DePaul was an independent from 1923 to 1991, despite having a team since 1908. It joined the
Great Midwest Conference in 1991 which later merged with the
Metro Conference in 1995 to become
Conference USA, in which DePaul was a member through 2005. DePaul left for the
Big East Conference in 2005 and was a member until 2012 when it joined the reconfigured Big East in 2013.
Early history (1923–1942) Robert L. Stevenson was the first head coach in DePaul basketball history. In his one season as coach during the 1923–24 season, he coached the Blue Demons to a record of 8–6.
Harry Adams was head coach for the 1924–25 season and finished with a record of 6–13.
Eddie Anderson was head coach from 1925 to 1929 and compiled an overall record of 37–26. In 1929,
Jim Kelly became head coach at DePaul where he compiled a record of 99–22 in his 7 seasons as coach before leaving in 1936.
Tom Haggerty coached DePaul from 1936 to 1940 and compiled an overall record of 63–32.
Bill Wendt coached DePaul for 2 seasons from 1940 to 1941 and had a record of 23–20.
Ray Meyer era (1942–1984) Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame head coach
Ray Meyer coached at DePaul for 42 years from 1942 to 1984 and finished with an overall 724–354 record (.672). He coached his teams to 21 post-season appearances (13 NCAA, eight NIT). Meyer led his teams to two
Final Four appearances in the
1943 NCAA basketball tournament and
1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament. Meyer's 1943 Final Four appearance was his first season coaching DePaul. His teams were a No. 1 seed in its NCAA regional three years in a row in
1980,
1981 and
1982; however, those teams all lost their first game to #8 seeds in upsets. Meyer led DePaul past Bowling Green to capture the
1945 National Invitation Tournament, the school's only post-season title. In total, Meyer recorded 37 winning seasons and twelve 20-win seasons, including seven straight from 1978 to 1984. champions Meyer coached
George Mikan who was inducted into the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, made the 25th and 35th NBA Anniversary Teams of 1970 and 1980, and was elected one of the
NBA's 50 Greatest Players ever in 1996. On October 21, 2021, it was also announced that Mikan had made the
NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Meyer also coached the 1980
Naismith College Player of the Year,
Mark Aguirre. During Ray Meyer's tenure, the Blue Demons originally played in
University Auditorium before moving to
Alumni Hall in 1956. For the start of the 1980 season, DePaul men's basketball moved to the
Rosemont Horizon later renamed Allstate Arena.
Joey Meyer era (1984–1997) Joey Meyer was head coach of DePaul from 1984 to 1997 compiling an overall record of 231–158. He started as an assistant coach at DePaul for eleven seasons under his father,
Ray Meyer. When Ray Meyer retired in 1984, Joey Meyer was promoted to head coach. Joey Meyer led DePaul to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in his first eight seasons, including back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances in his second and third seasons. In the
1986 tournament, #12-seeded DePaul—led by freshman guard
Rod Strickland (14.1 ppg season average) and junior
Dallas Comegys (13.8 ppg) -- upset #5-seeded
Virginia and #4-seeded
Oklahoma in the East regional before losing to top-seeded
Duke 74–67. In 1987, the Blue Demons—again led by Comegys (17.5 ppg) and Strickland (16.3 ppg) -- finished the regular season 26–2 and received a #3 seed in the Midwest regional of the
1987 tournament. They defeated #14-seeded
Louisiana Tech and #6-seeded
St. John's before losing to #10-seeded
LSU. Meyer was honored as the Chevrolet Coach of the Year in 1987. Besides seven NCAA tournament appearances, Meyer led the Blue Demons to three appearances in the
National Invitation Tournament.
Pat Kennedy era (1997–2002) Pat Kennedy was named head coach after Joey Meyer. It was the first time a member of the Meyer family hadn't coached DePaul basketball in 55 years. Kennedy coached DePaul from 1997 to 2002 and finished with an overall record of 67–85.
Dave Leitao era – First tenure (2002–2005) Dave Leitao was named head coach at DePaul for the 2002–03 season. His teams made post-season play in all three of his seasons as head coach. In his second season, his team advanced to the second round of the
2004 NCAA tournament before being eliminated by eventual national champion
Connecticut. His teams also played in the
2003 and
2005 NIT Tournaments. In his first stint as head coach at Depaul, he finished with a 58–34 overall record. Leitao left to become the head coach at the
University of Virginia in 2005.
Jerry Wainwright era (2005–2010) Jerry Wainwright was named DePaul head coach in 2005. In his first season he finished with a 12–15 record. In his second season in 2006–07, the Blue Demons beat #5
Kansas, pulling off one of the greatest upsets in school history. They also beat 2006 NCAA tournament teams
California,
Northwestern State,
Marquette,
Connecticut and
Villanova with Wainwright leading the Blue Demons to the
2007 National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals before losing to
Air Force. Four games into the 2007–08 season, Wainwright logged his 200th career win as a head coach, but the team finished with a 10–19 record. The 2008–2009 season saw DePaul finish 9–24 overall and 0–18 in regular season Big East play. Wainwright began the 2009–10 season as head coach, but was fired on January 11, 2010, after a 7–8 start to the season. He still had two years remaining on his contract at the time of his firing. Wainwright finished with a 59–80 overall record in his five years at DePaul. Assistant coach
Tracy Webster was named interim head coach for the remainder of the 2009–10 season and finished with a 1–15 record.
