Purnell

[Edrick]

Who cares what Depaul was or what they are now, with that crazy building, Depaul is going to be something else entirely.

That is why they will hire a new coach as they move into this new era. It'll be a fresh break. And the new guy is going to kill it.

The guy that immediately occurs to me because of the 'pop' his name comes with, the abilty to recruit, and being 'vaguely' local is Scott Drew.

[NJRedman]

Do you guys remember how bad they were before he got there? "4 years of losing can't be forgotten." Yeah and you can't forget that no one was winning with that team he inherited. The DePaul fix was never going to be a quick one. It is a LONG process, a SLOW rebuild. It's gonna take time and like I said in the past you can see clear improvements each year. Last year they won 2 BE games but took 6 others to OT where they lost. Thats tied at the end of regulation, very easily they could have won more of those games. They weren't the easy win last year you had to show up and be ready to play. This year it's even more clear because now they are winning those games in regulation that they lost in OT last season. He very clearly has the program moving in a positive direction but there is still a lot more to do. He even said it when he was given the job and thats why the deal was a long term one. It never was going to be a quick fix unless they were able to hire Coach K or Tom Izzo which never was going to happen. It's all about patience and it's starting to pay off for the Blue Demons.

The big question is who replaces them at the bottom if they do become a winning program again?

I totally understand from where you're coming from, but it really doesn't matter how hard the rebuild is. In year 5, in any gig, significant progress should be made and they should be expecting to make at least a postseason (usually NCAA's). Significant progress hasn't happened and there have been some kids at DePaul who have gotten in trouble off the court and/or transferred away. Purnell simply lost control of the program. That's why I mentioned above "poor discipline". When you're trying to douse a fire, you pour water on the flames, not gas.

Well you must not have been paying attention to DePaul since they joined the Big East because this is significant progress. It's about steps not leaps when rebuilding a program as down as DePaul was.

[NJRedman]

I doubt DePaul has the money to buy out Purnell, but who was the genius who signed him to such a lengthy and expensive deal? It's not like he was a hot commodity. Terrible move, reminiscent of some of the SJU hires.

What does this even mean? It's like you just took a bunch of words and put them together but it in no way makes any sense.

It's a lengthy deal because Purnell and the school knew it would be a long rebuilding process and they both agreed that he would be given the time needed to fix the program. Neither one wanted to worry about contracts and knew consistency was one of the things needed to get them back. Guess what? Looks like they are right and that DePaul might actually play in a post season for the first time in years.

Okay now please name some of the SJU hires that were signed to 7 year contracts right off the bat? I know people like to take shots at SJU but this makes zero sense. Your trolling needs work.

[marquette]

Who cares what Depaul was or what they are now, with that crazy building, Depaul is going to be something else entirely.

That is why they will hire a new coach as they move into this new era. It'll be a fresh break. And the new guy is going to kill it.

The guy that immediately occurs to me because of the 'pop' his name comes with, the abilty to recruit, and being 'vaguely' local is Scott Drew.

You think DePaul can steal a coach from Baylor? I'm listening.

[stever20]

I doubt DePaul has the money to buy out Purnell, but who was the genius who signed him to such a lengthy and expensive deal? It's not like he was a hot commodity. Terrible move, reminiscent of some of the SJU hires.

What does this even mean? It's like you just took a bunch of words and put them together but it in no way makes any sense.

It's a lengthy deal because Purnell and the school knew it would be a long rebuilding process and they both agreed that he would be given the time needed to fix the program. Neither one wanted to worry about contracts and knew consistency was one of the things needed to get them back. Guess what? Looks like they are right and that DePaul might actually play in a post season for the first time in years.

Okay now please name some of the SJU hires that were signed to 7 year contracts right off the bat? I know people like to take shots at SJU but this makes zero sense. Your trolling needs work.

the only chance DePaul has of playing in the postseason is winning the BET. They have no chance at the NIT. It's not like it used to be where if you were 16-15 in the Big East, you were in the NIT period. DePaul may take a spot in the CBI I guess.

