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Author Topic: DePaul...... meh.  (Read 16975 times)

Ellenson Guerrero

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #75 on: January 17, 2018, 11:12:56 AM »
Maybe Depaul has decided as an institution that they don't place a high priority on men's basketball success anymore? They just have to do enough to not get kicked out of the Big East to keep the cash flowing. Investing additional resources to get better would be a risk because there's no guarantee it would work or be more profitable? Not saying this is true, just saying there are possible explanations that don't involve the AD being malevolent or stupid.

But this would be a stupid philosophy.  The ROI for college basketball is much better than for college football, especially if you aren't paying the likes of Coach K, Cal, or Pitino's strippers.  13 scholarships, four coaches, a couple trainers, low salary support staff and a jet -  bingo, you have a program that can be competitive.

DePaul is spending about a million on Leitao and probably about the same on his staff.  Christ, if they just took that money and gave it to Stan they'd be 75% of the way toward where they need to be as a program. 
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Herman Cain

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #76 on: January 17, 2018, 03:23:03 PM »
I don't know what the dirt is.  The crappy deal has been discussed in length on this board.

They paid for half of the $164 million construction cost and still have to pay rent to use it.  They turned down an offer to play in the United Center for free.
I completely agree with you that the deal , per se , is a bad one. That said ,the location and facility are excellent . If DePaul can field any kind of medium quality team they will have a meaningful home court advantage. They need a young up and coming coach to implement that. With their current coach Depaul needs to pursue some kind of grad transfer / juco/traditional transfer strategy to kick start the program.
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GoldenWarrior11

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #77 on: January 18, 2018, 09:40:56 AM »
The sad reality is that the DePaul athletic department is entrenched in sycophants and nepotism, overseen and led by one family.  There are three Lenti's employed by the athletic department (Jeannie - AD, Eugene - Softball coach, Mike - Associate AD).  They hired Leitao because he was a yes man, and would not push back or ruffle the waters - completing disregarding the fact that he left the university for a better job.

The shocking thing is that DePaul's new President came from Seton Hall.  At the very least, he should know what a competitive men's basketball program/athletic department looks like. 

Galway Eagle

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #78 on: January 18, 2018, 09:58:18 AM »
The sad reality is that the DePaul athletic department is entrenched in sycophants and nepotism, overseen and led by one family.  There are three Lenti's employed by the athletic department (Jeannie - AD, Eugene - Softball coach, Mike - Associate AD).  They hired Leitao because he was a yes man, and would not push back or ruffle the waters - completing disregarding the fact that he left the university for a better job.

The shocking thing is that DePaul's new President came from Seton Hall.  At the very least, he should know what a competitive men's basketball program/athletic department looks like.

Didn't realize that wow.

Can't believe they don't have any big money donors trying to make a change there.
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ChitownSpaceForRent

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #79 on: January 18, 2018, 10:02:13 AM »
I completely agree with you that the deal , per se , is a bad one. That said ,the location and facility are excellent . If DePaul can field any kind of medium quality team they will have a meaningful home court advantage. They need a young up and coming coach to implement that. With their current coach Depaul needs to pursue some kind of grad transfer / juco/traditional transfer strategy to kick start the program.

Agree, stadium probably unnecessary for DePaul but a nice get for the city.

I believe the boys basketball city championship will be played there this year, the "Jesuit Cup" between Loyola and St. Ignatius is going to be there this Friday and there is a possibility that the IHSA moves it's state finals from Peoria to Wintrust in the coming years.

Galway Eagle

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #80 on: January 18, 2018, 12:55:39 PM »
Agree, stadium probably unnecessary for DePaul but a nice get for the city.

I believe the boys basketball city championship will be played there this year, the "Jesuit Cup" between Loyola and St. Ignatius is going to be there this Friday and there is a possibility that the IHSA moves it's state finals from Peoria to Wintrust in the coming years.

