http://www.sportingnews.com/college-bask...ded-depaul
Quote:DePaul will introduce Clemson's Oliver Purnell as its new men's basketball coach later today, according to Chicago television station WBBM, FoxSports.com and ChicagoNow.com, a Chicago sports blog.
ChicagoNow.com reports the university has scheduled a press conference for 2:30 p.m. ET today to announce Purnell's hiring. The sides agreed to a seven-year, $15 million contract late Monday, according to blogger David Kaplan.
The Chicago Tribune reports Purnell met with university officials Monday in Chicago.
Purnell will be taking over a Blue Demons program that compiled a 1-35 record in Big East Conference play the past two seasons.
Clemson lost to Missouri in the first round of this year's NCAA Tournament. The Tigers were 138-90 in seven seasons under Purnell.
Not sure if it is a good hire for Depaul. Purnell did not exactly impress at Clemson. Hope Depaul know what they are doing paying this guy all that mula.
I'd say they did better than I thought they would.
To expand a little bit, pre-Purnell, Clemson had been to a total of seven NCAA tournaments. He took them to three on his own. When he took them to the NCAA's in 2008 it was for the 1st time since Rick Barnes final year there in 1998.
Purnell's recent streak of three straight NCAA appearances ties what Barnes did at the end of his tenure there.
Clemson is far from a basketball school. Arguably its the "SEC" school of the ACC because of its ardent football followers. What Purnell did is a minor miracle there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemson_Tig...basketball
"I fear all we have done is to waken a sleeping giant....."
- Rear Admiral Yamamoto, Navy of Japan December 1942.
Every time Depaul hires a new basketball coach, this quote comes to mind. Eventually it is going to happen there in Chicago. It's only a matter of time. When it does, winning the Big East will be even harder. Good luck to The Blue Demons.
CJ
Was Purnell's job in jeopardy at Clemson? Otherwise this move makes no sense. He did a good job at Dayton, setting the stage for Brian Gregory. In fact, I'd argue that he is a better game coach than BG, just not as good of a recruiter.
(04-06-2010 07:56 AM)mlb Wrote: [ -> ]Was Purnell's job in jeopardy at Clemson? Otherwise this move makes no sense. He did a good job at Dayton, setting the stage for Brian Gregory. In fact, I'd argue that he is a better game coach than BG, just not as good of a recruiter.
Purnell was extended through 2014 a couple years ago.
I wanted to mention something about his Dayton run too, because that team had spiraled down under Jim O'Brien and the move from the MCC to Great Midwest, then A-10 was the best thing for them.
Purnell wasn't bad at Old Dominion either.
I'd say he's definitely a turnaround specialist based on his performances at his four stops (Radford being the 1st)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Purnell
(04-06-2010 07:36 AM)CardinalJim Wrote: [ -> ]"I fear all we have done is to waken a sleeping giant....."
- Rear Admiral Yamamoto, Navy of Japan December 1942.
Every time Depaul hires a new basketball coach, this quote comes to mind. Eventually it is going to happen there in Chicago. It's only a matter of time. When it does, winning the Big East will be even harder. Good luck to The Blue Demons.
CJ
Actually the quote was on December 7th 1941. I too agree that Depaul is a sleeping giant, get a coach and keep the home talent at home and watch out.
DePaul needs to figure out how to build an oncampus 10000 seat arena...although it doesn't seem likely due to real estate limitations.
(04-06-2010 07:56 AM)mlb Wrote: [ -> ]Was Purnell's job in jeopardy at Clemson? Otherwise this move makes no sense.
Depends....
Overall,
Purnell went 50-62 in ACC regular season action (now you know why many coaches LOVE easy non-conf schedules, as most coaching articles
never mention their CONFERENCE RECORD...as they normally
just list their overall record, which is usually inflated with easy non-conf wins) during his tenure at Clemson...but this year, Clemson was a pre-season Top 25 team...and fell to a somewhat disappointing 9-7 in the ACC regular season play (in a somewhat "weak" ACC Conf this season) and lost on the first day of the ACC Tournament to 11th seed NC State.
At his 4 Head Coaching stops, Purnell is 0-6 in NCAA Tournament games...including losing in the first round in the last 3 NCAA tournaments at Clemson.
(04-06-2010 09:02 AM)KnightLight Wrote: [ -> ]Overall, Purnell went 50-62 in ACC regular season action (now you know why many coaches LOVE easy non-conf schedules, as most coaching articles never mention their CONFERENCE RECORD...as they normally just list their overall record, which is usually inflated with easy non-conf wins) during his tenure at Clemson...but this year, Clemson was a pre-season Top 25 team...and fell to a somewhat disappointing 9-7 in the ACC regular season play (in a somewhat "weak" ACC Conf this season) and lost on the first day of the ACC Tournament to 11th seed NC State.
At his 4 Head Coaching stops, Purnell is 0-6 in NCAA Tournament games...including losing in the first round in the last 3 NCAA tournaments at Clemson.
They lost to Missouri.
Maybe he felt he had maximized Clemson, I don't know. This came out of nowhere. His Clemson teams always choked in the tourney, and I kept picking them to win for some reason.
Good luck in Chi-town, you're gonna need it!
