Iota Man named Head Basketball Coach at DePaul University

[IotaNet]

DePaul of Chicago has chosen Connecticut associate coach Dave Leitao to resurrect its basketball program.

Leitao pledged Iota Phi Theta in the Fall of 1980 at Northeastern University (Omicron Chapter) in Boston, MA. He is currently active with the Fraternity's Delta Omega Graduate Chapter in Boston.

"He's a terrific recruiter and a terrific coach," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, who brought Leitao with him from Northeastern in 1986 to rebuild the lowly UConn program.

Leitao played at Northeastern under Calhoun and, in his final two seasons there in 1981 and '82, captained the team and led it to the NCAA tournament. Four years later he rejoined his old coach as an assistant. Then he followed him to Connecticut, where in their first season the Huskies went 9-19.

"I hired him," remembers Calhoun, "because he was the prototype of what I think kids should be for a program.

"He graduated with a [high grade-point average]. He was an exceptional person, a terrific person of great character. He was a special guy I wanted to bring back. I guess you could say, the kids coming into the program, I wanted them to be like Dave.

In 1994, at the urging of Calhoun and others, Leitao returned to Northeastern as head coach. In his first season there went 18-11 and was named the North Atlantic Conference coach of the year.

Leitao returned to Connecticut in May 1996 and as he helped the Huskies to regular NCAA tourney appearances and the national championship in 1999. This spring he interviewed with West Virginia, which still is looking for a coach, and investigated the vacancy at Alabama-Birmingham, which was filled with Arkansas assistant Mike Anderson.

But in the end he landed at DePaul, which chose him after a six-week search and desperately needs the hard edge Leitao brings with him. Calhoun feels that Leitao can return the DePaul program to its past dominance. Said Calhoun, "David and the university can return it. They have to do it together. He has a blueprint."