DePaul Basketball Looks to Regain Luster
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Apr 2, 2009 3:40PM
When we were young, DePaul basketball was a force. Coached by the legendary Ray Meyer, the Blue Demons were perennial NCAA tournament participants and usually made it to the Sweet 16 -- although we were too young to remember their Final Four run in '79. Even after the elder Meyer handed over the reigns to his son Joey, DePaul was among the top basketball programs and regularly signed the top area recruits.
But tough times have plagued DePaul basketball for over a decade now. Joey Meyer was fired after a 3-23 season in 1997, and they're on their third coach since. Jerry Wainwright has gone just 52-72 in his four year tenure, but athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto decided to retain the Chicago native -- not that there aren't calls for his ouster.
Can Wainwright return DePaul to glory in the powerhouse Big East? The now 16 team conference landed three of the #1 seeds in this year's NCAA Tournament and has two of the Final Four participants this coming weekend. DePaul didn't win a single game against Big East opponents until their tournament upset Cincinnati in the opening round.
Some point to how the lack of scholarships available for new recruits early in his tenure and some bad luck with player eligibility and early NBA defections have limited Wainwright's ability to field a team with veteran leadership. Can his team full of freshmen and sophomores improve as it matures? Or is Wainwright simply unable to compete with the likes of Illinois and other schools for top local talent?
But perhaps it's not just the roster and coach that's hurting DePaul's success. Without an on-campus arena, the Blue Demons play their "home" games at the AllState Arena in Rosemont. Playing that far removed from campus, in a stadium that's been less than half full in recent years cannot give the players a sense of "home court advantage," nor does it create an appealing situation to show possible recruits. A more intimate Lincoln Park gymnasium that the team could pack for home games might be a better option -- but will they ever get that? That's what former AD Bill Bradley envisioned. An expansion of Alumni Hall never materialized and it was razed in the 90's to build the current student center. Do the Blue Demons have any hopes for an on-campus venue now? It doesn't seem likely given the density of Lincoln Park.
The storied basketball program at DePaul has fallen on hard times for many reasons and it looks like the book might be closed on its run among the elite of college basketball. While it appears that Jerry Wainwright will remain the head coach at DePaul, there are rumors that Ponsetto is trying to buy out the balance of his contract -- but will yet another coach change anything for the Blue Demons?