up 15 minutes before the game and sit in the front 3 rows of the student section.

But I thought wardle was the star player....

Good catch, I think Lovette was supposed to be the guy his senior year, but obviously it ended up being the Wardle and Bargen show.

Again, I'm not trying to say that MU was like Siberia of college hoops... I'm just saying that it wasn't in the same place that it is now.

DePaul could overcome it's issues if the school committed to the right coach.

[AlumKCof93]

I don't recall Marquette being as bad as mentioned in 1998, though I do know it was down.  But the crucial decision by Cords was to let Deane go (he was roundly criticized for it at the time) before the program really slid.  In comparing that to DePaul, DePaul has been down for a long time.  When was the last time they were relevant - when Quentin Richardson was there (in 2000)?  And those teams -with Bobby Simmons and Lance Williams - underacheived badly.  My point is, MU was down but it was not for an extended time.  DePaul has been way down for a long time and it will be a long climb back up even if they make a good hiring decision.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I don't recall Marquette being as bad as mentioned in 1998, though I do know it was down.  But the crucial decision by Cords was to let Deane go (he was roundly criticized for it at the time) before the program really slid.  In comparing that to DePaul, DePaul has been down for a long time.  When was the last time they were relevant - when Quentin Richardson was there (in 2000)?  And those teams -with Bobby Simmons and Lance Williams - underacheived badly.  My point is, MU was down but it was not for an extended time.  DePaul has been way down for a long time and it will be a long climb back up even if they make a good hiring decision.

Good point about them being down longer than MU... the road back up is made easier by:

#1 Being in Chicago
#2 Being in the Big East

[Lennys Tap]

I went to the games in 1998. The building was empty. The team was terrible. Nobody on campus cared about MU hoops.

The star player quit the team with personal issues (lovette), the "star recruit" couldn't dribble with his left hand (henry), and I'm pretty sure "polo" won the dunk contest at "9 o'clock madness" and all of the students were given gray t-shirts with their student tickets. Apparently Blue and/or Gold were too expensive.

The team wasn't on TV at all. We listened to road games on the radio at the Annex (a loss to BC if I remember right).

We even talked about moving the team back to the MECCA in our BUAD classes. (I think it was marketing with Joe T)

Listen, I'm not saying that MU was the worst team in the history of the game, I'm just saying that it was a program with issues and ZERO hype.

DePaul is a team with that has had success in the past, but is suffering from no internal and/or external support. They have some strong points, but also some issues to overcome.

I thought only old geezers like myself had to walk 10 miles uphill (both ways) in the driving rain/sleet/snow to school each day. '98 at MU sounds like a post-apocolyptic Cormac McCarthy novel.

[AlumKCof93]

With the lack of facilities DePaul has - the Allstate Arena is a dump and kids have to take a bus to get there - and the lack of commitment by the administration, does being in the Big East really help them?  Would a coach like Chris Collins want to take a job where he knows how difficult it will be to even compete?  
I think its a disadvantage for them right now. Why would a recruit based in Chicago who wants to stay close to home decide to go to a situtation close to home when he can go to Marquette or Notre Dame in the Big East or even go to Illinois?  Why go to the doormat of the Big East if you have other options?

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I thought only old geezers like myself had to walk 10 miles uphill (both ways) in the driving rain/sleet/snow to school each day. '98 at MU sounds like a post-apocolyptic Cormac McCarthy novel.

Everything I said was correct.

I realize the context of MU being a pretty good team for a handful of years before, which makes my statements less damning.

But, in 1998/1999, MU was a bad situation that's not unlike DePaul's current situation.

They should get a tan coach and an all-world guard. It did wonders for MU.