Dave Leitao Selected To Head DePaul Men's Basketball Program

Dave Leitao

CHICAGO -- Dave Leitao, the Associate Head Coach at Connecticut, was named the DePaul men's basketball coach today. Leitao, who becomes the 10th head coach in DePaul history, succeeds Pat Kennedy who resigned on March 5 after five seasons.

"Dave is committed to a culture of success. His emphasis is on the character of the students and he wants to develop young people academically and athletically. I believe if we can accomplish this, we will achieve our goals for the program," DePaul University President Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M. said.

"Dave has extensive experience in one of the country's top programs and had one of the best mentors in college basketball in Jim Calhoun," said James R. Doyle, vice president for Student Affairs. "He had major responsibilities at UConn and is well prepared to move to the next level."

"We are extremely pleased to bring Dave Leitao into the DePaul athletic family as our men's basketball coach," DePaul Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw said. "We believe that Dave is one of the up-and-coming coaches in the nation and we are excited to see his work with the Blue Demon program."

A small committee consisting of faculty, students, trustees and administrators met with finalists over the weekend. They assessed the candidates' potential for success, approach to student athletes, management style, vision for the program and commitment to DePaul's educational mission. Leitao emerged as the coach DePaul was seeking to renew its winning tradition.

Leitao recently completed his sixth season as Associate Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Connecticut and his 14th season overall as a member of the Connecticut staff.

Leitao accepted his most recent position by rejoining Calhoun's staff at Connecticut in May of 1996. During the past six seasons Connecticut has compiled a 156-51 (.754) record, including winning the 1999 NCAA Division I National Championship.

Prior to returning to Connecticut, Leitao spent two seasons as the head coach at Northeastern. In 1994-95, he directed the Huskies to a record of 18-11 and into the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship game. He compiled an overall two-year record at Northeastern of 22-35.

Before accepting the head-coaching job at Northeastern in the spring of 1994, Leitao had played an important role in the building of Connecticut Basketball into a nationally regarded program. He served as an assistant coach for eight seasons (1986-87 to 1993-94) at Connecticut and in that time, the Huskies posted an overall record of 162-91 (.640), made four appearances in the NCAA Tournament and won the 1988 NIT Championship. Leitao was instrumental in highly successful recruiting efforts at Connecticut, which brought a number of talented student-athletes to Storrs, including Chris Smith, Scott Burrell, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall and Ray Allen.

Leitao began his long-term playing and working relationship with Calhoun as a four-year standout at Northeastern from 1978-82. With Leitao on the floor, the Huskies sported a sparkling record of 79-34 (.699). After finishing his playing career at the Boston school in 1983, Leitao joined Calhoun's coaching staff for two seasons. He then followed Calhoun to Connecticut in the spring of 1986.

Leitao graduated from Northeastern in 1983 with BS degree in Business Administration. He and his wife Joyce are the proud parents of two sons, David III and Reese.