What's the deal with DePaul?

[Galway Eagle]

It's deeper than that.  I mean, her husband played for Ray Meyer.  You think she is trying to kill the basketball program?

It's not that she's trying to kill it its that she refuses to let it be the standard of the Athletics department she wants it all or nothing. So instead of investing in the program and building it up she's focusing on women's bball and the soccer and volleyball programs.  Depaul actually has a decent athletics department overall due to her.

[GGGG]

It's not that she's trying to kill it its that she refuses to let it be the standard of the Athletics department she wants it all or nothing. So instead of investing in the program and building it up she's focusing on women's bball and the soccer and volleyball programs.  Depaul actually has a decent athletics department overall due to her.

But again, she signed Purnell to the biggest contract in DePaul history.  Now undoubtedly he was the wrong choice and that's her fault, but if she was trying to find ways to not invest in the program, signing the head coach away from an ACC school is a funny way of doing it.

[LAMUfan]

This is the correct answer. I'm a grad school alum from DePaul and it's common knowledge on campus that Jean Lenti Ponsetto does not want men's basketball to outshine the other sports.

TRAITOR!!

[Galway Eagle]

But again, she signed Purnell to the biggest contract in DePaul history.  Now undoubtedly he was the wrong choice and that's her fault, but if she was trying to find ways to not invest in the program, signing the head coach away from an ACC school is a funny way of doing it.

An old coach from an average ACC school and got a coach that never once won an NCAA tournament game.  Not exactly a great example of great management. I'd say it was a lazy hire trying to look good.

[Benny B]

It's deeper than that.  I mean, her husband played for Ray Meyer.  You think she is trying to kill the basketball program?

I didn't say she was trying to "kill" the program... but she is the "deal" with DePaul not reaching its full potential.

She's like an attention-starved, borderline-psychopathic mother who does nothing but stand in the way of her only child attending Harvard on a scholarship because she's worried he'll forget about her someday.

[MU1980]

Are you sure that is the case?  I was under the impression that MBB at Marquette gets to keep all of their revenue.

Basketball pretty much funds the entire athletic department, along with fundraising. 

[Pakuni]

An old coach from an average ACC school and got a coach that never once won an NCAA tournament game.  Not exactly a great example of great management. I'd say it was a lazy hire trying to look good.

Purnell had a solid reputation as a program rebuilder when he landed the DePaul job.
Dayton won 10 games combined the two seasons before Purnell arrived. They won 48 his last two seasons.

[Dawson Rental]

This is the correct answer. I'm a grad school alum from DePaul and it's common knowledge on campus that Jean Lenti Ponsetto does not want men's basketball to outshine the other sports.

It's important to remember that Lenti-Ponsetto played four sports while at DePaul, and reportedly was never happy about the disparity between the funding the Men's basketball program got and the funding for the non-revenue sports.

Here we, like fans from really every other conference school, are wondering why DePaul can't get more done with their men's basketball program while at DePaul the official line is this: "Jeanne was named to her current position on July 1, 2002 and the Blue Demons have experienced tremendous success both on and off the playing field ever since."  (From Lenti-Ponsetto's official bio at the DePaul Athletics site.)  So, I guess, BOT indifference or incomprehension regarding the potential for what the men's basketball program could contribute to the school has to be playing a role.

IMO, alumni apathy is not due not so much to the current state of the men's program as it is a sense of futility about attempting to fix it while Lenti-Ponsetto is in charge.

But again, she signed Purnell to the biggest contract in DePaul history.  Now undoubtedly he was the wrong choice and that's her fault, but if she was trying to find ways to not invest in the program, signing the head coach away from an ACC school is a funny way of doing it.

Another factor is Lenti-Ponsetto decided that fixing the men's basketball program was simply a matter of getting a name coach by offering a big salary.  Several coaches who might have considered the job were shocked when they found out how little would be left over in the budget for them to use in building the program.  Remember, the reason Marquette was able to lure Wojo away from Duke had a lot to do with the resources that he would have at his disposal in building the program.

Finally, I've heard (but don't know for a fact) that DePaul's practice facility leaves something to be desired as a recruiting tool.

[4everwarriors]

Yeah but, VT hired a head coach from a Big East school. Just sayin', aina?

[Loose Cannon]

.

The real death knell for DePaul basketball was when former AD Bill Bradshaw began undercutting Joey Meyer, especially with CPS coaches, by preventing the admission of recruits who Ray had no problem getting in. The CPS was by and large the lifeblood of DePaul's success, and when coaches began pushing their players away from DePaul, it began their downward spiral.

You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!

[Avenue Commons]

The real death knell for DePaul basketball was when former AD Bill Bradshaw began undercutting Joey Meyer, especially with CPS coaches, by preventing the admission of recruits who Ray had no problem getting in. The CPS was by and large the lifeblood of DePaul's success, and when coaches began pushing their players away from DePaul, it began their downward spiral.

DePaul put Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons, Stephen Hunter and Lance McPherson in the NBA. There was a moment there where the program was back. But their real issue was their best commits, Kevin Garnett and Eddy Curry, went straight to NBA. And Ronnie Fields didn't get in.

[Dawson Rental]

DePaul put Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons, Stephen Hunter and Lance McPherson in the NBA. There was a moment there where the program was back. But their real issue was their best commits, Kevin Garnett and Eddy Curry, went straight to NBA. And Ronnie Fields didn't get in.

Their real issue was recruiting kids who were going to the NBA draft under any conceivable circumstances.

[dgies9156]

Look, a DePaul resurgence would mean we would likely lose to them once in awhile. I can take that as the price for a strong conference.

