DEMONS CAN’T FIND ANSWERS

Foundering ship no better under Purnell’s watch

Jerry Wainwright was fired midway through his fifth season at DePaul with a 59-80 overall record and a 20-51 Big East mark that featured a 22-game conference losing streak.

Wainwright was a quick-with-a-quip good guy and a feel-good story at the time he was hired, a Chicagoan called home for a grand finale after tasting success over many years in more remote locations. Despite one 20-victory season, no one would argue that Wainwright got it done here. He had come to symbolize DePaul’s Big East futility, and no tears were shed over his dismissal outside the Wainwright household.

Athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto then vowed to get it right with the sport that matters most at DePaul, and Oliver Purnell was the product of a nationwide search, bequeathed a seven-year contract and a salary in excess of $2 million as a sign of the university’s renewed commitment.

Wrapping up his fourth season, Purnell brings a 40-82 overall record, an 8-61 Big East mark and a 10-game conference losing streak into the meeting with Seton Hall on Tuesday night at Allstate Arena.

If that’s progress, they’ve changed the definition on us.

Worse, an air of dysfunction hangs over the program. Senior co-captain Brandon Young was benched for a half-game, allegedly for questioning strategy. Junior Jamee Crockett, a starter in 36 of his 73 career games, has missed half the season on suspension. A sky’s-the-limit athlete when he was recruited out of Crete-Monee three years ago, Crockett has failed to develop as a player, just another guy on a roster full of them.

The real bombshell fell two weeks ago. Senior Cleveland Melvin, the team’s leading scorer three years running, a preseason All-Big East selection and media guide cover boy, was suspended from the team and then asked to leave school, his college career abruptly over. These things happen, but not to your most identifiable player if you’re humming along smoothly.

And DePaul is not. It’s hard to think of Melvin as the face of the team when most Chicagoans wouldn’t recognize him if he walked into their living room, but that’s the state of the Blue Demons: They have ceased to matter. And they’re trying to build a new facility?

Fine idea. Allstate Arena is a drab, soulless, inconvenient barn. But the season-high crowd for the game on Saturday against Marquette had the place only about half full, and the 9,342 in attendance were decidedly pro-Marquette.

Bad, irrelevant and old is no way to go through life, but that’s where the Blue Demons find themselves: Three seniors and a junior are listed as probable start--