Ihsa would never move there. Downstate and out west would have a heart attack about it being in Chicago heck even 75% of the suburbs would flip out about it
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ChitownSpaceForRent

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #81 on: January 18, 2018, 01:29:54 PM »
Ihsa would never move there. Downstate and out west would have a heart attack about it being in Chicago heck even 75% of the suburbs would flip out about it

Out of curiosity, when's the last team from out west to make it downstate?

Obviously you have the one rep usually from  Peoria, Normal or Champaign. One or two city schools depending on how they set the sectionals up that given year.

One from up north, usually Waukegan or one of the CSL or MSL schools and then Bolingbrook or OPRF if they don't run into a city school.

Obviously I'm thinking 4A or 3A, but those are the schools with a much bigger budget.

mu03eng

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #82 on: January 18, 2018, 01:42:05 PM »
Didn't realize that wow.

Can't believe they don't have any big money donors trying to make a change there.

There aren't a lot of big money donors who identify with basketball as part of a DePaul legacy. Hell, DePaul is largely a glorified commuter school at this point so from an alumni base there isn't a lot of interest in the sports programs as a part of their legacy. They are seemingly trying to "counter program" for the Chicago area but pushing the non-revenue sports since DePaul basketball is competing with the Bulls, White Sox, Cubs, Notre Dame, et al for entertainment dollars in the Chicago metro area.

I see no reason for DePaul to be competitive in the Big East as long as JPL and Laito are in place.
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Galway Eagle

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #83 on: January 18, 2018, 02:26:15 PM »
Out of curiosity, when's the last team from out west to make it downstate?

Obviously you have the one rep usually from  Peoria, Normal or Champaign. One or two city schools depending on how they set the sectionals up that given year.

One from up north, usually Waukegan or one of the CSL or MSL schools and then Bolingbrook or OPRF if they don't run into a city school.

Obviously I'm thinking 4A or 3A, but those are the schools with a much bigger budget.

I'd imagine somebody from Rockford? Can't think of anyone 3A or 4A off the top of my head. Point is that the rest of the state would claim it's a home court advantage and that their kids shouldn't be playing in front of gangs and all the crap that you'd expect from the non city schools.
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Herman Cain

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #84 on: January 18, 2018, 02:47:35 PM »
There aren't a lot of big money donors who identify with basketball as part of a DePaul legacy. Hell, DePaul is largely a glorified commuter school at this point so from an alumni base there isn't a lot of interest in the sports programs as a part of their legacy. They are seemingly trying to "counter program" for the Chicago area but pushing the non-revenue sports since DePaul basketball is competing with the Bulls, White Sox, Cubs, Notre Dame, et al for entertainment dollars in the Chicago metro area.

I see no reason for DePaul to be competitive in the Big East as long as JPL and Laito are in place.
Chicago is such a big market, it does it does not take much  improvement to move the meter for DePaul. That said, as you point out, with the current management structure it will be difficult  to get that movement. DePaul will likely give Leitao at least two more years in the new arena.

I am really surprised DePaul  has not gone down the track that Georgetown did with scheduling almost entire cupcake schedule .  I think for DePaul to gain traction they need to somehow get to the 6 win mark in the Big East, a tall mountain for sure. If they could pair that with 10 or 11 non conference wins, they might be able to post a couple winning records and gain some momentum.

Of course that said on any given night they can win. So we , and others,  have to beware when we play them.
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nyg

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #85 on: January 18, 2018, 02:59:00 PM »
Depaul has been in the BE for 13 years.

Their best record was in 2005-2006 when they went 9-7 for 8th place in BE

In the other years, their best seasons were 2007-2008 and 2014-2015, when they went 6-12.

This year they are 1-5 and no hope of reaching 6 wins.

That is just a terrible, terrible record.

ChitownSpaceForRent

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #86 on: January 18, 2018, 03:02:57 PM »
I'm kinda surprised Tom Kleinschmidt hasn't been asked or thrown his hat into the ring.

