Helping DePaul out with its coaching search

The search for a new DePaul men’s basketball coach is in full swing. Athletic director DeWayne Peevy, who fired his first hire, Tony Stubblefield, on Jan. 22, has the monumental task of landing a coach who can somehow lift up a downtrodden program that’s 0-16 in the Big East and just 3-24 overall.

While Matt Brady, a special assistant under Stubblefield, keeps the Blue Demons moving along as their interim coach, here are several targets, broken into different categories, whom DePaul might consider as the next hire:

High-priced and likely out of reach

Porter Moser, Oklahoma: It’s a long shot — a huge one. But DePaul owes it to itself to find out if Moser, who built little Loyola into a team worthy of the national spotlight, would entertain the idea of returning to Chicago.

Chris Jans, Mississippi State: He won big as a junior college head coach, with 21 victories in his only season at Bowling Green. He won big at New Mexico State, with four NCAA Tournament berths. He then took Mississippi State to the Big Dance in his first season last year, and is on the verge of doing it again.

Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon: The previous DePaul administration considered hiring Drew in 2015 while he was the head coach at Valparaiso but ultimately opted for a second stint with Dave Leitao instead. Drew is about to lead Grand Canyon to its third NCAA Tournament in four years. The Antelopes are 24-4 and leading the Western Athletic Conference.

Big names but still attainable

Bobby Hurley, Arizona State: His name has been bandied about since Stubblefield was fired. Although he signed an extension last spring that would take him through the 2025-26 season with the Sun Devils, it has been rumored that both sides might be willing to move on after nine seasons.

Will Wade, McNeese State: If DePaul wants to create a buzz and be in a position to win again, it should hire this guy. Wade won at Chattanooga and won bigger at VCU before landing at LSU, where in five years he took the Tigers to three NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 in 2019. He’s now rolling atop the Southland Conference with McNeese State (24-3, 13-1). Wade has been heavy into analytics and is recognized as a monster in recruiting. He was won nearly 70% of the games he has coached.

Common-sense targets

Drew Valentine, Loyola: One of the youngest head coaches in the country, Valentine, now 32, inherited the leftovers of a loaded roster from Moser and didn’t miss a beat in his first season in 2021-22. The Ramblers won 25 games and reached the NCAA Tournament.

The next season, Loyola made the move from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Atlantic 10 and struggled, finishing last out of 15 teams at 10-21, 4-14. But Valentine rebuilt the roster as his own and now has the Ramblers atop the standings and battling for a title at 20-7, 12-2.

Brian Wardle, Bradley: He guided the Braves to the 2019 NCAA Tournament and had them headed back again in 2020 before the pandemic hit. Last year, Bradley won the MVC regular-season title. At 20-9, it already has its fifth 20-win season under Wardle and is in the thick of the conference race again.

Is this the splashiest hire Peevy could make? Not unless the Braves make another run in the MVC tournament and reach the NCAA Tournament a month from now. But DePaul would be getting a heck of a coach who knows how to build a program.

Josh Schertz, Indiana State: He won 23 games last season and has followed that up with a 24-5 record so far — the best in Terra Haute since Larry Bird was playing. Indiana State is on top of the MVC and spent a week in the top 25 nationally.

Terrific work in tough places

Kyle Smith, Washington State: The Cougars program is one of the harder high-major jobs in the country, but Smith has earned a lot of respect with impressive win totals. It’s the same kind of tall order facing DePaul now. Now in his fifth year at Washington State, Smith has achieved back-to-back NIT bids and has the Cougars (21-7, 12-5 Pac-12, second place) on the verge of their first NCAA Tournament since 2008.

Andy Kennedy, UAB: DePaul should certainly have him on the short list if he’s interested. He has 13 years of high-major experience, including a dozen years at Ole Miss, another place where it’s not easy to win. While at Mississippi, Kennedy won 20-plus games nine times in 12 years. He reached the NCAA Tournament twice and was named SEC Coach of the Year twice.

Unconventional

Cuonzo Martin: How about a highly respected name with high-major experience and familiarity with Illinois who has been out of the business for a bit? After 14 years as a head coach, Martin stepped away for the last two seasons after being let go by Missouri after a five-year stint. He might be ready to jump back in. And if you’re DePaul, why not think about it?

Martin’s final year at Missouri ended badly as the Tigers finished 12-21. But he has won 20-plus games in a season at all four stops in his coaching career and took three high-major programs — Tennessee, Cal and Missouri — to the NCAA Tournament.

The East St. Louis native, who helped Lincoln to two high school state championships and was an assistant at Purdue for eight seasons, has a presence about him and has recruited both in Chicago and across the state.

Lower-priced with potential rewards

Alan Huss, High Point: In Huss’ first year on the job, High Point is on top of the Big South at 23-6, 12-2. Recruiting and evaluation are his specialties. He spent six years in the Big East as an assistant at Creighton before being hired at High Point. He also spent four years (2010-2014) leading the La Lumiere program in Indiana, where he helped develop more than three dozen Division I players.

Luke Murray, Connecticut: He’s a veteran assistant coach for both UConn and Xavier who’s obviously quite familiar with the Big East. More important, he has worked under coaches and in programs where a whole lot of winning has taken place — including UConn’s national championship last year. The Huskies are ranked No. 3, down from No. 1, in this week’s Associated Press Top 25.

Before UConn, Murray was on Chris Mack’s staff at Xavier and Louisville, where in three years the Musketeers won 81 games and earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2018. Murray joined Mack at Louisville and was the recruiting coordinator there when the Cardinals had a top-10 national class in 2019. Long considered an up-and-coming candidate, Murray is waiting for his chance to lead a program.

The prime candidate

Chris Holtmann: It wasn’t too long ago that Holtmann was a hot name in coaching. He’s as high-profile as DePaul will find — if hired, he’d be their most accomplished coach since Ray and Joey Meyer.

And he’s on the market.

Overall, Holtmann has nine 20-plus win seasons as a head coach at Butler and Ohio State. He took Butler to three straight NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 in 2017. If not for the cancellation of the tournament because of COVID-19 in 2020, the 2017-18 Big Ten Coach of the Year would have had five tourney appearances in seven seasons with the Buckeyes.