Tony Stubblefield named head men’s basketball coach at DePaul
Oregon associate head coach Tony Stubblefield was announced as the new head coach at DePaul on Tuesday. The news has been discussed for over a week now, but the school has finally made it official.
“Relationships, recruiting and vision were everything with this hire,” said AD DeWayne Peevy. “We knew we had to find the right person for where our program is right now. Tony quickly demonstrated his eagerness to begin rebuilding this program to national prominence. That, coupled with over 28 years of Division I college coaching experience, extensive college basketball relationships, an elite history of recruiting and his alignment with our vision for the future, made him quickly rise to the top of our candidate list.”
Stubblefield has been working in D-I basketball for nearly 30 years and has spent the last eleven at Oregon working under Dana Altman. Elevated to associate head coach last year, Stubblefield has played a key role in the recent success of the Ducks program, including seven NCAA Tournament berths (with five Sweet Sixteens and one Final Four) and four Pac-12 titles.
“It’s a distinct honor and a privilege to serve as the head coach of the DePaul men’s basketball program,” Stubblefield said. “I want to thank DeWayne Peevy and President Gabriel Esteban for providing me with the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Before Oregon, Stubblefield worked as an assistant at Cincinnati, New Mexico State, Texas-Arlington, UTSA and alma mater Nebraska-Omaha. He also served as NMSU interim head coach for 14 games in 2005 when medical issues drove Lou Henson to step down.
Stubblefield will have his work cut out for him at DePaul, a program that has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2004 and hasn’t been competitive in the Big East since 2007 (the only season they have ever finished above .500 in league play after joining in 2005). Former head coach Dave Leitao – who was also the coach back in 2004 – failed to achieve any success since after he was re-hired in 2015 and was let go last month.
credit to DePaul Athletics for the image