He's a great coach that's done a tremendous job at York and DePaul Prep (Gordon Tech). Plus he's DePaul royalty.

LAZER

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #87 on: January 18, 2018, 03:10:56 PM »
Out of curiosity, when's the last team from out west to make it downstate?

Obviously you have the one rep usually from  Peoria, Normal or Champaign. One or two city schools depending on how they set the sectionals up that given year.

One from up north, usually Waukegan or one of the CSL or MSL schools and then Bolingbrook or OPRF if they don't run into a city school.

Obviously I'm thinking 4A or 3A, but those are the schools with a much bigger budget.
Rock Island had some good teams with Randle.

GoldenWarrior11

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #88 on: January 18, 2018, 03:12:50 PM »
I'm kinda surprised Tom Kleinschmidt hasn't been asked or thrown his hat into the ring.

He's a great coach that's done a tremendous job at York and DePaul Prep (Gordon Tech). Plus he's DePaul royalty.

He has gotten better recruiting at DePaul Prep than DePaul University has done in the past four years. 

Lighthouse 84

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #89 on: January 18, 2018, 03:13:09 PM »
I'm kinda surprised Tom Kleinschmidt hasn't been asked or thrown his hat into the ring.

He's a great coach that's done a tremendous job at York and DePaul Prep (Gordon Tech). Plus he's DePaul royalty.

Yeah, you'd think it would be his pick if he wanted it.

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GoldenWarrior11

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #90 on: January 18, 2018, 03:16:46 PM »
The IHSA will never allow the state tournament to be in Chicago.  Guaranteed.  There are too many political forces to prevent that from ever happening.  Non-Chicago area high schools hate the Chicago programs.  They think they are overrated and get too much publicity (in comparison to other state programs).  Heck, there was a huge political backlash after the state playoffs went to Peoria (from Champaign).

Peoria is at least centrally located in the state, allowing for people from all over to get to it (even though Chicago would be a guaranteed sell out every year). 

KampusFoods

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #91 on: January 18, 2018, 03:17:46 PM »
Rock Island had some good teams with Randle.

They won 3A in 2011

ChitownSpaceForRent

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #92 on: January 18, 2018, 03:31:22 PM »
The IHSA will never allow the state tournament to be in Chicago.  Guaranteed.  There are too many political forces to prevent that from ever happening.  Non-Chicago area high schools hate the Chicago programs.  They think they are overrated and get too much publicity (in comparison to other state programs).  Heck, there was a huge political backlash after the state playoffs went to Peoria (from Champaign).

Peoria is at least centrally located in the state, allowing for people from all over to get to it (even though Chicago would be a guaranteed sell out every year).

I think that's the big issue. Attendance has been so bad the past few years, which is why I partially think they went back to only having one Chicago team downstate.

GGGG

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #93 on: January 18, 2018, 03:32:25 PM »
I'm kinda surprised Tom Kleinschmidt hasn't been asked or thrown his hat into the ring.

He's a great coach that's done a tremendous job at York and DePaul Prep (Gordon Tech). Plus he's DePaul royalty.


Hiring a high school coach to be the head coach of a P6 program doesn't seem like a good idea. 

ChitownSpaceForRent

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #94 on: January 18, 2018, 03:37:34 PM »

Hiring a high school coach to be the head coach of a P6 program doesn't seem like a good idea.

As someone else has stated, he already recruits.

GGGG

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #95 on: January 18, 2018, 03:48:36 PM »
As someone else has stated, he already recruits.


Recruiting isn't really my concern.  Size of the job.  Breadth of the responsibilities.  Compliance. 

If Illinois-Chicago were looking for a new coach, he might be someone to look at.  But DePaul? 

mu03eng

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #96 on: January 18, 2018, 03:57:33 PM »

Recruiting isn't really my concern.  Size of the job.  Breadth of the responsibilities.  Compliance. 

