Sometime in the next three weeks, Ray Meyer will meet with Jack M. Greenberg, the chairman of DePaul’s board of trustees. That’s when Meyer, the Hall of Fame basketball coach whose fundraising successes are as legendary as his record, will be asked to remain part of the Blue Demons “family”–a joke if there’s ever been one.
If he’s smart, Greenberg will appeal to Meyer’s loyalty, all 55 years of it. He might even appeal to Meyer’s considerable sense of duty and service, gently suggesting that without him, important capital improvements at the school could remain undone. And maybe Greenberg will mention that at 83, Meyer might be happier keeping an office at Alumni Hall rather than becoming a full-fledged retiree.
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Meyer loves DePaul, loves it almost as much as he did his beloved wife Marge. But the simple truth is that DePaul needs Meyer more than Meyer needs DePaul.
It didn’t have to be this way. In fact, it probably wouldn’t have been this way had the Rev. John P. Minogue, DePaul’s president; Jim Doyle, vice president of student affairs; and Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw better handled the departure of coach Joey Meyer. Instead, they botched it from start to finish.
Such callousness meant Joey Meyer wasn’t dismissed until a full two months after regular season’s end, a messy decision that still requires industrial-strength Pampers. Left numb by the amazing events was Ray Meyer, who says he will have an official announcement regarding his future plans Sept. 1.
Meyer knew his son’s coaching status was shaky. Two consecutive losing seasons, including a school-worst 3-23 record, was reason for concern. But never did he figure that Minogue, Doyle and Bradshaw would endorse a change after Joey Meyer had signed his recruiting class, after almost every other available coaching vacancy had been filled.
But that’s what they did, which is why DePaul now is sweating out the Sept. 1 decision.
Remember the $35 million recreation/athletics center DePaul wanted to build, the one that was tentatively scheduled to break ground in June 1998? According to sources familiar with the fundraising campaign, the project is dead until further notice. DePaul’s trustees recently told Minogue in no uncertain terms that they wouldn’t approve the plan unless there was enough money to fund the entire facility. And right now DePaul isn’t even close.
Of course, you won’t find this little bit of discouraging news in any DePaul press releases. That’s because the school is hypersensitive about its fundraising difficulties.
However, what you will find in a recent newsletter sent to DePaul staff and faculty is an item in which Doyle maintains there was “no known effect on donations in the wake of the Meyer resignation.”
Hmmmm. Doyle says Meyer’s “resignation” (we’ll get to that later) didn’t affect donations. Yet high-level sources said “the money part of (the recreation center) just never got done,” and the school “desperately wanted Ray to stay on to raise money for it.”
In this same newsletter, Doyle said DePaul’s men’s basketball budget is in the top one-third of Conference USA members. That’s interesting, since a 1995-96 DePaul budget submitted to the conference–and obtained by the Tribune–shows the Blue Demons ranked seventh out of 12 programs in total expenditures (staff salary/benefits, operating expenses and financial aid). And according to sources with direct knowledge of the 1996-97 basketball budget, the numbers essentially stayed the same. As for 1997-98, Doyle has said operating expenses for all sports will not increase.
As for the specifics of Joey Meyer’s departure, remember this: Doyle and Bradshaw have repeatedly said that Meyer resigned. But in a July 8 letter sent to a DePaul money donor, Doyle wrote that the decision “to let Joey Meyer go . . . was one we wrestled over and prayed over, and one in which many thoughtful voices participated in making.”
You decide. Does that sound like Meyer resigned, or was told to leave?
As the months pass, more details of Joey Meyer’s difficulties with the DePaul administration, specifically with Bradshaw, bubble to the surface. Subtle things, but significant, nonetheless.
There was the time Meyer was told there wasn’t enough money for more stationery, so Meyer had to make copies of his remaining DePaul letterhead and then buy his own stamps. And this is a top-third program?
Or how about the time a recruit asked Bradshaw about Meyer’s employment future and was told NCAA rules prevented him from discussing the coach’s status?
“Bill did everything in his power for Joey not to succeed,” said a source with intimate knowledge of the situation.
And now DePaul wants Ray Meyer to return to the family. Forget the past, look to the future. OK, here’s the new view:
Since Pat Kennedy became the new coach, the school has sent about 12,000 color brochures, along with a form letter from Bradshaw, to past and present season ticket-holders and members of DePaul’s Athletic Foundation. Good for Kennedy, but nobody did the same when Joey Meyer was there.
Kennedy wants a media guide similar to gaudy ones he had at Florida State. Cost: at least $50,000 more than DePaul spent on the 1996-97 Meyer models.
Eligibility standards have been relaxed for all sports. Salaries have been increased for assistant coaches. There is even talk of relocating and remodeling the basketball offices, of hiring an administrative assistant, of possibly allowing spring league basketball games (a perfect way to see local high school talent) at Alumni Hall. Again, good for Kennedy, but Joey Meyer couldn’t get money to buy a stereo for the locker room, or shooting shirts for his players.
Poor Mr. Greenberg. I wouldn’t want to be him come meeting day with Coach Ray. How can you ever ask the man to come back?
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And if you’re Ray Meyer, how can you ever say yes?