DePaul coach just took on his biggest challenge

A couple of days ago critics were suggesting that DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto was incapable of hiring a new basketball coach.

The process was dragging out. Alleged candidates were mentioned. Scheduled interviews were reported. Public patience was tested.

"Honestly," Ponsetto said Tuesday of the sentiment on the street, "I don't engage in that kind of stuff."

Minutes earlier she had introduced Oliver Purnell as the Blue Demons' head coach.

(As long as we're being honest here, I'm declaring this a job well done by Ponsetto because he's better than I thought DePaul could get.)

Anyway, is Purnell good enough? Nobody - not you, me, Ponsetto or Purnell himself - can know for sure. Heck, it might be that nobody can turn around DePaul.

Purnell certainly isn't a buzz hire. He isn't the splash that many hoped for. To most around here he's just a guy they might have heard of.

Purnell rebuilt the Old Dominion, Dayton and Clemson programs, but DePaul will be his biggest challenge.

Countless coaches can take a slumping program, elevate it to the middle of a conference and qualify it for the NCAA Tournament.

Hopefully DePaul has higher aspirations, like expecting Purnell to win the Big East and qualify for a Final Four.

Not many coaches could accomplish that. Not many would want to try, not even for a contract reportedly worth $15 million over seven years.

Count me among those who believe DePaul can win big again, essentially because Chicago area high schools are full of outstanding players.

The question is whether a DePaul coach can land a healthy share of them without compromising ethical and academic standards.

This business of wading through parents, street agents, high school coaches and AAU coaches to recruit talent is risky, if not smarmy.

Indications are that Purnell plays by the rules. According to a story over the weekend in The State newspaper in South Carolina, Purnell's character was clear way back in 1986.

The story goes that Purnell was on Lefty Driesell's staff at Maryland when news arrived that the great Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose.

Driesell reportedly phoned Purnell, 32 years old at the time, and told him to go clean the dormitory room where Bias had partied with friends.

"Purnell," The State story said, "never made it to Washington Hall." Failing to follow orders might cost Purnell his job, but he still refused to alter what would become a crime scene.

Within a year, The State story added, "he was the only basketball staff member still employed at Maryland. The news of his courageous decision swept through the college coaching fraternity."

By all accounts the Blue Demons' new coach has demonstrated that sort of judgment throughout his career, which is one reason Ponsetto considers him the right person to represent DePaul.

However, she also wants a coach who will restore the Demons to a place among the nation's basketball elite.

Whether Oliver Purnell is the right coach for that particular assignment remains to be determined.

mimrem@dailyherald.com