(DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)DePaul's Director of Athletics DeWayne Peevy announced yesterday, March 15, a change in the leadership of the men's basketball program. Dave Leitao has been relieved of his duties as head coach and finishes his DePaul coaching career after nine seasons in Lincoln Park between two stints.
"After evaluating where our men's basketball program is currently and where we envision it to be moving forward, a decision was made to make a change in the head coaching position," Peevy said. “We want to thank Dave for his many contributions to the program, including his mentorship of our student athletes on and off the floor, his commitment to DEI efforts within our athletics department and support of our university-wide Vincentian mission.
"We will conduct a national search beginning immediately for our next head coach. DePaul is committed to elevating our program to where we are still competing during this time of year."
Leitao went 126-146 in nine seasons as head coach at DePaul, including three seasons from 2002-05 and the last six seasons. In 15 years as a college head coach, he holds a record of 211-241. The Blue Demons went 5-14 this season, while Leitao led the program to 19 wins in 2018-19 and 16 victories in 2019-20 before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.