[billyjack]

Wardle at Green Bay,
Jacobson at Northern Iowa,
Bobby Hurley at Buffalo,
Bryce Drew at Valpo...
...or a now-unknown coach who goes on a run in the NCAA's this year...

Wardle's teams seem to play defense and they actually run plays on offense. That would be pretty cool.

[stever20]

I think 1 thing that is interesting in the F5 at quick glance- only Georgia Tech and maybe Arizona St could be looking at a new coach(barring a surprise move to NBA). So could be a great year for DePaul to make a move, knowing they would have the pick of the crop.

[OmahaGuy]

Do you guys remember how bad they were before he got there? "4 years of losing can't be forgotten." Yeah and you can't forget that no one was winning with that team he inherited. The DePaul fix was never going to be a quick one. It is a LONG process, a SLOW rebuild. It's gonna take time and like I said in the past you can see clear improvements each year. Last year they won 2 BE games but took 6 others to OT where they lost. Thats tied at the end of regulation, very easily they could have won more of those games. They weren't the easy win last year you had to show up and be ready to play. This year it's even more clear because now they are winning those games in regulation that they lost in OT last season. He very clearly has the program moving in a positive direction but there is still a lot more to do. He even said it when he was given the job and thats why the deal was a long term one. It never was going to be a quick fix unless they were able to hire Coach K or Tom Izzo which never was going to happen. It's all about patience and it's starting to pay off for the Blue Demons.

The big question is who replaces them at the bottom if they do become a winning program again?

I totally understand from where you're coming from, but it really doesn't matter how hard the rebuild is. In year 5, in any gig, significant progress should be made and they should be expecting to make at least a postseason (usually NCAA's). Significant progress hasn't happened and there have been some kids at DePaul who have gotten in trouble off the court and/or transferred away. Purnell simply lost control of the program. That's why I mentioned above "poor discipline". When you're trying to douse a fire, you pour water on the flames, not gas.

Well you must not have been paying attention to DePaul since they joined the Big East because this is significant progress. It's about steps not leaps when rebuilding a program as down as DePaul was.

You are entitled to your own opinion. But I'm not sure many people would call a few conference wins---in year 5 "significant progress". The 4+ years of losing, poor recruiting, poor development of players (outside of maybe BGJr) and all of the defections still happened. When rebuilding a program, the culture/attitude of the program needs to be positive and they should be playing TEAM ball consistently and they should be doing that from DAY ONE. From what I've seen and heard, the culture has been quite poor.

[ivet]

Wardle at Green Bay,
Jacobson at Northern Iowa,
Bobby Hurley at Buffalo,
Bryce Drew at Valpo...
...or a now-unknown coach who goes on a run in the NCAA's this year...

Wardle's teams seem to play defense and they actually run plays on offense. That would be pretty cool.

This is an excellent list but not sure about Wardle since he is a Marquette guy. It probably doesn't matter but....Marquette. I would also still include Shaka Smart-though people say it wont ever happen, I don't see him at VCU in the long term.

[NJRedman]

I totally understand from where you're coming from, but it really doesn't matter how hard the rebuild is. In year 5, in any gig, significant progress should be made and they should be expecting to make at least a postseason (usually NCAA's). Significant progress hasn't happened and there have been some kids at DePaul who have gotten in trouble off the court and/or transferred away. Purnell simply lost control of the program. That's why I mentioned above "poor discipline". When you're trying to douse a fire, you pour water on the flames, not gas.

Well you must not have been paying attention to DePaul since they joined the Big East because this is significant progress. It's about steps not leaps when rebuilding a program as down as DePaul was.

You are entitled to your own opinion. But I'm not sure many people would call a few conference wins---in year 5 "significant progress". The 4+ years of losing, poor recruiting, poor development of players (outside of maybe BGJr) and all of the defections still happened. When rebuilding a program, the culture/attitude of the program needs to be positive and they should be playing TEAM ball consistently and they should be doing that from DAY ONE. From what I've seen and heard, the culture has been quite poor.

Like I said, you clearly haven't been paying attention to DePaul in the last decade. You are entitled to your opinion but this might be the most conference wins they have had in the Big East in a single season. Besides BG Jr what quality players have decided to sign with DePaul?