Big Win With DeWayne Peevy Hire
Sorry for the long delay on this article. I am still in shock! In what can be described as a reboot, unbelievably, DePaul University has gone against every prior instinct and hired an outsider for the Athletic Director spot. The Lazy Blue Demon is Delighted!
In early July, this writer wrote the Search Committee with a checklist of the key items that he was searching for in the new Athletic Directory. Now that DeWayne Peevy has been officially announced as the new Athletic Director, let’s take stock of how close he measured up to the dream candidate. Let’s go down the list, step by step on a 5 point scale.
Someone from the Outside: 5/5
In the letter, it was stated that “DePaul cannot be tainted by a holdover.” The long term damage of the JLP era needed to be addressed, and the fact way that no one in house had seen what a modern Athletic Department looked like.
DeWayne Peevy is a true outsider from a DePaul perspective. He is not from Chicago. He has not worked at the DePaul Athletic Department in any manner. He has not worked in the Big East conference. The farther away from the status quo the better.
Peevy brings modern practices to an out of date place.
Person from a school that has demonstrated success in hiring first time head coaches: N/A
If DePaul went with an experienced hire, it was absolutely necessary that the hire have a track record of identifying coaching talent at a major college level. Peevy worked hand in hand with Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, John Calipari, throughout his tenure at Kentucky. Since Peevy was the Deputy Athletic Director, and his program was under the control of a Hall of Famer, Peevy never needed to give input on a Men’s Basketball Head Coach hire. I will give the search committee a pass on this one, because if you are going to go with the Assistant AD path for the hire, mine as well get one that has been around one of the more progressive Athletic Departments and one that has been tied to a school that has had Four Final Four appearances since 2011.
Person who understands Student Engagement: 5/5
As mentioned in the letter, “if you look up at the Demon Deck of Wintrust Arena, you will see mostly blue seats. The lack of students coming to games has been a problem for multiple generations, especially the lost generation of 2005-2020.” We are now getting to Peevy’s sweet spot.
Peevy is a former Sports Information Director, a role that is all about communication with the student body and alumni. Peevy was the first ever African American Media director at a SEC school.
At Kentucky, Peevy worked with both the media relations department and as the University of Kentucky site states, “the award-winning Kentucky sports publication department while serving as the primary media contact for the nationally renowned men’s basketball team.”
As the SID at his alma mater, Montevallo, he won six national publications awards. The dude gets it.
Of course it helps that Kentucky could probably sell out their basketball games without an Athletic Director, but we have got to give him some credit.
Person who understands Alumni Engagement: 5/5
I have been bombarded with emails and tweets. This is a great start.
Social Media Guru: Incomplete
The Twitter account for DePaul Men’s Basketball is not verified.
It is still not verified. We are looking for that Blue Check!
Excellent Media Presence
It would be nice to have a strong communicator who does not make the Alumni community cringe at every other sentence.
Through his first press conference and other early engagements, I am pleased. He wants to elevate all of our sports.
Someone who believes in Transparency
DePaul fans hope that the days of double-talk and cover up are over.
So far the communication has been stellar, which bodes well for the future.
Huge Win for DePaul
At the end of the day, this is a huge upgrade. Let’s check back at the end of the school year to see where we are. At the very least, we’d better be twitter verified!
