When one considers the enormity of the challenge for restoring the DePaul University men’s basketball program to its former glory, all you have to do is peruse the Sports section of the Chicago Tribune on March 16. There you will find the article speculate possible new head coaches for the men’s program (“Faces in crowd of potential coaches.”)
Now, the six gentlemen in question are undoubtedly fine fellows; considerate of their mothers and kind to their children. However, I’m sure none of them are capable of generating the kind of recruitment spark the program needs to propel it to the next level — let alone to championship status.
What the administrators at DePaul must understand is that their men’s basketball program is irrelevant. The fact is nobody cares who the next head coach of the DePaul men’s basketball program is. High school coaches in the Chicago area direct their top prospects to prestige programs such as University of Kentucky or Duke University. Slightly less promising prospects might be directed to the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, University of Notre Dame or Marquette University. Earnest kids who try hard might find their way to DePaul, providing they get off the right “L” stop.
Until DePaul generates a lot more heat and excitement about their men’s basketball program that story on page 14 will probably be repeated three years from today.
— Joseph Dorchack, Bolingbrook