(04-06-2010 08:51 AM)TexanMark Wrote: [ -> ]DePaul needs to figure out how to build an oncampus 10000 seat arena...although it doesn't seem likely due to real estate limitations.
Yeah, it's impossible. DePaul's great campus neighborhood in Lincoln Park is also its greatest liability in terms of building a new arena - it's completely developed and even if there was enough land to build a stadium, it would be so outrageously expensive that it would be cost prohibitive.
CJ is right, though. If any coach at DePaul figures out a way to recruit the Chicago Public League like the school did back in the 70s and 80s, then there's TUP (Tremendous Upside Potential). IMHO, only St. John's has a better physical location for basketball recruiting in the country on paper. Hopefully, Purnell can put the school back down that path.
(04-06-2010 09:40 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote: [ -> ] (04-06-2010 08:51 AM)TexanMark Wrote: [ -> ]DePaul needs to figure out how to build an oncampus 10000 seat arena...although it doesn't seem likely due to real estate limitations.
Yeah, it's impossible. DePaul's great campus neighborhood in Lincoln Park is also its greatest liability in terms of building a new arena - it's completely developed and even if there was enough land to build a stadium, it would be so outrageously expensive that it would be cost prohibitive.
CJ is right, though. If any coach at DePaul figures out a way to recruit the Chicago Public League like the school did back in the 70s and 80s, then there's TUP (Tremendous Upside Potential). IMHO, only St. John's has a better physical location for basketball recruiting in the country on paper. Hopefully, Purnell can put the school back down that path.
Frank, what do you think of this hire? Did you guys have any idea that Purnell was even interviewing for the job? This hire caught everyone off guard. I am pleasantly surprised.
Seems like both DePaul & St. Johns did better than people expected when it comes to their recent hires.
(04-06-2010 09:53 AM)cuseroc Wrote: [ -> ] (04-06-2010 09:40 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote: [ -> ] (04-06-2010 08:51 AM)TexanMark Wrote: [ -> ]DePaul needs to figure out how to build an oncampus 10000 seat arena...although it doesn't seem likely due to real estate limitations.
Yeah, it's impossible. DePaul's great campus neighborhood in Lincoln Park is also its greatest liability in terms of building a new arena - it's completely developed and even if there was enough land to build a stadium, it would be so outrageously expensive that it would be cost prohibitive.
CJ is right, though. If any coach at DePaul figures out a way to recruit the Chicago Public League like the school did back in the 70s and 80s, then there's TUP (Tremendous Upside Potential). IMHO, only St. John's has a better physical location for basketball recruiting in the country on paper. Hopefully, Purnell can put the school back down that path.
Frank, what do you think of this hire? Did you guys have any idea that Purnell was even interviewing for the job? This hire caught everyone off guard. I am pleasantly surprised.
I haven't even had time to process it. This wasn't even on the radar - I don't think there was even a message board rumor about Purnell. Most of the rumors focused on Regie Theus and Dayton coach Brian Gregory. I'm pleasantly surprised to the extent that DePaul was able to lure anyone from one of the BCS conferences - over the past couple of weeks, it felt like not even MAC coaches wanted anything to do with the program. Purnell has a decent track record of rebuilding programs, which is certainly what DePaul needs.
(04-06-2010 10:02 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote: [ -> ] (04-06-2010 09:53 AM)cuseroc Wrote: [ -> ] (04-06-2010 09:40 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote: [ -> ] (04-06-2010 08:51 AM)TexanMark Wrote: [ -> ]DePaul needs to figure out how to build an oncampus 10000 seat arena...although it doesn't seem likely due to real estate limitations.
Yeah, it's impossible. DePaul's great campus neighborhood in Lincoln Park is also its greatest liability in terms of building a new arena - it's completely developed and even if there was enough land to build a stadium, it would be so outrageously expensive that it would be cost prohibitive.
CJ is right, though. If any coach at DePaul figures out a way to recruit the Chicago Public League like the school did back in the 70s and 80s, then there's TUP (Tremendous Upside Potential). IMHO, only St. John's has a better physical location for basketball recruiting in the country on paper. Hopefully, Purnell can put the school back down that path.
Frank, what do you think of this hire? Did you guys have any idea that Purnell was even interviewing for the job? This hire caught everyone off guard. I am pleasantly surprised.
I haven't even had time to process it. This wasn't even on the radar - I don't think there was even a message board rumor about Purnell. Most of the rumors focused on Regie Theus and Dayton coach Brian Gregory. I'm pleasantly surprised to the extent that DePaul was able to lure anyone from one of the BCS conferences - over the past couple of weeks, it felt like not even MAC coaches wanted anything to do with the program. Purnell has a decent track record of rebuilding programs, which is certainly what DePaul needs.
I think he will get you guys back in the NCAA within 2-3 years...NIT in 1-2 years. Not sure if he is the long term answer as his NCAA tourney record is suspect but I think he will get you back sitting at the Big Boy Table. Overall a great hire. Too bad the Butler coach wasn't available.
Brad Stevens will have his pick of top jobs soon enough; he won't need to settle for a rebuilding project.
Good grab by DePaul to steal an ACC coach. At the same time, does he have any real connections to Chicago? I was really expecting DePaul to hire Reggie Theus based on what I've been reading the past few days.
Does Theus have any recruiting connections to Chicago beyond playing there as an NBA player?