DePaul extends Doug Bruno’s contract through the 2024-2025 season

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DePaul senior guard Rebekah Dahlman with head coach Doug Bruno for a picture after DePaul won its second consecutive Big East Tournament championship. Alexa Sandler | The DePaulia

After another successful season for DePaul’s women’s basketball, the athletic department and head coach Doug Bruno agreed to a six-year extension on Monday, keeping Bruno in Lincoln Park through the 2024-2025 season. 

Bruno, 68, has been the head coach at DePaul for 33 seasons and has accumulated a 694-342 record. 

DePaul has always been a really special place because of people like Ray Meyer, whom I was blessed to play for, and because of people like Jean Lenti Ponsetto, Dr. Patricia Ewers and Gene Sullivan,” Bruno said in a statement on Monday. “I have been blessed to coach at DePaul.

“While we are proud of what we have achieved, there is still so much more to accomplish. I would like to thank DePaul President Dr. Gabriel Esteban and our university administration for demonstrating their belief in our desire to achieve those goals. My tremendous staff and our talented players fire me up every day to take this women’s basketball program to places it has never been before.”

This past season, Bruno and his team finished with a record of 26-8, surpassing the 20-win mark for the 12th season in a row and the 16th time in the last 17 seasons. The Blue Demons also won their fourth Big East Tournament title in the last six seasons over Marquette in March, earning their way to a 17th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. 

While the Blue Demons fell short of winning another Big East regular-season title this past season, finishing second to Marquette, DePaul has won five of the last six regular-season titles. 

During his time at DePaul, Bruno and his team’s have become known for playing an up-tempo offensive style, which puts an emphasis on 3-point shooting. In 2018-2019, DePaul led the nation in 3-point attempts and were No. 3 in the nation in 3-pointers and threes per game. 

With a new six-year extension Athletic Director Jean Lenti-Ponsetto once again put her faith in the long time face of women’s basketball at DePaul. 

We are once again delighted to extend coach Bruno’s contract which keeps him at DePaul through 2024-25,” Ponsetto said. “We share his vision of academic and athletic excellence along with the personal growth and development of all the outstanding student-athletes in our program and the opportunity to maximize their great potential.

“We continue to work with coach Bruno to provide him and his staff the many resources they need to help grow our program to the next level of ascending to the NCAA summit. Our women’s basketball program is already in exclusive company as evidence by being one of only five programs to have competed in the last 17 NCAA tournaments which in and of itself is an amazing accomplishment.”