They have not figured out what we did years ago. You can scream all you want about fairness and balance, but at day's end, men's basketball pays the freight. "McGuire Money" has made a huge difference at Marquette in terms of the visibility and quality of the university. That's why our program is so well funded.

JLP needs to go. She hasn't figured out what university athletics is about -- money and visibility. You can have the best incollegiate tiddley winks team in the known universe, but who the he@l cares. Jean doesn't get it!

[Texas Western]

1.  Terrible arena (that situation will change)
2.  Purnell was a bad hire
3.  Lack of administrative support
4.  Apathy amongst the fan base
5.  No support from the metropolitan area.

DePaul can be fixed but it will require all the above points to be addressed. It looks like they are getting the new arena, hopefully it will be close to the El, or else it is money not well spent.  Don't really know about point 2,  as he has four years to rebuild but it may be a longer project than that. They are stuck with the AD until she retires which won't happen until the arena is built at the earliest.  In the meantime until the arena is built,the one thing they can do to address point 4 and 5 and help the program is to modify their non conference scheduling philosophy.  I would go with 100 percent cupcakes play them at their  Lincoln Park campus site and then do one tournament. That way they would go into conference play each year with potentially 10-11 wins and a bit of momentum and student support. They had the campus site packed for the UIC game there earlier this year.  With a non conference tail wind they might be able to draw a few more fans to the Allstate Arena and get  lucky and win 6-7 games in conference, which may be good enough to get into the NIT. Do that  a couple of years in a row and build off of that.

The other thing not on the above list is rebuilding the local relationships with the local Catholic and Public League. All they need to do is recruit 4 decent kids a year out of that talent pool. That is easier said than done, although they did do it in the past. DePaul is a more desirable school today than it was many years ago so with a decent recruiting coach a lot is possible.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

DePaul put Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons, Stephen Hunter and Lance McPherson in the NBA. There was a moment there where the program was back. But their real issue was their best commits, Kevin Garnett and Eddy Curry, went straight to NBA. And Ronnie Fields didn't get in.

Garnett couldn't get in anywhere. If I remember correctly, he was really the first HS kid who used the direct to NBA option since the ABA days. But he did it out of necessity because college wasn't an option available to him at that time.

[Galway Eagle]

DePaul can be fixed but it will require all the above points to be addressed. It looks like they are getting the new arena, hopefully it will be close to the El, or else it is money not well spent.  Don't really know about point 2,  as he has four years to rebuild but it may be a longer project than that. They are stuck with the AD until she retires which won't happen until the arena is built at the earliest.  In the meantime until the arena is built,the one thing they can do to address point 4 and 5 and help the program is to modify their non conference scheduling philosophy.  I would go with 100 percent cupcakes play them at their  Lincoln Park campus site and then do one tournament. That way they would go into conference play each year with potentially 10-11 wins and a bit of momentum and student support. They had the campus site packed for the UIC game there earlier this year.  With a non conference tail wind they might be able to draw a few more fans to the Allstate Arena and get  lucky and win 6-7 games in conference, which may be good enough to get into the NIT. Do that  a couple of years in a row and build off of that.

The other thing not on the above list is rebuilding the local relationships with the local Catholic and Public League. All they need to do is recruit 4 decent kids a year out of that talent pool. That is easier said than done, although they did do it in the past. DePaul is a more desirable school today than it was many years ago so with a decent recruiting coach a lot is possible.

They had been scheduling like that and they still lose a couple every year that's how pathetic they've become.

[AZWarrior]

Garnett couldn't get in anywhere. If I remember correctly, he was really the first HS kid who used the direct to NBA option since the ABA days. But he did it out of necessity because college wasn't an option available to him at that time.

Was that because of deficient grades?

[Texas Western]

They had been scheduling like that and they still lose a couple every year that's how pathetic they've become.

I am saying schedule the worst of the worst. Their non conference schedule this year still has teams that have been to the NCAA tournament and made noise like Lehigh. Get a bunch of low end SWAC teams etc

[slingkong]

Garnett couldn't get in anywhere. If I remember correctly, he was really the first HS kid who used the direct to NBA option since the ABA days. But he did it out of necessity because college wasn't an option available to him at that time.

Didn't Shawn Kemp do that before Garnett?

[GGGG]

Didn't Shawn Kemp do that before Garnett?

Not right out of high school.  He went to Kentucky for less than a semester before leaving, then went to some JUCO second semester.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Was that because of deficient grades?

I'm not sure if it was grades, per se, or just an unusual transcript. He spent his first 3 years of HS in South Carolina and then transferred to Farragut in Chicago, where he and Ronnie Fields ran roughshod. I think there were some shady academic issues and I just remember nobody was going to admit him.

[GGGG]

Here is a list of High School to NBA draftees:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_high_school_draftees

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

Oliver Purnell is a slacker's dream. The man has been a Division I head coach since Ronald Reagan was President, and has exactly ZERO NCAA Tournament wins to his name.

In spite of this, he somehow not only keeps getting work, but keeps getting work at better and better jobs!

Radford (1988-1991)
Old Dominion (1991-1994)
Dayton (1994-2003)
Clemson (2003-2010)
DePaul (2010-)

[Earl Tatum]

Nothing wrong with DePaul. They beat us. We had umtine turnovers and wild shots. They played smart.
Garrett and Crockett. Plus a center named Hanel showed some of Luke's shortcomings.

[GGGG]

Nothing wrong with DePaul. They beat us. We had umtine turnovers and wild shots. They played smart.
Garrett and Crockett. Plus a center named Hanel showed some of Luke's shortcomings.

DePaul won cause they hit shots and MU turned the ball over 15 times.  I wouldn't say they played smart.  They had one more assist than turnover.  It was an ugly game by both sides.