The Holy Land of Hoops

Oliver Purnell is a gentleman and a great guy. Unfortunately for DePaul and the Big East, after 4.5 years, our Chicago-based program continues to deteriorate. Without going into the weeds on why a coaching change is desperately needed, I thought we should assume OP is gone this year, and thought we could discuss coaching candidates.

So, I've assembled a quick list of possible candidates for the DePaul job.
Many of these guys from the Midwest, so hopefully BE fans with MVC, Horizon, etc, roots can help out with advice here.
A lot of these guys I don't know very well, but I've added their names based on their coaching records and success.

DePaul Shortlist of Coaches:

From The Pie In The Sky Department:
1. Phil Jackson, Bulls, Lakers, Knicks.
Why the heck not...? Bill Walsh returned home to Stanford... why not Jackson to Chicago...? Would be a great project for the Zen Master.

From The Alum Department:
2. Mark Aguirre, former Blue Demon and NBA Hall of Famer.

From The Current Coaches Department:
3. Bobby Hurley, SUNY Buffalo. born 1971. Duke alum.
4. Pat Skerry, Towson. born 1970. Massachusetts roots. Was URI, PC and Pitt assistant, among others.
5. Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa. born 1970. North Dakota roots. MVC roots. I hope Jays fans can fill us in on him.

6. Brian Wardle, Green Bay. born 1979. Marquette star.
7. Brad Underwood, Stephen F Austin. born 1964. K-State alum.

8. Bryce Drew, Valpo. born 1974. Hit famous shot in NCAAs. Father coached Valpo. Brother at Baylor.
9. Rob Murphy, Eastern Michigan. born 1974? Detroit connections. Syracuse ties.
10. Steve Prohm, Murray State. born 1974. Disciple of Billy Kennedy of Texas A&M.
11. Saul Phillips, Ohio U. born 1972. Wisconsin roots. Just moved to Ohio U from North Dakota State.

12. Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts. born 1970. Son of Eddie Sutton. Oklahoma State alum.
13. Danny Kaspar, Texas State, formerly at Stephen F Austin.

14. Rick Byrd, Belmont. born 1953 in Tennessee. Ton of success at Belmont.
15. Larry Eustachy, Colorado State. born 1955. California roots. Been everywhere. Controversy at Iowa State.
16. Ken Burmeister, Incarnate Word. born 1947. Was assistant at DePaul 20 years ago. Was head coach of Loyola Chicago 10 years ago.

Also, note that the Big East's latest 2 hires seem to be home runs... Wojo and Holtmann... anyone with their general ability should improve DePaul. I can't believe how undisciplined the Blue Demons are.

I wouldn't assume he's gone. I think some progress is being made, but if they finish last in the BE again, then maybe. From that list, Eustachy would be an absolute home run IMO.

I don't know a whole lot about most of these coaches, but from what I have seen I think Wardle could be a solid option. I'm not necessarily advocating for him (I remember a DePaul fan getting kind of annoyed when someone suggested him last year), just providing some credentials.

Brian was a solid player for Marquette, and he understands the game of basketball well. Wardle coaches at UW-Green Bay. UWGB is a small school, by public school standards (6,700 students), with few resources and no basketball history to speak of. They do not have a practice facility, on-campus arena, large market to draw local talent from, or any other notable advantages. Wardle has been there for just over 4 years. The team has improved its record every year he has been there, last year finishing at 24-7. He has found players who fit his system and coached them up, beating power conference schools like Marquette (the year we went to the Elite 8) and Miami (this year, on their home-court, while they were ranked #15). I think given the inherent advantages of DePaul, Wardle could really do some good there. At the worst he could be a go-between to get the program respectable enough to attract a name coach.

I'd think unless they could finish with at least 6-7 Big East wins he's gone.

I'd add of course Ben Howland to the list as a possible one.

I think that it is important that Depaul hires a coach or at least an assistant with Chicago roots for recruiting. Chicago is arguably the best recruiting ground in the country and for Depaul to compete they need to get these kids to stay home.

