Playing career The 6'7" forward was recruited by
Jim Calhoun to play basketball at
Northeastern University. From 1978 to 1982 Leitao played at Northeastern, where he averaged 6.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. The teams made it to the NCAA tournament twice, and posted an overall 79–34 record. Leitao is a brother of the Omicron chapter of
Iota Phi Theta fraternity.
Early coaching career Leitao was recruited by Calhoun to join his staff at Northeastern University in 1984, and followed him to the
University of Connecticut as an assistant from 1986 to 1994. He returned to serve as head coach at his alma mater,
Northeastern University, from 1994 to 1996. Leitao returned to Calhoun's staff for six seasons, including the Huskies national championship in 1999.
DePaul He secured the head coaching position at
DePaul University on April 16, 2002, six weeks after his predecessor
Pat Kennedy had resigned from the position on March 5. The Blue Demons qualified for the postseason in each of Leitao's three years at DePaul, appearing in the
NIT in
2003 and
2005 and the
NCAA tournament in
2004. His overall record with the Blue Demons after those three seasons was 58–34.
Jerry Wainwright succeeded him on April 28, 2005.
Virginia Leitao replaced
Pete Gillen when the
University of Virginia bought out the final five years of Leitao's contract with DePaul on April 15, 2005.
Tony Bennett succeeded him two weeks later on March 30.
Maine Red Claws On July 21, 2011, Leitao was named head coach of the
Maine Red Claws of the
NBA Development League. Leitao left the Red Claws after one season to become an assistant coach at the
University of Missouri under
Frank Haith.
Return to DePaul Leitao returned to DePaul on March 29, 2015, replacing
Oliver Purnell who had resigned fifteen days prior on March 14 after a
12–20 campaign which ended with an eight-game losing streak and concluded a five-year stretch in which the Blue Demons went 54–105. DePaul, which conducted the process of finding a new head coach with Parker Executive Search, was criticized by fans because of the perception of the university being stuck in the past and not moving into the future. The Blue Demons won only 9 games in both the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons, the first two of Leitao's latest tenure at the school. In his third season, the Blue Demons improved slightly, winning 11 games. The 2018–2019 season, Leitao's fourth, saw a turnaround for DePaul as the Blue Demons finished with a 19–17 overall record. Leitao's squad won their tenth game before mid-January with a non-conference schedule ranked last in the Big East. The season also saw the Blue Demons beat a ranked opponent for the first time in several years, winning 79–71 against No. 24
St. John's, who was playing without its best player,
Shamorie Ponds. Following the regular season, the Blue Demons were invited to the
2019 College Basketball Invitational 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. In the 2019–2020 season, Leitao began the season suspended due to a recruiting violation in connection with a former player. He made his season debut at
Iowa following assistant Tim Anderson coaching the Blue Demons to three straight wins. He won nine of his first ten games of the season including an upset at Iowa and an exciting overtime win against
Texas Tech at home. After coaching DePaul to 9 of its 12 non-conference wins and only losing a single non-conference game, Leitao coached the team to a 3–15 conference record, enough to land the team in last place of the Big East conference for the fourth consecutive season. Leitao won a Big East Tournament game for the first time ever, beating
Xavier 71–67. The remainder of the tournament would be cancelled the next day due to concerns over the coronavirus. While DePaul won 16 games this season, only 13 of those wins are attributable to Dave Leitao's head coaching record, as he was suspended for and did not coach in three of DePaul's wins. Following the season, DePaul extended Leitao's contract through the 2023–24 season. At the conclusion of the 2020–21 season, DePaul fired Leitao on the heels the program's fifth straight last place conference finish.
Team Elite On May 6, 2021, Leitao was hired as the head coach of Team Elite of the prep basketball league Overtime Elite (OTE). ==Head coaching record==