DePaul Athletic Director Jean Lenti Ponsetto’s contract will be renewed through 2017, according to a source. The official announcement will be made at Tuesday’s tip-off luncheon.
Ponsetto has been the athletic director since July 2002. She is a member of the DePaul Athletic Hall of Fame and has been a fixture in the Blue Demon athletic community since she attended the school in the mid-1970s, where she played tennis, volleyball, softball and basketball.
The results of Ponsetto’s tenure as athletic director have been mixed at best. Under her watch, Cacciatore Softball Stadium was built in 2010, and renovations have taken place at Wish Field and Cherry Family Indoor Track at the Ray Meyer Center. Ponsetto was instrumental in DePaul joining the Big East conference in 2005, and she has put emphasis on success in the classroom. During Ponsetto’s time, 450 student-athletes have been named conference Academic Honor Rolls, and in 2010, DePaul athletes have posted their highest combined GPA (3.353) in school history.
Yet, the men’s basketball program – DePaul’s calling card – has languished over the past decade. Though DePaul made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2004, the school has not made the year-end tournament since then (DePaul did make the 2007 NIT). The Blue Demons have gone a disappointing 47-109 since the beginning of the 2007-08 season, and have yet to rebound under third-year coach Oliver Purnell, whom Ponsetto signed to a seven-year, $15 million deal in 2010. Under Purnell, DePaul has only received one commitment to an ESPN top-100 recruit, class of 2013’s Billy Garrett, Jr., and recently missed out on top Chicago prep star Jabari Parker.
Ponsetto signed a previous five-year deal in 2007. She was praised by DePaul President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M. for her dedication to DePaul athletics – “Her top priority was to seek the longest contract DePaul offers,” Fr. Holtschneider said to the DePaul website in 2007. “That speaks volumes about her commitment to the institution, and I’m pleased to say we are equally committed to her.”
Ponsetto and Holtschneider were unavailable for comment.
