DePaul interviews DeWayne Peevy for athletic director job
Photo courtesy of A Sea of Blue
Kentucky deputy director of athletics DeWayne Peevy.
Kentucky deputy director of athletics DeWayne Peevy has interviewed for DePaul’s athletic director opening, a source confirmed to The DePaulia on Friday.
Kyle Tucker of The Athletic was the first person to report on Wednesday that Peevy has spoken to DePaul about the job.
DePaul is currently in the process of finding a new athletic director after Jean Lenti Ponsetto announced on June 5 that she is retiring this summer. Peevy was a finalist for the same role in 2015 at UCF.
As the deputy director of athletics, Peevy helps Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart with strategic planning, key fundraising and public initiatives as a member of the executive staff.
Peevy, who has now been at Kentucky for 12 years, also works closely with the men’s basketball program and head coach John Calipari.
In July, Peevy was named as one of the “behind-the-scenes power players” in the SEC.
Peevy also has experience working in the Southeastern Conference for eight years, serving as the day-to-day publicity of SEC men’s basketball. A graduate of the University of Montevallo, Peevy was on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four Media Coordination Committee through the 2013 NCAA Championship.
The Wildcats have had one of the most successful men’s basketball teams in the country under Calipari, winning the SEC regular season title six times and making the NCAA Tournament nine times. Calipari also guided Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament title in 2012
DePaul, on the other hand, has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2004, the Blue Demons’ only appearance in Lenti Ponsetto’s 18-year tenure as the athletic director. Lenti Ponsetto has hired three different men’s basketball coaches, Jerry Wainwright, Oliver Purnell and Dave Leitao, but none of them have been able to revive the program.
Northwestern’s Mike Polisky and Loyola’s Steve Watson are also two candidates that DePaul is looking to interview, according to a source. Watson told The DePaulia that he is not a candidate for the job at DePaul.
“I am not a candidate for the athletics director position at DePaul University,” Watson told The DePaulia. “I have a great situation at Loyola and am fully committed to preparing for the upcoming 2020-21 academic year.”
Polisky serves as Northwestern’s deputy director of athletics, joining the athletic department back in 2010. He is responsible for the athletic department’s ticket sales and service, marketing, corporate sponsorship, media & public relations, creative services, community relations, fan experience and merchandising teams.
Watson, however, is the current athletic director at Loyola University. After Watson was hired in 2014, the Ramblers have seen multiple programs make the NCAA Tournament — including the men’s basketball team making a run to the NCAA Final Four in 2018.
In June, DePaul announced that they hope to hire a new athletic director by the start of September, while conducting a national search. DePaul also created a search committee and hired DHR International — Glenn Sugiyama, managing partner and global sports practice leader — to help find candidates for the job.
The search committee will be led by DePaul’s chief of staff Steve Stoute, and consists of six other members from the university.
The other members include Dan Allen, vice president of advancement; Ron Caltabiano, dean of the School of Music; Avarie Evans-Allen, student-athlete; Ani Frank, associate professor in the College of Education and chair of the University Athletic Board; Kate O’Brien, associate athletic director for Academic Advising; and Liz Ortiz, vice president for the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.
Lenti Ponsetto also announced that she is currently in treatment for breast cancer as one of the reasons why she is retiring.
“The changing times over these past few months has led me to this decision,” Lenti Ponsetto said on June 5. “Having successfully battled two breast cancer diagnoses and currently in treatment for a third, I thought it was time to step away from the long days, working every weekend and the 24/7 demands that being an athletic director requires.”
Update (August 8, 2020): This story has been updated with a statement from Loyola athletic director Steve Watson.
Len Foos • Aug 13, 2020 at 2:14 pm
And I agree with Stephen so, transitively, I also agree with Joseph. One wonders form where Esteban came. He seems so far in over his head and, rather than govern the University, he seems to willingly placate the worst elements therein. A likely marginally competent professor fails to get tenure. Lawsuits ensue. Defund the Chicago Police Department, our only real hope of stopping the human sewage from completely destroying all that is great about Chicago, and basically let the inmates govern the prison. I’m uncertain whether DePaul simply does not want to pay the going wage for quality or its governing board believes that these no-named individuals are the best and the brightest. The thing, however, speaks for itself. Separately, how many new chancellors, deans of nothing in particular and other senior management drones can an already overpriced university, now engaged in e-learning, hire? I read recently that two new hires were “women of color” as if the accompanying photograph failed to demonstrate that. Great, but what value do these people bring to the table, and at what cost? Reading their titles offers no clues (Dean of Empirical Enrollment Analytical Trends) and reminds me of one of my favorite Mike Royko columns every written. In it, the late, great Royko stipulated that “if you cannot describe your job in 15 words or less, it’s probably unnecessary”. We need Royko now more than ever and John Kass too, for that matter. I digress but DePaul has indeed become the laughing stock of higher education. When’s Rick Pitino interviewing for the gig?
Stephen Tellent • Aug 12, 2020 at 9:23 am
Agree with Joseph. Selecting a diverse candidate who is unqualified sets the movement back. That’s how we ended up with Esteban, who then lazily and foolishly selected Dan Allen as the head of fundraising. Incompetent hires incompetent. A cruel man also, Dan is. I’m excited about DeWayne Peevy. DePaul’s track record is terrible with selecting bad candidates, so I fully understand the concern.
Joseph Paganini • Aug 10, 2020 at 7:53 pm
I guess the real question here is whether DePaul will so much as interview a person NOT of color for the job. Anybody remember Oliver Purnell these days? Let’s make sure that the best candidate is selected. I’m not suggesting that will not be Mr. Peevy when all’s said and done, but DePaul’s propensity to cow tow to the squeaky wheel (most of them deflated) portends how this one’s going to go down. As if 46 years of Jean Lenti has taught us all a thing or two…
Grammar Police • Aug 8, 2020 at 10:49 am
“Peevy has been a finalist for the same job before when UCF was looking to hire an AD.”
That reads horribly.
I believe you are trying to say “In 2015, Peevy WAS a finalist for A SIMILAR ROLE (OR the same title) at UCF.”