DePaul Continues to Confound

[sailwi]

I just read the below in a CBS article about 50 things to know about the upcoming season. Why give him a raise and a longer contract, not like anyone is going to try and hire him away.  DU has improved slightly under Leitao but he doesn't deserve an extension.  Not a word about it on the DU board.

Some of this most confounding news of the off season came to light just a few days ago: DePaul issuing a press release that it was, in fact, in the midst of restructuring Dave Leitao's contract in an effort to provide him a raise and an extension. DePaul is 48-82 the past four seasons under Leitao, not to mention the program was brought up tangentially in the FBI's findings into corruption in recruiting. And he'll be serving a three-game suspension in November because of NCAA sanctions. I mean, what?

[cheebs09]

I think a College Sportswriter tweeted they thought it signaled DePaul wanting to show a recruit that the coach would be there awhile.

[Uncle Rico]

I think a College Sportswriter tweeted they thought it signaled DePaul wanting to show a recruit that the coach would be there awhile.

Silly reason to give a coach an extension for that reason, especially a coach with Leitao's record. 

[Billy Hoyle]

I think a College Sportswriter tweeted they thought it signaled DePaul wanting to show a recruit that the coach would be there awhile.

exactly. Often times extensions are done for recruiting purposes. Also, as far as we know, DePaul may have given him more years while making it easier to get out of the contract (e.g., lower buyout).

[sailwi]

exactly. Often times extensions are done for recruiting purposes. Also, as far as we know, DePaul may have given him more years while making it easier to get out of the contract (e.g., lower buyout).

Possible but not probable given DePaul's track record.

[warriorchick]

Silly reason to give a coach an extension for that reason, especially a coach with Leitao's record.

Publicly announcing that they aren't giving him an extension may actually help recruiting more.

[Its DJOver]

Extensions are meaningless, its all about what the buy out is.

[GooooMarquette]

Publicly announcing that they aren't giving him an extension may actually help recruiting more.

I was thinking the same thing.

[jficke13]

I came up with this explanation the other day, basically we are making the mistake of thinking that DePaul places any value on a winning basketball program.

In effect it's like looking at what Loria did when he owned the Marlins. From a fan perspective, we expected the value to be placed on winning. But from Loria's perspective, he valued inflating the value of the franchise and cashing out. Winning was only incidental to that effort (and in some cases detrimental to maximizing profit, which was his actual goal). So evaluating any of Loria's actions through the lens of trying to win was futile.

DePaul has demonstrated for years that whatever its objective with its mens hoops program is, winning is not a critical element of it. My best guess is that they view the benefit that hoops can bring being the Flutie Effect at a maximum and being mentioned on national TV a bunch by riding the Big East's coattails as the doormat of the league at a minimum, and they think the cost of investment to have a shot at a Flutie Effect season far outweighs the probability of succeeding, so they're fine with being stomped because they get mentioned and that's cool enough. I don't know, but I do know that whatever their goals are, winning is only incidental to furthering them.

Or... I suppose they could just be so incompetent that they think that what they're doing is fielding the best possible program and have no idea that they're terrible. But I'm guessing it's not that.

[Galway Eagle]

Honestly I just think they don't want to get humiliated like last time again like how SJU just was.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Maybe this extension will help us get our home game versus them on national TV, thus switching NMD back to a Saturday where it belongs!

[GooooMarquette]

I came up with this explanation the other day, basically we are making the mistake of thinking that DePaul places any value on a winning basketball program.

In effect it's like looking at what Loria did when he owned the Marlins. From a fan perspective, we expected the value to be placed on winning. But from Loria's perspective, he valued inflating the value of the franchise and cashing out. Winning was only incidental to that effort (and in some cases detrimental to maximizing profit, which was his actual goal). So evaluating any of Loria's actions through the lens of trying to win was futile.

DePaul has demonstrated for years that whatever its objective with its mens hoops program is, winning is not a critical element of it. My best guess is that they view the benefit that hoops can bring being the Flutie Effect at a maximum and being mentioned on national TV a bunch by riding the Big East's coattails as the doormat of the league at a minimum, and they think the cost of investment to have a shot at a Flutie Effect season far outweighs the probability of succeeding, so they're fine with being stomped because they get mentioned and that's cool enough. I don't know, but I do know that whatever their goals are, winning is only incidental to furthering them.

