Reports: Kenny Payne is staying with the New York Knicks despite DePaul’s strong interest
New York Knicks assistant coach Kenny Payne is a potential candidate to replace Dave Leitao at DePaul.
DePaul made a serious run at New York Knicks assistant coach Kenny Payne to become the Blue Demons’ next men’s basketball head coach.
DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban, chief of staff Steve Stoute and athletic director DeWayne Peevy all went to Milwaukee on Friday to meet with Payne and work out the logistics of the deal, a source confirmed to The DePaulia on Saturday. Payne and the Knicks were in Milwaukee to face the Bucks on Saturday.
But according to multiple reports, with Ian Begley of SNY first reporting, Payne has decided to stay with the Knicks, forcing DePaul to go in a different direction in its head coaching search.
Payne was DePaul’s first choice in its head coaching search after firing Dave Leitao on March 15. Peevy and Payne used to work together at the University of Kentucky — with Peevy serving as the deputy athletic director for seven years, while Payne was an associate coach with the men’s basketball program from 2014-20.
Last August, both Payne and Peevy left Kentucky to pursue different opportunities. Peevy was hired to become DePaul’s new athletic director after Jean Lenti Ponsetto retired, and Payne became an assistant coach with the Knicks.
Since DePaul fired Leitao, who went 69-112 overall and 21-85 in the Big East in six years with the program, Payne has been DePaul’s No. 1 target. According to Jeff Goodman of Stadium, DePaul cut down its list to three or five candidates on Tuesday.
Other names that have been linked to the job are Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser and Cleveland State’s Dennis Gates. According to Abby Schnable of the Loyola Phoenix, Moser will be returning to coach the Ramblers next season. He has also been linked to Indiana, who recently fired Archie Miller.
“I need to digest this,” Moser told reporters after Loyola’s loss to Oregon State in the Sweet 16 on Saturday. “I’ve had my blinders on.”
The DePaulia has yet to confirm Begely’s report that Payne passed up on the chance to become DePaul’s men’s basketball coach.
Warren Clarke • Mar 31, 2021 at 8:15 am
Marquette University seemingly had little trouble attracting a high caliber coach in Shaka Smart while DePaul continues trying to figure out what it wants to be. The wheels continue falling off the bus at the “little school under the el tracks” more concerned with Chicago Police Department defunding, defending itself against disgruntled and ostensibly marginally competent “scholars”, denied tenure, looking for his/her/its day in court and absolutely every other calamity that runs counter to the oft-professed “Vincentian Values” about which we hear ad nauseum. Actions speak louder than words.
mike maloney • Mar 29, 2021 at 1:50 pm
The e-mail above mine is 100 per cent correct. I can only hope by some miracle De Paul can gat a good young coach and catch lightning in a bottle and he can turn this mess around.
Only A Fool Would Take This Job! • Mar 29, 2021 at 10:47 am
Simply put, DePaul is NOT an attractive job for high-caliber head coaching prospects. When candidates examine DePaul University as a whole, its incompetent senior leadership objectively, and the athletic department more specifically and honestly, one can only logically conclude DePaul is a toxic university that is certain career suicide for any head coach. You have a 30-year canvas of never-ending, avoidable, failures to prove this is a fast pass.
And if that’s not enough, the same administrators who are responsible for hiring the new head coach, and approving the contract, are the same corrupt demons who horribly botched several scandals within the AD, including the ongoing Eugene Lenti physical and verbal abuse case. Why would a head coach want to work for such “leaders”?
In closing, “President” Esteban clearly lacks Vincentian Values. For the record, Vincentian Values are those people who maintain high ethical standards, find inspiration in spirituality, and are driven by values of honesty and integrity. Vincentian leaders lead with innovation. They offer new perspectives and ideas and welcome changes from others. Does this sound like Esteban or DePaul to you? Of course not! Would there be an ongoing, public legal case if DePaul’s leaders possessed Vincentian Values? Of course not! DePaul is a badly broken university that has lost its way. Only an ill-informed sucker would accept this career – suicide job. Payne and Moser are not suckers!