We write this letter with both pride and passion—pride in the accomplishments and quality of the athletics program as a whole and passion in response to what we believe is a disproportionate amount of accusations, negativity and reliance on questionable sources that have appeared in The DePaulia in recent weeks. While the Men’s Basketball program is the most visible of the fifteen intercollegiate programs, the entirety of the athletic program should be considered when assessing the Athletic Department and the Athletic Director, Jean Lenti Ponsetto. As Chair of the University Athletic Board and Faculty Athletic Representative to the NCAA for DePaul University, we respectfully write this letter as a voice for those who support Jean Lenti Ponsetto. We base our position on an understanding of the complexity of Division I Men’s Basketball, the specific issues surrounding DePaul University Athletics, and the role of the Athletic Director and her accomplishments.

As Athletic Director, Jean Lenti Ponsetto has elevated the level of visibility and competition for the entire Athletic Department, including the Men’s Basketball program. Her individual accomplishments include:

• During Jean Lenti Ponsetto’s tenure, fourteen of the fifteen programs have represented the school in NCAA championships, including four men’s basketball appearances (one NCAA and three NIT); sixteen consecutive NCAA appearances by the Women’s Basketball team; two trips to the Women’s Collegiate World Series in Softball; and trips to the NCAA Tournament by the Men’s and Women’s Soccer Programs after winning Big East Conference regular season titles. The Women’s Basketball and Softball Programs are perennial national contenders.
• In the 2016–-2017 academic year, the Blue Demons lead the Big East Conference with six team championships.  DePaul had never before captured six conference championships in a single season, and led the league in titles per sports played.
• Academically, DePaul has led the Big East Conference in team academic awards for seven consecutive years.
• A DePaul record total of 170 student-athletes were named to the Big East All-Academic Team for 2016–17, with a cumulative GPA of 3.45.
• The goals for our Men’s Basketball program are to win games in non-conference competition as well as in the Big East Conference and earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Our Men’s Basketball program has improved in its third season under Coach Dave Leitao. Obviously, we all want more wins than losses. In this past season, the team had nine games that either went into overtime or were decided by five points or less with a 1-8 record in those games. Additionally, twelve games were decided by single-digit differences, with a 2-10 record in those games. With games this close, a change or two in possession leads would have easily resulted in a more desirable overall win-loss record for the season.
• Fundraising for athletics is at an all-time high, including an increase from 12 endowed scholarships in 2007 to the current mark of 43. Additionally, fundraising has supported new facilities for softball (Cacciatore Stadium), men’s and women’s soccer (Wish Field at Cacciatore Stadium), men’s golf (Ruffled Feathers Golf Club), men’s and women’s tennis (Lakeshore Athletic Club), men’s and women’s outdoor track and field (Lane Tech Stadium), and men’s and women’s basketball (Wintrust Arena). Cacciatore Stadium also serves the university and local communities for intramural athletics and education courses.
• Jean Lenti Ponsetto currently serves on the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Board of Directors as Third Vice-President and is scheduled to be the NACDA’s President in 2021.
• She has served the NCAA as a member of the Division I Men’s Basketball Academic Enhancement Group and Basketball Officiating Committee. Her knowledge in both men’s and women’s basketball circles is well respected.
• She was selected to represent the Big East Conference in the NCAA’s new governance structure, the NCAA Council that manages the day-to-day issues facing the Division 1 membership. Currently, she is serving as Vice Chair of the Council following a two-year term as chair of the Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee.
• Among numerous honors, Jean Lenti Ponsetto was awarded the 2015–16 Under Armour AD of the Year Award by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).  She was awarded the same honor in 2008–09.

These achievements and accomplishments are the result of the efforts of many—our student-athletes, coaches, athletics staff, athletic academic advisors, University administration and, of course, our faculty and University staff.  We acknowledge that many of these achievements are a team effort. However, the climate and tone have been established first and foremost by our Athletic Director, whose leadership is well documented.

We would be remiss if our letter didn’t include our analysis and concomitant response to the article “Athletic Director’s relative played key role in Wintrust agreements,” The DePaulia, March 12, 2018. The account attempts to create an aura of wrongdoing on the part of Jean Lenti Ponsetto and her sister-in-law. Specifically, it suggests that their relationship somehow influenced the decision to award the naming rights to the new arena to the Wintrust Bank. It is an erroneous premise to surmise that two major institutions with some of the nation’s most distinguished business leaders on their respective Boards of Directors would not employ the best business practices of their industry in negotiating both the naming rights and banking partnership deals. The article relies upon questionable sources for what is clearly not first-hand information.

That said, students, faculty, staff alumni and friends of DePaul should know the facts:

• The University’s plan to cover the annual operating cost of the arena through fundraising, ticket sales and naming rights has been achieved and the project is performing in line with projections- thanks to the hard work of the athletics staff and coaches under the leadership of Jean Lenti Ponsetto.
• The University hired a sports marketing firm that specializes in naming rights to determine the fair-market value of the new arena’s naming rights and to prospect potential partners. DePaul received fair-market value and did not provide any discount for the naming rights for Wintrust Arena.
• Jeff Bethke, EVP/CFO, was the University’s chief negotiator and served at the direction of DePaul’s President and Board of Trustees to negotiate both the naming rights and the banking partnership.
• Jean Lenti Ponsetto was called upon by Jeff Bethke to share her expertise relative to the marketing inventory of the deal.     
• While Jean Lenti Ponsetto was not required to complete a conflict of interest form, as she was neither the decision maker nor the negotiator, she did so to document her sister-in-law’s relationship with Wintrust and be and provide complete transparency.
• The news article’s authors offer an anonymous source in an attempt to establish how “involved” Jean Lenti Ponsetto and Mrs. Lenti were in many aspects of the naming rights negotiation. We would like to offer at this point that we believe that it is very likely that the insights of both women were indeed considered as valuable on both sides of the negotiation given their expertise in their respective areas, but those insights do not constitute a conflict of interest. Neither of them were the decision maker or the negotiator for their respective institutions. Again, DePaul and Wintrust Bank are major institutions both of whom execute best business practices at the CEO and CFO levels of their enterprises. This was a major deal that was executed at those levels.
• In summary, the facts are that Jean Lenti Ponsetto’s stellar leadership has led to Athletic Department accomplishments that surpass all of her DePaul predecessors combined in overall athletic success, academic success, fundraising, facilities constructed, athletic scholarships endowed, television exposure and revenues generated and her own accomplishments in national leadership positions held, honors earned for her contributions and service on a national level and in leadership in the formation of the Big East Conference, one of the best NCAA Division 1 conferences in the country are superlative in intercollegiate athletics and have benefitted the DePaul athletics program in honor and prestige.

For these reasons, we feel compelled to provide a more balanced picture of the successes of both our athletics program and the role our Athletics Director has played in achieving success.