Stubblefield lands first Chicago transfer
Steve Woltmann/DePaul athletics
DePaul men’s basketball head coach Tony Stubblefield during his introductory press conference
DePaul men’s basketball head coach Tony Stubblefield has wasted no time in trying to fill his roster for the 2021-22 season. After being hired two months ago, Stubblefield has brought in four new transfers to bolster next season’s team.
His latest addition, however, is the first player from Chicago that Stubblefield has been able to recruit to DePaul. Brandon Johnson announced two weeks ago that he will be transferring from Minnesota to DePaul.
“Brandon is another veteran with a lot of experience that will help us immediately next season,” Stubblefield said. “He can play inside and outside and over his entire career he has been a consistent scorer and rebounder at both Western Michigan and Minnesota. We know he’s excited to be coming home to Chicago to play this season and we’re ready for him to join us on the court.”
Johnson is a Chicago native and joins a group of transfers that includes Philmon Gebrewhit, Tyon Grant-Foster and Jalen Terry. In his introductory press conference, Stubblefield said he wanted to recruit from the entire state of Illinois, not just Chicago.
“When I look at a job, the one thing I look at is the talent base in the area, and, obviously, there’s great talent in the city of Chicago, the suburbs, the state of Illinois and I look at DePaul as being a national program we can recruit nationally,” Stubblefield said on April 7. “But, again, I think you got to start at home, you got to try to keep the local talent at home.”
Johnson is a 6-foot-8 forward who is able to play inside the paint and is a strong rebounder. Last season for Minnesota, he averaged 8.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Prior to playing for the Gophers, Johnson spent three seasons playing for Western Michigan. In his last season before transferring, he averaged 15.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
The addition of Johnson gives DePaul another big man that can play inside the paint. The Blue Demons have only one traditional center coming back next season — Nick Ongenda.
“My first goal is to be a leader and to try and take them where they haven’t been recently,” Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Each day I treat [it] like it’s work, a day on the job. I will work hard, leave 100 percent on the floor. I want to show others how hard we need to work, to set an example.”
Johnson’s best performance last year came against Iowa. He scored 26 points, grabbed nine rebounds and drilled eight 3-pointers in the win over the Hawkeyes.
The Blue Demons will have an almost entirely new starting lineup next season. Besides Javon Freeman-Liberty, who announced last month that he will be returning to DePaul, the other four starters from last season’s team have either transferred or entered the transfer portal.
Charlie Moore has transferred to Miami University; Romeo Weems has entered the NBA Draft; Darious Hall has transferred to the University of Central Arkansas and Pauly Paulicap is going to Rutgers.
One of the main reasons that DePaul hired Stubblefield to replace Dave Leitao, who was fired on March 15, was his ability to recruit. In his previous role as an assistant coach at Oregon, Stubblefield helped recruit multiple five-star players, some of whom went on to play in the NBA.
“I see why he’s a great recruiter; I see why people really like him and he has such great relationships in college basketball,” DePaul athletic director DeWayne Peevy said on April 7. “Quite possibly the most compelling factor that led me to Tony is that he’s an elite recruiter, with extensive relationships throughout college basketball. He has an impressive knowledge of recruiting in the Chicago area, an area that will be pivotal in our success.”
Terry is one of the recruits that Stubblefield initially brought to Oregon. After taking the DePaul job, Terry followed Stubblefield to Chicago.
Gebrewhit was one of the first names to announce his commitment to Stubblefield’s squad in April. He is coming over from South Plains Community College where he averaged 11.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game last season.
“I chose DePaul because of the opportunity,” Gebrewhit told The DePaulia. “Coach Stubblefield is a proven winner and developer. I’m excited to get on campus and get Wintrust Arena rocking again, we are going to make some noise.”
Gebrewhit told The DePaulia that Stubblefield made a hard push to get the sophomore to come to Chicago throughout their conversations.
“My relationship with coach [Stubblefield] is great,” Gebrewhit said. “He is very genuine and real. He was consistent with my recruitment and made sure to make me a priority and made it clear to me. Coach did all the recruiting himself, that’s why I also felt so comfortable because it’s the head coach saying these things.”
Grant-Foster was the first player that Stubblefield was able to recruit to DePaul. He is coming over from Kansas after spending one season with the Jayhawks. Prior to his time at Kansas, the 6-foot-7 forward spent a couple of seasons at Indian Hills Community College.
“I think he’s a guy that can be an immediate impact player for DePaul,” Indian Hills men’s basketball head coach Hank Plona said. “He’s a 6-foot-7, extremely long, extremely quick both sides position kind of a new age basketball player that can play maybe a little bit of one, two, three, four. He’s a guy that can play and guard just about any position.”
In Grant-Foster’s limited time at Kansas, he did showcase his athleticism and ability to get to the basket. His best game came against Omaha on Dec. 11, scoring 13 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Grant-Foster also had eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks against North Dakota State six days earlier.
