Jerry Wainwright is out as DePaul's men's basketball coach.
This is disappointing news, though most fans expected this sooner rather than later. Wainwright had to have felt very uncomfortable since his staff was let go after a dismal 0-18 Big East season in 2008-09.
But though some in the blog/message board world are surely rejoicing today, this isn't the happiest day for me. DePaul was my team growing up and I've been following them since I was a little kid, which included the days of David Booth (now a current assistant).
I want DePaul to be successful and will always have a part of me that will care about the program. When a coach leaves/gets fired, that shows failures on many levels.
You might ask: What does this have to do with Bradley?
Though the recent success of the two programs can't really be compared, there are similar aspects to the Wainwright situation as to what is going on in Peoria.
Wainwright has many of the same great qualities that Bradley's Jim Les has - he has very likable personality, a good interview (especially in Wainwright's case, who is very funny and doesn't mind being self-deprecating), cares deeply about the school/area where he's coaching. Just like Les, Wainwright has always seemed like the kind of guy who would have stayed at DePaul for 20 years if possible.
But in a similar light, he also hasn't lived up to expectations as a coach. Just like most Bradley fans hoped that Les' teams would be competing for conference championships on a yearly basis, DePaul fans have hoped that in a ridiculously difficult conference like the Big East, the Blue Demons could at least stay competitive.
And if you want to play the "what-if" game, Wainwright has had to deal with a lot of similar things. He's had injuries to key players and has lost important players to the program (in DePaul's case, to the NBA).
Having an opportunity to watch a lot of both Bradley and DePaul games, the two head coaches have stuck with a system that hasn't always meshed with the team's personnel. Wainwright allowed way too much 1-on-1, NBA-style basketball and with the exception of a couple players, DePaul simply didn't have the talent to play that way. The team was showing signs of at least playing better defense this season, but that wasn't enough.
I'm not sure how this is radically different to how some of the recently Bradley teams have been. Fundamentals of winning basketball - defense and rebounding - are often stressed in interviews with the media, but then the carryover doesn't generally happen in games.
At least in Wainwright's case, he's had a proven track record of success. He'll get another job because of his three conference championships and two NCAA appearances at UNC-Wilmington. Unfortunately for Wainwright, he almost seemed destined to fail considering the current state of DePaul's program.
Even though Chicago is a hotbed for talented basketball players, it's difficult to get recruits to stay nearby and play at DePaul. The Allstate Arena is a nice place to catch a sporting event, but it's 15 miles from the main campus.
That is simply too far for the majority of students to travel for a game. Bradley has often had trouble getting enough students to its games and though the Braves also have an off-campus arena, it's only two miles away and a bus ride in just takes a matter of minutes.
The only way DePaul will get good student support again is if the program starts doing well. Unfortunately, lots of kids in college are fickle and don't necessarily care as much about the game as being part of a social experience. If the team starts playing well again, it will be the "place to be" and those fans will come back.
The other problem with DePaul is that because of the way administration handled the past few coaching moves. This has alienated many long-time supporters of the program.
Whether it was the lousy coaching of Pat Kennedy, the fickleness of Dave Leitao, or the problematic athletic director Bill Bradshaw (see an article from the Sporting News from way back in 1996: Here), things haven't been going consistently right for more than a decade.
The combination of bad basketball, dwindling fan support and minimal media coverage have really doomed the Blue Demons for years.
Credit DePaul for making a change when sticking with a likable local man would have been the easy route. If Bradley continues to stick in the doldrums of the Missouri Valley Conference, hopefully it will have the same courage if that determination has to be made at a future date.
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