DePaul's commitment to improving its basketball program helped lure new coach Chris Holtmann

On Sunday, Illinois captured its second Big Ten Tournament championship under coach Brad Underwood, Northwestern celebrated making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history and DePaul had a Zoom call.

The Zoom call involved former players and new Blue Demons coach Chris Holtmann. He heeded the words from the alumni as he looks to steer to the future. Holtmann was officially introduced as DePaul’s coach on Monday at Wintrust Arena.

But before the Blue Demons could even consider luring a coach with Holtmann’s pedigree and résumé, the program had to make some changes in its infrastructure.

The Blue Demons had to make themselves an attractive landing spot after years of languishing near the bottom of the Big East — the highest DePaul has finished is seventh over the last 11 years, and it finished 0-20 in the league this season. DePaul hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2004.

“We weren’t getting a high-major coach without an NIL [plan],” athletic director DeWayne Peevy said. “If the practice facility didn’t exist and NIL wasn’t going to get us back in the top half of the Big East, what you’re talking about [is] millions of dollars, we weren’t going to have a high-major coach.”

Holtmann is not only rebuilding a program, he’s trying to revitalize a program.

‘‘Cities and fan bases rally around a style of play and players ... that play with a certain competitiveness, edge, passion and energy,’’ Holtmann said.

Holtmann, who has a 251-170 career record, was the 2017 Big East coach of the year while at Butler and 2018 Big Ten coach of the year at Ohio State.

“Everyone in this room probably understands the landscape of college athletics has changed dramatically since those times of the ’70s and ’80s,” Holtmann said. “The qualities that make up a successful program have not changed.”

Holtmann wanted to know about practice structure, where players stay the night before a game and the intricacies of how the program operated. Though Peevy said there were five finalists, it was clear after those conversations that Holtmann was the top choice.

“My goal was to have a sitting head coach that has experience in this new kind of college athletics,” Peevy said. “I wanted somebody in the middle of it, so we’re not having to start and learn all that on the go.”

In today’s era of college basketball, continuity is a luxury, not the norm. Holtmann said he learned from his Ohio State tenure that his last two teams skewed too young to win. Experience is king in today’s game.

“The days of being able to potentially get a kid based on relationships alone — I think some of those situations still exist, but it’s not as important as what it used to be,” Holtmann said.

Getting a coach of Holtmann’s caliber is a win for Peevy and the program because it reflects the university’s commitment.

Peevy said the program will have a new weight room, and there are plans for a $60 million practice facility in Lincoln Park as well as a commitment to having an operating budget in the top half of the Big East.

“It was huge,” Holtmann said of the importance of the university’s commitment. ‘‘I had seriously considered just doing media for a year because of my situation there at Ohio State. I had the freedom to do that for a couple of years if I wanted to. So it was not a push that I had to work this year.”

Based on what Peevy and Holtmann said Monday, they understand what it takes to compete in today’s college basketball environment and sustain that level.

But it’s one thing to win a news conference; it’s another to build a winner.