DePaul basketball signs Bruno to 6-year extension

Although he's preparing to start his 25th season as its women's basketball coach, DePaul wants Doug Bruno to stay a few more years.

The university announced Friday that it signed a contract extension through the 2016-17 season with Bruno, who has guided the program to eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and 15 overall.

"His name is synonymous with successful college basketball around Chicago and around the world as a fantastic teacher of the game, mentor to his student-athletes and fiercely loyal to his alma mater," said Jean Lenti Ponsetto, DePaul's director of athletics.

Bruno holds a 458-263 record in 24 seasons with DePaul, which has made the Big East Conference Championship quarterfinals each year since 2006.

To mark his 25th season and to recognize his program's success, DePaul will name the court in McGrath Arena the "Doug Bruno Court."

"I am totally juiced about the opportunity to continue what has become a lifelong passion: coaching DePaul women's basketball," Bruno said of his extension. "When Gene Sullivan asked me to coach the DePaul women as a 26-year-old in the mid-seventies I never imagined that that team of young women would inspire me to coach women and that would become a lifetime mission."

Bruno's 458 victories with the Blue Demons rank 33rd among active Division I coaches.

Before returning to DePaul in 1988, Bruno compiled a 40-30 record with the Chicago Hustle, the first women's professional team in Chicago, from 1978-80.