DePaul fires head coach Tony Stubblefield after 3-15 start

DePaul fired men's basketball coach Tony Stubblefield amid his third losing season on Monday as the Blue Demons have won only three of 18 games and gone 0-7 in the Big East Conference.

"After evaluating the current state of our men's basketball program, a decision was made to make a change in the head coaching position," DePaul vice president and director of athletics DeWayne Peevy said in a statement. "We want to thank Coach Stubblefield for his hard work and determination over the last two-plus seasons to move our basketball program forward through a new era for DePaul Athletics. Unfortunately, we did not meet our goals."

Stubblefield, 53, was 28-54 in two-plus seasons in Chicago. His first DePaul squad went 15-16 in 2021-22, followed by 10-23 last season.

This season, the Blue Demons have been outscored by an average of 83.7 to 58.6 in the seven conference losses, including a 100-60 home loss to Providence on Jan. 17 and a 74-60 defeat at Butler on Saturday.

Matt Brady, who joined the staff as special assistant to the head coach in June 2023, has been named interim head coach. Brady, 58, has more than 35 years of coaching experience, including a total of 12 as a head coach at James Madison (2008-16) and Marist (2004-05). He had a record of 212-177 (54.5 percent).

The university said a national search for the next head coach begins immediately.

Stubblefield was interim head coach for 14 games at New Mexico State in 2004-05, going 2-12 after filling in for Lou Henson, who retired due to health issues.

Stubblefield was an assistant at Cincinnati (2006-10) and Oregon (2010-21) before he was hired on April 1, 2021, to replace Dave Leitao at DePaul. His first squad went 15-16 in 2021-22, followed by 10-23 last season.

—Field Level Media