As a DePaul alum, it’s frustrating to admit just how far the Blue Demons men’s basketball program has fallen. If you’re a college basketball fan, March is the most wonderful time of the year. The upsets, the Cinderella stories, the powerhouse programs making deep runs—it’s what makes March Madness one of the best events in sports. But if you’re a fan of the DePaul Blue Demons, March usually means one thing: watching from the sidelines.
For most of the last 35 years, DePaul men’s basketball has been an afterthought. They’ve been a non-factor in the NCAA Tournament conversation, a program that, at best, flirts with relevance only to fade away before Selection Sunday. It’s a stark contrast to what the program once was in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, a time when DePaul was a nationally recognized name in college basketball.
If you go back to the days of legendary head coach Ray Meyer, DePaul wasn’t just good—they were elite. The Blue Demons were a regular in the NCAA Tournament, producing NBA talent like Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings. In 1979, DePaul made the Final Four, and throughout the early ‘80s, they were a tournament staple, often ranked among the top teams in the country. But somewhere along the way, the magic disappeared. The coaching transitions from Ray Meyer to his son Joey Meyer in the late ‘80s led to a slow but steady decline. After making the tournament in 1992, DePaul wouldn’t return until 2000, and even that was a brief appearance—a first-round exit to Kansas. Since then? One tournament appearance in 2004, another first-round loss, and nothing but struggles since.
One of the biggest issues has been coaching instability. After Joey Meyer’s tenure ended in 1997, the program cycled through head coaches without much success. Pat Kennedy, Jerry Wainwright, Oliver Purnell, Dave Leitao (twice), and Tony Stubblefield all tried and failed to turn things around. The hires either didn’t fit, couldn’t recruit at a high level, or simply weren’t capable of elevating the program back to national relevance. Since March of last year, the task has fallen to head coach Chris Holtmann, hoping to pull DePaul out of the basement of the Big East.
Speaking of the Big East, that’s another factor in DePaul’s struggles. When they were an independent or a member of the lesser Conference USA, they could still find ways to recruit top talent and sneak into the tournament. But when DePaul joined the revamped Big East in 2005, things went downhill quickly. The conference, which features basketball powerhouses like Villanova, UConn, and Marquette, has been brutally unkind to DePaul. Year after year, they finish at or near the bottom of the standings, unable to compete with teams that recruit and develop talent at a much higher level.
Recruiting has been another Achilles’ heel. Chicago is a basketball hotbed, producing some of the best high school talent in the country. But DePaul hasn’t been able to consistently keep that talent home. The best players from the city go to Illinois, Kentucky, Duke, or Michigan State, while DePaul is left scrambling to fill its roster with lower-tier recruits and transfers who rarely pan out. The inability to land top-tier players has kept the Blue Demons in a perpetual rebuild, never able to build a foundation for sustained success.
On the rare occasions when DePaul has looked like it was turning a corner, disappointment has followed. The 2019-20 season was a perfect example. The Blue Demons started the year 13-2, knocking off Texas Tech and Iowa in the non-conference slate. For the first time in years, there was real hope that DePaul could return to the NCAA Tournament. But once Big East play started, the wheels came off. They finished the season 3-14, and any dreams of March Madness quickly faded.
This is the cycle DePaul fans have come to know all too well: a promising start, a quick descent, and another season finishing near the bottom of the conference. It’s led to a disinterested fan base, declining attendance, and a program that doesn’t have the same cachet it once did. Ask a younger college basketball fan about DePaul, and they probably don’t even realize that this was once a respected program.
Here’s the thing folks: DePaul is no longer a destination for top recruits, they don’t have a strong basketball culture, and the Big East only continues to get tougher. Even with the transfer portal offering new opportunities to build rosters quickly, DePaul hasn’t capitalized the way other struggling programs have. They’re stuck in a never-ending loop of mediocrity, and unless something drastic changes, it’s hard to see them becoming a serious player in March Madness anytime soon.
With that… Could it ever change? Sure. A dynamic head coach, an improved recruiting strategy, and maybe a lucky break with a few star players could revive DePaul basketball. But history tells us not to bet on it. For now, while other teams prepare for Selection Sunday and dream of deep tournament runs, DePaul will continue to watch from home—just as they have for nearly the last four decades.
If you cannot play with them, then root for them.