DePaul AD giving himself 30 days to find the coach who will make March matter again

Illinois’ men’s basketball team is counting down the “W’s” — six more to go — to the school’s first national championship.

Loyola is aiming to get in the Illini’s way and make NCAA Tournament magic for the second time in four years.

Ayo Dosunmu, Kofi Cockburn and Cameron Krutwig get more famous by the game. Brad Underwood and Porter Moser are already stuffing future raises under their mattresses. Holy one shining moment, the excitement level surrounding both programs is through the roof.

And then there’s DePaul, where, you know, a little relevance might be nice. A few scraps of positive attention wouldn’t kill anybody. Oh, and the Blue Demons are going to need a new coach.

After Monday’s firing of Dave Leitao, first-year athletic director DeWayne Peevy is giving himself 30 days to make the hire of his career. Whoever gets the job is going to be expected to get the Blue Demons in on this Big Dance business. That’s the whole reason DePaul lured Peevy from basketball superpower Kentucky and the No. 1 thing — maybe the only thing — on Peevy’s mind as he moves forward.

“We need to be in the conversation with the programs that are making the tournament every year,” he said. “I want to be in that stratosphere. I want to be looked at as one of those programs where it’s, like, odd if you’re not there.”

Kind of like it is with Kentucky being out of the tournament this season, come to think of it.

DePaul has 10 last-place finishes in 12 Big East seasons, zero NCAA Tournament appearances since 2004 and zero coaches with winning records since Joey Meyer departed in 1997. The Blue Demons are miles from being a Loyola, but why are we talking about the Ramblers again? Peevy doesn’t want to.

“I’m dreaming bigger than that,” he said. “I want to be relevant. I want people worrying about us not just in Chicago or this state or this region, but nationally. If we take care of our business and we strive for those types of goals, Chicago will take care of itself. That’s no disrespect to the other Chicago schools. We have a unique opportunity here. I want people to fear what we’re doing.”

Peevy wants a coach with college experience and a nose for recruiting in Chicago. You can bet whomever he hands the reins to will be willing to speak his AD’s language with similar boldness. Some ADs stay quietly in the background. Peevy might as well be parading the streets of Lincoln Park on a “Final Four or bust” float.

“I know what championship-level basketball is all about,” he said, “and I know we can build a championship-level program here at DePaul. And I refuse to believe otherwise.”

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

JUST SAYIN’

You’d better believe Loyola icon Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt has filled out a bracket. She must have her team circled in the center of her sheet as the champion, right? Maybe highlighted in maroon and gold just to be on the safe side?

Nope. Sister Jean, 101, picked Gonzaga to win it all. But that’s the savvy basketball expert in her talking. The heart is, as always, all Ramblers. And the most important thing is that she’ll be there in Indianapolis when they tip off Friday against Georgia Tech.

“It was stirring in my heart right from the beginning,” she said of finding out in a Zoom meeting with campus safety and athletic department officials that she could be part of the traveling contingent. “I was just so really excited about it.”

Not being able to attend games during the season was terribly disappointing, but she kept in touch with the team via email more than ever. The players and coaches received written encouragement before every game. And she was patched in on the phone for pregame prayers.

“Hi, Ramblers!” she says before every prayer. “Are you ready?”

Then she prays for an injury-free game with good sportsmanship and — oh, yes — fair refereeing. Lastly, she asks God to bless their shooting hands.

And now she gets to do it in person again. Amen.

• Fine, I’ll give you a couple of final scores. But only because you know you want them.

Illinois 81, Drexel 60.

Loyola 59, Georgia Tech 58.

And print it.

• Are the Bears really giving their precious football to Andy Dalton?

Isn’t this like getting to pick a James Bond and pointing at Timothy Dalton?

And am I the only one who has always thought of the quarterback as Andy “Dutch” Dalton after late Phillies catcher Darren “Dutch” Daulton? Yes? I should’ve known.

• Is new Cubs left fielder Joc Pederson going to hit .500 and average a home run every other game during the regular season, or is this just a spring thing?

No, you stop it.

• The quote of spring training, from White Sox Opening Day starter Lucas Giolito:

“I want to be the best in the world at this.”

The world, people. This is how a pitcher whose first full Sox season was one giant crisis of confidence talks now? Gotta love it.