DePaul's Purnell on top of recruiting situation

In less than three months as DePaul men's basketball coach, Oliver Purnell has assimilated into his new Chicago surroundings nicely.

The Maryland native attended a Blackhawks playoff game against Vancouver and became so swept up in the action he started waving his red towel like thousands of other fans.

Purnell spoke to season-ticket holders on a Wrigleyville rooftop, hung out at Taste of Chicago, and purchased a home in Lincoln Park.

Most important to DePaul fans, though, the 57-year-old Purnell sunk roots into Chicago's fertile recruiting soil.

In his first five weeks on the job, Purnell and assistant Billy Garrett initiated a relationship with high-flying Class of 2011 Crete-Monee guard Jamie Crockett and secured his commitment.

When DePaul held a hastily arranged team camp at Tim Grover's ATTACK Athletics facility last week, there was such a favorable response from local high schools that Purnell and his staff expanded the field to 30 teams.

Almost everybody who's anybody in the next three recruiting classes showed up at ATTACK on June 21-22 - and only DePaul's coaches had access to them.

"They had the right people in the gym: AAU and Public League people as well as the players," said Joe Henricksen, the Aurora-based publisher of the City/Suburban Hoops Report. "It was just a great vibe in there. The coaches really made the most of it.

"You could just see the staff, particularly Coach Purnell, working their way around the gym. I think there's been a quicker respect for Purnell than the average coach, just with his persona and the way he presents himself."

When Purnell spent Final Four weekend evaluating whether to leave Clemson for DePaul, one of the many factors that sold him was the strength of the Chicago area's next three recruiting classes.

"It's as strong as it's ever been," Purnell said. "That's everything in your program. I mean, that's the starting and the end. You better have some sense of where you're going to get players before you take a college basketball job."

According to Henricksen, the Blue Demons are pursuing nationally ranked De La Salle power forward Mike Shaw, East Aurora point guard Ryan Boatright, Julian shooting guard Phillip Greene and Brehm Prep guard Bruce Barron.

"They need a domino to fall," Henricksen said. "A high-profile kid to commit to get the ball rolling."

DePaul has just one open scholarship for Class of 2011 players at this juncture, but Purnell isn't limiting his sights to one more commitment.

"We've got plenty of cap space," he said with a laugh.

That doesn't mean Purnell plans to pay players. Rather, he's reinforcing the fact that scholarship slots have a way of sorting themselves out.

In fact, one scholarship could open up before the fall quarter begins in September.

Six-foot-10 forward Walter Pitchford signed with DePaul in November but hasn't made plans to show up for summer school as the Blue Demons' other three incoming freshmen have done.

Pitchford apparently wants a release so he can attend another school - one big program and one smaller program sent release requests before Purnell learned of the Pitchford family's desires - but the Blue Demons hope he will enroll and take advantage of the immediate playing time available.

"We haven't communicated in the last two weeks with anybody there," Purnell said. "So his status is kind of in limbo."

In the meantime, the Blue Demons are rebuilding their second-floor Athletic Center infrastructure to support the players in to the program.

By the end of business Wednesday, which coincides with the end of the fiscal year, DePaul will have sunk $120,000 into a remodeled weight room stocked with state-of-the-art Keiser air-resistance equipment.

Athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto also approved Purnell's request to pour thousands into a new video system. Techies rewired the coaches' offices so everyone can be linked directly to the video room.

It's all part of Purnell's vision to restore DePaul's tradition.

"You can only determine (whether that can happen) by talking to the people that have to support you in order to get the job done," he said. "Clearly, (school president) Father Dennis (Holtschneider) and particularly Jeannie are committed to bringing back the heyday."