When Chris Holtmann arrived at DePaul in March 2024, the longtime men’s basketball coach heard how “depressed” the Blue Demons home crowd was in attendance, atmosphere and energy at Wintrust Arena.
Holtmann’s mission, of course, was to change that through winning, something DePaul rarely has done this century. But he knew that might not happen consistently right away. So he tried to drum up support from students in other ways.
“I knew that, hey, listen, there’s going to be some hard times here,” Holtmann said. “It’s not like we’re going to win every game. We’re in a great conference. But if you’ll give us a chance, I’d like to reward you.”
At a pep rally before his first season, he promised free lunch to students who attended home wins, a bill the school mostly picked up last season but Holtmann agreed to foot this season. He has his players take a photo celebrating with the student section after every home win.
And on Jan. 16, after the Blue Demons beat Marquette for the first time in nearly four years in front of a crowd of 7,474, he made an impromptu offer on social media: He would buy DePaul students a round at on-campus bar Kelly’s Pub in 35 minutes.
DePaul announced a venue change a short time later because of an event at Kelly’s, but he connected with about 30 students at Homeslice and then ventured into Hook & Ladder, which Holtmann said was a “wild scene” for a 54-year-old who doesn’t go to bars much anymore. He estimated less than half the crowd was DePaul students, but still he hopped up to sit on the bar and announced the first round was on him for students.
“I’m sure some people were like: ‘What’s this dude in a white polo (doing)? Why is he buying people beer? What is that all about?’” Holtmann said.
The colossal challenge of Holtmann’s career is to get DePaul men’s basketball back to the type of renown where Chicagoans know what the Blue Demons are all about.
He and his program look like they’re taking steps to get there in his second season.
Overcoming ‘the stigma’
Holtmann was very close to taking a year off in the spring of 2024.
Ohio State fired him on Feb. 14, 2024, after nearly seven seasons, four NCAA Tournament appearances and a 137-86 record that had declined slightly in his last two seasons. Holtmann, who began his career with three seasons apiece at Gardner-Webb and Butler, had media opportunities that would have given him a chance to regroup.
“I was close to doing that — really close,” Holtmann said. “Was advised to do that by a lot of people I respect. ‘Hey, take some time. Take a breather.’”
But the challenge of the DePaul job called to him.
The Blue Demons — once consistently great under coaches Ray and Joey Meyer in the 1970s and 1980s — have had a winning conference record one time in the 20 years since they joined the Big East. That came in 2006-07 under Jerry Wainwright when DePaul finished 20-14 overall and 9-7 in the conference.
Since then, DePaul has topped out at seven conference wins once and six wins three times. The Blue Demons haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2003-04 in Dave Leitao’s first stint as coach.
Holtmann looked at that rough recent history and saw opportunity.
“We have a really committed fan base who is really desperate for success,” he said. “Desperately wanting to give them something that they can feel proud of — our fans, our former players. It was the challenge.”
Holtmann said he also believed in the vision DePaul President Rob Manuel and athletic director DeWayne Peevy had. Their conversations centered around name, image and likeness (NIL) support, how they could improve campus support and the atmosphere at games and the construction of a new practice facility.
Peevy announced the advancement of one of those items this week in a letter to DePaul supporters. He said the athletic department had secured $20 million in cash donations and sponsorships so that it could begin building its $42 million athletics practice facility, planned to open in the fall of 2027.
Holtmann said it’s a needed piece of the puzzle for a successful team, noting his team has had to hold film sessions in hallways and renovated closets because of the lack of current space.
“The last private school I was at, Butler, basketball was very important,” he said. “I wanted to be in a place that was similar to that for me, where I knew that it was important to the university. That puts the pressure on you, but that’s fine.”
At the same time, Holtmann said there was an understanding that there’s a process to a rebuild. He pointed to his former Big Ten opponent Nebraska, which is having a resurgence under seventh-year coach Fred Hoiberg and has started the season 20-1.
“I was in the league when they really, really struggled for several years,” Holtmann said. “Now they’re potentially a No. 1 seed. So in a lot of ways, you’re always feeling pressure, but you also do recognize that there are going to be some challenges.”
When Holtmann took over at DePaul, the Blue Demons had just finished a 3-29 season with an 0-20 Big East record — part of a 39-game regular-season conference losing streak that stretched into last season.
They had a minus-17 average scoring margin, 10 points below the next-worst Big East team, Georgetown. For multiple games that season, the announced attendance at Wintrust Arena didn’t hit 3,000.