“He certainly has a knack for the ball and aggressiveness to be able to score the ball at all three levels: at the rim, mid-range and from three,” Plona said. “He certainly is a guy that’s worked on his game and worked on his body, and he’s become a very, very high-level player. I still think his best basketball is in front of him.”
Grant-Foster and Johnson will need to receive a waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible to play next season. The NCAA did recently pass a one-time transfer rule that will allow first time transfers to get eligibility right away, but this new rule does not apply to players who are looking for a new school for the second or third time.
Former MBB Fan • Jun 19, 2021 at 10:43 am
You hit the nail right on the head!!! Jeanne Ponsetto destroyed the program and made it a National laughing stock. The incompetent President had the opportunity to hire a qualified AD but instead hired a glorified gopher. Peevy had the chance of landing Jon Scheyer who now will be the next head coach at Duke next year…way to go!!!! Now that Esteban is being forced out the door hopefully the new President will force Peevy out the door and bring DePaul basket back to the program Ray Meyer built!
DePaul Basketball - Last Place Again! • Jun 15, 2021 at 6:00 am
Mr. Lopez,
Expressing yourself with an indignant response is unbecoming of DePaul. You are simply showing you are not a graduate of this once esteemed establishment.
What I expressed was a fact-based response, not emotional.
The truth is:
Mr. Stubblefield has never been a permanent head coach;
Mr. Stubblefield is 51 years old, looks 71, and had ample opportunities at several universities to prove his merit to be a head coach. He failed;
DePaul lost almost all of its nationally-rated players over the last three years. The remaining ditched DePaul once Stubblefield was hired;
DePaul promoted Peevy as a well-connected executive at Kentucky. We now know he has no connections and was essentially a secretary at Kentucky. Even Peevy’s buddy, Kenny Payne, turned down DePaul’s head coaching position. Peevy failed at securing a reputable head coach. Peevy hired an old man without a single win as a permanent head coach. That’s unacceptable!
It’s true Stubblefield is signing players who are hopping around from one university to another like gipsies. DePaul is supposed to be a respectable university, not a CTA turnstile;
It is true that ALL Big East universities know Peevy is a joke. Have you ever had a conversation with him or listened to him talk? He’s not a sophisticated man and that’s what DePaul needed. (Mind you, we didn’t and don’t need an incompetent phony like Jean Lenti-Ponsetto either.) Peevy was an impulse buy and failed in his only decision that mattered: hiring a reputable men’s basketball head coach.
Mr. Lopez, next time you wish to call someone a “troll,” make sure you have your facts in order and eliminate the trailer park banter. Sinking to cowardly, uneducated attacks is not dignified at DePaul – or at least used to be. Stick with fact-based debating. DePaul is the plecostomus of men’s basketball. Truly bottom feeders.
Alexander Perez • Jun 13, 2021 at 2:03 am
This guy who commented is the biggest idiot and pretend fan.
First the transfers who left were all trash and only left because they knew we needed to clean house..not just with leitao. All the inefficient players left and already better without them.
Second they left before stubs was hired because of loyalty to leitao guy who brought them in and uncertainty with coaching and their minutes. Not because of lack of faith in stubs.
Third yes depaul has been down for years but this new coach and new AD and new set of players is exactly what we needed.
So stfu you troll.
DePaul Basketball - Last Place, Big East Guaranteed! 2021-2025 • Jun 9, 2021 at 10:37 pm
These new players have been bouncing around more than Richard Simmons did in the ‘80s. We all know that every player from last year’s team transferred. (That tells us everything we need to know about the former players’ lack of confidence in Stubblefield.)
Just as important, I feel so bad for today’s students because DePaul Basketball will continue to be superglued to the basement of the Big East for years to come. They deserve to be proud of its flagship sport. We all understand that a competitive team is never assembled with two and three-time castaways.
To show you how far DePaul has fallen, when the cameras are turned off and the media has left, Jay Wright and Patrick Ewing laugh at DePaul; I’ve heard them. They don’t have an ounce of respect for DePaul’s Athletic leadership. They haven’t for decades. Talk to former players from the heyday of the ‘80s. They will give PC answers but privately, most come to the same conclusion as Mark Aguirre did about the state of DePaul Basketball: UNCONSCIONABLE!
And we naively thought we hit rock bottom with, arguably, the worst athletic director in NCAA history, Jean Lenti-Ponsetto. Somehow, Peevy is doing worse! Again, almost the whole basketball team quit and transferred elsewhere! Kids wouldn’t have transferred if they respected Peevy.
Now, I respect that Stubblefield is a solid recruiter, but he is 51 and has NEVER been a head coach before. (I’m giving him a break for serving as New Mexico State’s interim-head coach while Lou Henson was hospitalized.) But New Mexico State saw enough of Stubblefield to know he’s not head coaching material. You don’t believe me? Just ask Cincinnati and Oregon. They took a pass as well. So did Texas-Arlington and Texas-San Antonio more than 20 years ago. (I never ever heard of those two schools.)
Be ready for another season of an empty Wintrust Arena and an abysmal Big East record.