If Illinois-Chicago were looking for a new coach, he might be someone to look at.  But DePaul?

Not sure that DePaul has anywhere but up to go. They need to look in non-traditional directions. If they can capture a couple of players a year out of the Chicago Public league they might be able to capture lightening in a bottle. Most programs like MU are looking to go national in recruiting, if I was DePaul I'd go the other direction. Only way to hope to differentiate.
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GGGG

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #97 on: January 18, 2018, 04:13:00 PM »
What DePaul needs to do is fix their entire athletic department.  Nothing is going to change until they get rid of their AD and hire an up and comer with some ideas.  Who can then attract the likes of a Bryce Drew or a Bobby Hurley, instead of having them look at the program and run in the other direction.  Hiring a high school coach may provide a short-term fix, but it's going to do nothing to actually fix what is wrong.

To put it another way, the Packers weren't going to get better by simply replacing Lindy Infante, it required Bob Harlan to hire Ron Wolf and reimage the entire franchise.

Nothing short of that will fix DePaul.  It is fundamentally broken.

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #98 on: January 18, 2018, 05:13:33 PM »
I listened to the Big East Coast Pod this morning and they had a guy on from the DePaul student radio station. He said that it feels like DePaul just keeps hiring the same guy. Wainright, Purnell, even Leitao were all retreads that had some success elsewhere, but never really broke through. Also pointed out that all three of their last hires were guys in their 50s when they got there, so there's none of the young and hungry type fire.

He mentioned how he thought Tyger Campbell was a bit of a make-or-break recruit for Leitao, that if they can reaffirm that commitment, Leitao will get at least 2-3 years with Campbell to turn it around, but if not, they may make a move sooner rather than later. Not sure I believe that simply because it's DePaul, but he also pointed out how they missed on Bryce Drew and Bobby Hurley, both of whom are making big impacts at their new schools. Said he'd even be happy with an assistant type after watching Chris Collins (Jon Scheyer was mentioned as an Illinois native).

I have to say, I don't mind DePaul continuing to suck because in any league, someone has to lose and I'm glad it's not us, but it has to be really hard to cheer for that team. This will likely be their 11th straight season with 12+ conference losses, and the 14th straight without a NCAA bid. I have to imagine if that happened here, Scoop would be a ghost town by then.

If someone sucks in our league I'd rather it be someone located further away from MU. Maybe I'm biased since I live in Chicago, but If DePaul was decent it would make our road games against them more exciting. Would love to see a packed Wintrust arena (with MU fans of course).

brewcity77

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Re: DePaul...... meh.
« Reply #99 on: January 18, 2018, 05:37:15 PM »
If someone sucks in our league I'd rather it be someone located further away from MU. Maybe I'm biased since I live in Chicago, but If DePaul was decent it would make our road games against them more exciting. Would love to see a packed Wintrust arena (with MU fans of course).

I get it from a local perspective, but for the moment, it's one less nearby high-major to contend with for recruiting. I also like the homecourt swing in that we can generate a good crowd there while they don't do the same here (unlike say UW-Madison often does).

The traditionalists will argue we need Georgetown, St. John's, & Nova as top-tier programs. Those supporting the new league probably like seeing Xavier, Butler, & Creighton succeed to validate their inclusion. I'd say Providence, Seton Hall, & DePaul are the ones that no one outside their own fans are really all that vested in. Any of them can suck and no one outside their own fans care.

I do wish we recruited Chicago a bit more, or that we had the desire to (I get it, that city is a snakepit when it comes to recruiting) because it would be nice to travel down, visit our targets, & let them see us pound on the home team. That would be one more edge to a crappy DePaul. As is, they are just one of the "someone has to lose" crowd and as long as it isn't us, I'm cool with it.

At least you (generally) get to see Marquette wins when you head to their building; 4-1 down there the past 6 years.
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