By Aidan Joly
The high-major coaching carousel got rolling for the first time this season on Monday with DePaul firing Tony Stubblefield amidst a 3-15 season that has the Blue Demons 0-7 in Big East play.
Stubblefield was a strange choice to begin with, including some rumors that Nike and some under-the-table power brokers were behind the hire.
The results were predictable, with Stubblefield going 28-54 in his two-plus seasons at the helm.
The job is certainly a tough one. The idea of the job is great: DePaul is a Big East job and the school is located in the heart of Chicago, fruitful with local talent and NIL opportunities and it plays in a great arena.
The reality is different: DePaul ranks dead last in NIL money in the Big East, does not have an on-campus practice facility (although one is set to open in 2026), the arena is off campus, and there is not much fan support due to lack of success and professional sports being king in Chicago.
It won’t get better, either, until there is talent on the roster and the Blue Demons win some games. DePaul has not been to the NCAA tournament since 2004 and only has three winning seasons since.
So, here are some candidates for the job (in no particular order). Note that these are all sitting head coaches. An assistant coach didn’t work this time around, so it’s tough to see them going back to that well.
Bobby Hurley, Arizona State head coach
Of course, this is only if Hurley and Arizona State part ways at the end of the season, which remains to be seen.
Hurley would probably demand to be paid and doesn’t have many local ties, but it would certainly be an infuse of a name into the program and might get some sort of excitement going.
If he is out at Arizona State, DePaul could certainly be a soft landing spot to be able to stay at a high-major.
Kenny Payne, Louisville head coach
Okay, I’ll give you a second to chuckle at this one. Go ahead.
Now that you’re back, hear me out. Payne will assuredly be out at Louisville when the season ends. Payne worked with DePaul athletic director DeWayne Peevy at Kentucky for many years and knows the Chicago area well as a recruiter. He worked to get Anthony Davis to come to Kentucky.
Payne can be a guy who checks several boxes for DePaul, despite the disaster he has created at Louisville. It would for sure create some laughs if he gets the job, but it could just work.
Bryan Mullins, Southern Illinois head coach
Mullins, 37, is an Illinois lifer. He worked as an assistant coach at Loyola-Chicago from 2013-2019 as an assistant before getting the Southern Illinois job.
With the Salukies, he has a 79-62 record and won 23 games last season, the most wins for the program in a single season since 2006-07.
He knows the area well and might just be a guy who is ready to make a jump to the high-major level.
Will Wade, McNeese head coach
Wade might be the only guy on this list who would be a true slam-dunk hire if he gets the job. It would be a big statement of where DePaul wants to be as a program.
Wade is making his return to college basketball and has McNeese at 17-2 and in the top 100 in KenPom rankings. This was despite an NCAA-imposed 10-game suspension to start the season, too. McNeese hasn’t lost a game since he returned from suspension, either.
He is a guy who is willing to do whatever it takes to get guys (yup!) and now would not have to deal with as many rules in order to get them, while also being able to put competitive teams on the floor.
Hiring Wade would be about as clear of a statement you could make about where you want the program to be. But, Wade will probably be on the call list of every high-major team this spring.
Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon head coach
To be fair, Drew is probably pretty comfortable where he’s at. He’s at Grand Canyon with expectations not at the ceiling and has great fan and institutional support for the basketball program.
But, it’s still a low-major job. Drew grinded in the Midwest in the early days of his coaching career at Valparaiso, where he went 124-49 as a head coach before floundering at Vanderbilt.
He’s now 81-29 at Grand Canyon and his stock is back up. At 49, he is still young for a coach, too. Could this be the job to get him back in the Midwest?
Josh Schertz, Indiana State head coach
Schertz, 48, won big at the Division II level for 13 years before taking the Indiana State job in 2021. The first year was a rebuild, but the Sycamores went 23-13 last year and are currently 15-3 and are tied for first place in the Missouri Valley.
The Sycamores rank 42nd in KenPom on Tuesday and are 24th in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency. It leads the country in effective field goal percentage (61.2%), is second in two-point field goal percentage and second in three-point percentage.
This is one of the best mid-major teams in the country and Schertz is sure to be a hot commodity for high-major programs this spring. With the Midwest ties, DePaul should make a run at him.
Brian Wardle, Bradley head coach
Wardle, 44, has already orchestrated rebuilds at both Green Bay and Bradley, the latter of which he led to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006 in 2019. He won the Missouri Valley tournament in 2020 as well.
At just 44, he has already won nearly 250 games as a Division I head coach. He has Bradley at 13-5 this season, joining Indiana State as one of the best teams in the MVC.
Wardle is from a Chicago suburb and a Midwest lifer. Having it done it twice before, he will more than likely have the patience for a longer rebuild.
Prediction: There’s a few that could be somewhat easy to see. Wade is definitely the flashy hire who would more than likely immediately win at DePaul.
On the other hand, a non-flashy guy who will grind to get results might be the way to go. Schertz may end up somewhere bigger, so both Mullins and Wardle fit the bill here.
That being said, my bet is that it is one of the three between Wade, Mullins or Wardle.
AJ Hoops 