And earlier this month, federal prosecutors alleged four former players from that team participated in a game-fixing scandal for three Big East games under the previous coaching staff.
Taking on that history of failure was one of the primary challenges for Holtmann.
“Overcoming the perception, the stigma,” Holtmann said. “In my two years, that’s been the biggest thing. The jokes that would be made at the program’s expense.”
As he laid the foundation for change, Holtmann first had to persuade players to walk into that situation.
Shrinking the gap
After DePaul’s 80-75 win over Marquette — between the on-court celebration with students and the postgame drinks offer — Holtmann tried to lend some perspective to his players in a locker-room speech.
He believes one of the best ways to build a healthy culture is to get players to believe in something bigger than their individual interests. So leading up to the game, he showed his team a half-dozen videos of former players talking about what the Marquette rivalry meant to them.
He went back to that after the game.
“This game means a lot to a lot of people, man. And you guys played like it means a lot to a lot of people,” Holtmann told his players. “There is not one former player that would look at this right now and say, ‘Hey, man, you didn’t represent (us).’
“It just felt like this is bigger than any of us individually right now. We’re doing this for the university, for the program, for former players. We couldn’t be more proud of you.”
When he began at DePaul, Holtmann recognized that joining his rebuilding effort wouldn’t appeal to everyone.
He has told recruits that he understands if it’s not for them. But Holtmann also believes DePaul can provide players both financial support and a unique opportunity in the current wild world of college sports, where attachment is optional.
“There will be a deeper, more powerful experience and more rewarding experience to say, ‘Hey, I was a part of something that hadn’t been done in decades,’ or, ‘I was a part of the beginning stages of building something that hasn’t been done,’” Holtmann said. “And that has really been what we’ve tried to communicate to recruits.”
Among the players he convinced for his first season were Indiana transfer CJ Gunn, Arkansas transfer Layden Blocker and Missouri State transfer NJ Benson. The trio now leads the Blue Demons in scoring in Year 2, topped by Gunn’s 14.3 points per game.
Holtmann had recruited Blocker for Ohio State before he picked Arkansas, and the main reason Blocker moved to DePaul was for a better opportunity to improve after seeing limited minutes as a Razorbacks freshman.
But when he got to DePaul, he began to understand that they also were out to “change the narrative of the program.”
“We know that’s the thing we’re trying to do, to turn the program around and make it something new that people have never seen before,” said Blocker, who’s averaging 12 points and 3.7 assists. “Coach is hard on us because of those expectations of the winning culture. That’s what the coaches are trying to install and bring to this program.”
Holtmann told that group he would be harder on them in Year 2 as his expectations climbed, and Blocker said they accept that because they believe “it just comes from a place of love.”
“He’s not one of those coaches that’s going to beat you up, beat you up, beat you up,” Blocker said. “He’s going to also encourage you and give you confidence to go out there and play and be the best version of yourself.”
Holtmann didn’t have specific benchmarks when he took over the job, but he had goals.
He wanted to get above single-digit wins in the first year for proof of concept. In the second year, he wanted to shrink the competitive gap within conference play because there were too many blowouts for his liking in Year 1. And he wanted to put forth a style of play that was enjoyable to watch.
“We want to be a hard-playing, hard-nosed team that’s going to beat you up on the defensive end,” Blocker said. “That’s our strength as a team, guarding and defending. Once we buy into that, we’re going to be a hard team to beat.”
After going 14-20 overall and 4-16 in the Big East in Holtmann’s first season, DePaul is on pace to better that at 12-9 and 4-6 entering Saturday’s game at Xavier. The Blue Demons are No. 109 in the NET rankings. Three of their six conference losses were by single digits. The other three were to No. 2 Connecticut twice and No. 25 St. John’s.
On Tuesday they’ll be back at Wintrust Arena for a big game against St. John’s with a four-game home winning streak on the line. At halftime, DePaul will retire the jersey of Rod Strickland, a two-time All-American who led three NCAA Tournament teams from 1985-88.
Perhaps a celebration of DePaul’s past can help the Blue Demons keep building for their future.
“We’ve been trying to change the culture and environment at Wintrust, and we’re finally starting to get some wins, finally starting to get our rhythm and momentum going,” Gunn said after the win over Marquette. “So for the school and the students to have our back and come in here and fight just like us, man, it makes us want to fight even harder.”
