DePaul revealed that the university is negotiating a contract extension with men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao.
“DePaul University and men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao are in negotiations over a multi-year extension for Leitao to continue to lead the men’s basketball program,” a statement on the athletic department’s website said. “The agreement would extend the current contract through the end of the 2023-24 season.”
The announcement comes after the NCAA placed the men’s basketball program on three years’ probation in July for recruiting violations. Leitao will be suspended for the first three games of the 2019-20 season.
Leitao and DePaul failed to promote “an atmosphere of compliance,” according to the NCAA’s decision.
An ex-associate head coach in spring 2016 arranged for the assistant director of basketball operations to live with a recruit, who had graduated high school, for 12 days to ensure he completed the necessary coursework to make him NCAA-eligible, according to the report.
The prospective player eventually met requirements and enrolled at DePaul.
The NCAA Committee of Infractions called this arrangement an “impermissible recruiting benefit,” which meant the player, who announced his transfer to another institution in November 2017, competed while ineligible during the 2016-17 season. As a result, the NCAA vacated DePaul’s record (9-23) for that season.
Three men’s basketball staff members were aware of this arrangement but didn’t report the violation, according to the NCAA. The director of basketball operations told the NCAA he knew the contact was a recruiting violation, but he didn’t report it in fear of being “disloyal, cause tension, get in the way of the associate head coach or otherwise hurt his career.” He also did not know how to report violations, according to the release.
In a statement, DePaul said the committee’s decision was “disappointing.” The university also said it “respectfully disagrees” with the findings against Leitao.