Or... I suppose they could just be so incompetent that they think that what they're doing is fielding the best possible program and have no idea that they're terrible. But I'm guessing it's not that.

You had me at incompetent....

[Billy Hoyle]

Honestly I just think they don't want to get humiliated like last time again like how SJU just was.

but in the end SJU got an upgrade.

[Galway Eagle]

but in the end SJU got an upgrade.

No doubt but they were certainly embarrassed before that. Wasn't Anderson like option 10?

[GooooMarquette]

Funny that DePaul and SJU lock up the two biggest TV markets in the BE, and have been the two consistently worst teams. Maybe they figure they'll be in as long as the conference exists, and that has led to complacency and/or a higher tolerance for incompetence.

[The Sultan]

Leitao did lead them to their first overall .500 record and most wins in conference since 2006-07.  He makes $1.3 million, which would be near the bottom of the coaches at P6 schools.

A contract extention isn't a horrendous idea considering.

[GoldenWarrior11]

My initial thought was that their AD might finally be on the way out after this year, and this was her way of ensuring her friend would have job security once a new AD would be hired.  That's just my speculation however. 

[MUFlutieEffect]

I came up with this explanation the other day, basically we are making the mistake of thinking that DePaul places any value on a winning basketball program.

In effect it's like looking at what Loria did when he owned the Marlins. From a fan perspective, we expected the value to be placed on winning. But from Loria's perspective, he valued inflating the value of the franchise and cashing out. Winning was only incidental to that effort (and in some cases detrimental to maximizing profit, which was his actual goal). So evaluating any of Loria's actions through the lens of trying to win was futile.

DePaul has demonstrated for years that whatever its objective with its mens hoops program is, winning is not a critical element of it. My best guess is that they view the benefit that hoops can bring being the Flutie Effect at a maximum and being mentioned on national TV a bunch by riding the Big East's coattails as the doormat of the league at a minimum, and they think the cost of investment to have a shot at a Flutie Effect season far outweighs the probability of succeeding, so they're fine with being stomped because they get mentioned and that's cool enough. I don't know, but I do know that whatever their goals are, winning is only incidental to furthering them.

Or... I suppose they could just be so incompetent that they think that what they're doing is fielding the best possible program and have no idea that they're terrible. But I'm guessing it's not that.

+2 (one for each citing of the Flutie Effect)

[Loose Cannon]

I think a College Sportswriter tweeted they thought it signaled DePaul wanting to show a recruit that the coach would be there awhile.

In this case, is that Good or Bad.

[GooooMarquette]

+2 (one for each citing of the Flutie Effect)

I was at that game!

[cheebs09]

My initial thought was that their AD might finally be on the way out after this year, and this was her way of ensuring her friend would have job security once a new AD would be hired.  That's just my speculation however.

Honestly, that would mean this is very good news. If anything is done with the idea of JLP leaving, that should make DePaul fans happy.

[Galway Eagle]

Honestly, that would mean this is very good news. If anything is done with the idea of JLP leaving, that should make DePaul fans happy.

Fans? Plural?

[GooooMarquette]

Fans? Plural?

Gotta be a typo.

[Billy Hoyle]

No doubt but they were certainly embarrassed before that. Wasn't Anderson like option 10?

The AD targeted Hurley, the General Counsel, and President targeted Moser, Cleuss wanted the job but felt jilted because of the chaos.  Anderson was a solid fallback/compromise candidate. The embarrassment wasn't getting rejected (Hurley wasn't going there), it was the way the AD and GC were conducting two separate searches.

[Galway Eagle]

The AD targeted Hurley, the General Counsel, and President targeted Moser, Cleuss wanted the job but felt jilted because of the chaos.  Anderson was a solid fallback/compromise candidate. The embarrassment wasn't getting rejected (Hurley wasn't going there), it was the way the AD and GC were conducting two separate searches.

Gotcha. Maybe I was thinking of the search after Lavin then?