I don't think he'd be right anymore, but it's a shame Louie Orr's kind of flared out. His resume reads like he'd be perfect for the job(or at least would have been at one point):

He's from the mid-west (Cincinnati), he's been known to recruit Chicago in the past. He played for Jim Boeheim, played 8 years in the NBA, was an Assistant at Xavier, Providence, and Syracuse, had a very good season at Siena as a HC and had a decent record at Seton Hall (last coach to take the Pirates to the NCAA). But then he went to Bowling Green and just kind of...faded away.

Good coach or not depaul is going nowhere till Jean Letti Ponsetto is gone. She doesn't care for the basketball team. But depaul won't fire her because her and her husband were star athletes at the school. It's a tough situation which is why you shouldn't hire alums unless you're positive that they'll be good.

billyjack wrote:Oliver Purnell is a gentleman and a great guy. Unfortunately for DePaul and the Big East, after 4.5 years, our Chicago-based program continues to deteriorate. Without going into the weeds on why a coaching change is desperately needed, I thought we should assume OP is gone this year, and thought we could discuss coaching candidates.

So, I've assembled a quick list of possible candidates for the DePaul job.
Many of these guys from the Midwest, so hopefully BE fans with MVC, Horizon, etc, roots can help out with advice here.
A lot of these guys I don't know very well, but I've added their names based on their coaching records and success.

DePaul Shortlist of Coaches:

From The Pie In The Sky Department:
1. Phil Jackson, Bulls, Lakers, Knicks.
Why the heck not...? Bill Walsh returned home to Stanford... why not Jackson to Chicago...? Would be a great project for the Zen Master.

From The Alum Department:
2. Mark Aguirre, former Blue Demon and NBA Hall of Famer.

From The Current Coaches Department:
3. Bobby Hurley, SUNY Buffalo. born 1971. Duke alum.
4. Pat Skerry, Towson. born 1970. Massachusetts roots. Was URI, PC and Pitt assistant, among others.
5. Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa. born 1970. North Dakota roots. MVC roots. I hope Jays fans can fill us in on him.

6. Brian Wardle, Green Bay. born 1979. Marquette star.
7. Brad Underwood, Stephen F Austin. born 1964. K-State alum.

8. Bryce Drew, Valpo. born 1974. Hit famous shot in NCAAs. Father coached Valpo. Brother at Baylor.
9. Rob Murphy, Eastern Michigan. born 1974? Detroit connections. Syracuse ties.
10. Steve Prohm, Murray State. born 1974. Disciple of Billy Kennedy of Texas A&M.
11. Saul Phillips, Ohio U. born 1972. Wisconsin roots. Just moved to Ohio U from North Dakota State.

12. Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts. born 1970. Son of Eddie Sutton. Oklahoma State alum.
13. Danny Kaspar, Texas State, formerly at Stephen F Austin.

14. Rick Byrd, Belmont. born 1953 in Tennessee. Ton of success at Belmont.
15. Larry Eustachy, Colorado State. born 1955. California roots. Been everywhere. Controversy at Iowa State.
16. Ken Burmeister, Incarnate Word. born 1947. Was assistant at DePaul 20 years ago. Was head coach of Loyola Chicago 10 years ago.

Ben Jacobson is a great coach. Other Jay fans can tell you more but with us he's most famous for tearing up McBuckets' contract so Doug could play for BigMac, a classy move. Other than that he has been a GREAT coach for UNI and we certainly didn't enjoy playing against his teams... he'll probably be snatched up by a bigger program. Sadly for DePaul, he's prolly better off in Cedar Falls. But who knows, Northern Iowa is so close to Chicago that he could do wonders by bringing in some Iowa kids to play alongside some Chi-towners.

The names mentioned in there, in my opinion, are very unlikely.

A younger head coach is likely not going to DePaul because if/when they fail, they are probably done with a head coaching role for some time.

I see a re-tred coach / hot seat coach landing the role or an assistant wanting to make a big name for themselves.