DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno, who has paced the DePaul sidelines for the past 33 seasons, might be forced out of action after undergoing successful back surgery on Tuesday.

“I should know (more) as the days move along,” Bruno said to the Daily Herald.

According to details included by the Daily Herald, he began noticing something was wrong when his left leg appeared weak during DePaul’s game against Notre Dame on Nov. 17. Over the next few days simple tasks such as  moving around the house and getting in and out of the shower became more challenging.

Bruno received an MRI and doctors determined he was suffering from a back issue that caused compression and he was in need of spinal fusion immediately.

Bruno worked with the doctors to push back the surgery until after DePaul’s last game against Oklahoma on Sunday following a busy few weeks. During this time the Blue Demons play just three games over a 20-day span. DePaul is back in action on Monday against Tennessee State, however it has not been determined if Bruno will be able to coach in that game.

If Bruno is forced to miss his first game in recent memory, associate head coach Jill Pizzotti will take over in the interim.

The DePaulia will update this story as we receive more information.