Oliver Purnell era (2010–2015) On April 6, 2010,
Oliver Purnell, formerly of
Clemson University signed a seven-year deal with DePaul. In his first season in 2010–11, Purnell finished with a record of 7–24. The rest of his tenure saw his teams with finish with similar records of 12–19 during the
2011–2012 season, 11–21 during the
2012–2013 season, 12–21 during the
2013–2014 season and 12–20 in
2014–15. At the conclusion of the 2014–2015 season, Purnell announced his resignation. He finished with an overall record of 54–105 at DePaul.
Dave Leitao era – Second tenure (2015–2021) Dave Leitao returned for his second stint as DePaul head basketball coach for the
2015–2016 season. The first season at Wintrust Arena saw the Blue Demons return to double-digit wins finishing with a record of 11–20 in Leitao's third season. Following the 2017–2018 season, DePaul's eleventh straight losing season under coaches hired by current Athletic Director Jean Lenti Ponsetto, a group of "concerned students and alumni" purchased a full-page advertisement in the
Chicago Sun-Times calling for change within the school's Athletic Department. Additional reasons the students and alumni wanted change was that since the 1989–90 season, DePaul had won only one NCAA tournament game in the 29 seasons that transpired. DePaul had also only been to two NCAA Tournaments since the 1991–92 season, hadn't qualified for the NCAA Tournament since the 2003–04 season and the Blue Demons had not made postseason play since 2006–07. Additionally, DePaul finished last in the Big East eight out of the past ten seasons including a tie for last place during the 2017–18 season. The
2018–2019 season saw a turnaround for DePaul as the Blue Demons finished with a 19–17 overall record. In Leitao's fourth season, he led the Blue Demons to the
2019 College Basketball Invitational post-season tournament. The team finished as runner-up to the
University of South Florida Bulls. In the Best of Three Championship series, DePaul beat South Florida in game 2, but dropped games one and three to the Bulls to give DePaul a second-place finish in the tournament.
Tony Stubblefield era – (2021–2024) On April 1, 2021,
Tony Stubblefield was hired as head coach. He previously served as an assistant coach at
Oregon. Stubblefield was fired on January 22, 2024 after a troubling partial season of (3–15). Only managing to beat
South Dakota,
Louisville, and
Chicago State. All home games. He returned to his previous assistant coaching position at Oregon. On February 24,
Terry Cummings had his No. 32 (1979–1982) jersey retired by the program. Becoming only the third player in franchise history to receive the honor and the first since
Mark Aguirre in 1996. Assistant coach
Matt Brady served as the interim head coach for the remainder of the
2023-24 season finishing (3–29) (.093) overall and (0–20) in the
Big East before leaving and becoming the assistant coach at
High Point University. Making it the worst season since 1996–97 season (4–36) and the worst in program history.
Chris Holtmann era ― (2024–present) 2024–25 Season On March 14, 2024, former
Butler and
Ohio State head coach
Chris Holtmann was hired as the new head coach on a six-year deal. With Ohio State's former assistant coach
Jack Owens also being hired. Holtmann and the
2024–25 team went 7–1 to start the season, losing their first game on the road to
Texas Tech in the program's final
Big East–Big 12 Battle on December 4, 2024. On January 17, 2025, the team won their first
Big East Conference game since January 18, 2023. They would defeat
Georgetown at
Capital One Arena 73–68, their first conference win in 1 year and 364 days after 39 straight losses. The team would follow that up on February 2, 2025 with their first conference win at home since January 10, 2023, defeating
Seton Hall 74–57. This ended a 2 year and 24 day drought. On February 22,
Dave Corzine had his No. 40 (1974–1978) jersey retired by the program. Becoming the fourth player in franchise history to receive the honor. The improvement could be seen compared to the last season as the team finished (14–20) overall and (4–16) in the conference, finishing with the #10 seed. The team even managed to reach the quarterfinals of the
2025 Big East tournament, where they would lose a hard fought battle against #2 seed
Creighton. Losing 81–85 in double-overtime. On March 17, 2025, it was announced that the Blue Demons would play in the
College Basketball Crown inaugural postseason tournament as the #15 seed. The team played #2 seed
Cincinnati in the First Round at
MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 1, losing 61–83.
2025–26 Season It was announced on June 11 that the
2025–26 Blue Demons would be participating in the men's 2025
Emerald Coast Classic along with
Drake,
Georgia Tech, and former 2021 Classic champion
LSU. The event took place during Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 28-29) at
Northwest Florida State College in
Niceville. The team would become the runners-up, falling to
LSU 63–96 in the final. On November 26, the program announced that
Rod Strickland would have his No. 10 (1985-1988) jersey retired by the program during a game on February 3, 2026 against
St. John's. Becoming the fifth player in franchise history to receive the honor. The Blue Demons finished the overall season 16–16 and 8–12 in the conference, placing sixth. The highest Big East tournament seed since joining the
original conference in 2005.
2026–27 Season ==Major upsets==