DePaul finally beat Marquette for the first time since 2022, but it came at a turbulent time for the team. The win was secured just a day after three former DePaul basketball players were indicted and now face charges for sports gambling and wire fraud charges.
Head coach Chris Holtmann addressed the fallout of the indictments in his post-game press conference.
“When we arrived at DePaul, this was an entirely new group of players and a mostly new staff,” said Holtmann. “None of our current players were involved in that situation, and it all occurred before we got here.”
Some local reports have included Holtmann’s name — some have suggested his involvement in the scheme.
The Chicago Tribune published an editorial where they said: “Whatever program DePaul has been running on the potentially pernicious effects of gambling, clearly it hasn’t been sufficient. Coaches and administrations bear the primary responsibility for keeping this sort of disaster from happening.”
“I think there’s been some irresponsible journalism over the past 24 to 36 hours,” Holtmann said. “It doesn’t take long to research and see that no one in our program was involved. My name was mentioned in a few articles that players sent me, but it is what it is.”
Jalen Terry, Da’Sean Nelson and Mac Etienne all played in overlapping seasons from 2021-24 under head coach Tony Stubblefield, who is now an assistant coach at the University of Oregon.
After Stubblefield was fired, athletic director and vice president of DePaul University DeWayne Peevy announced the athletics department would do a nationwide search for their next head coach with the intention of “playing late into March,” as reported by The DePaulia.
Chris Holtmann was hired as the new DePaul men’s basketball coach on March 14, 2024. Holtmann was fired from his head coach position at Ohio State on Feb. 14, 2024, “just shy” of his seventh season with the Buckeyes, ESPN reported.
Holtmann noted that, since being hired by DePaul, the team has “95% new (coaching) staff.”
Every DePaul men’s basketball player from the 2023-24 season entered the transfer portal or graduated.
For current players, the NCAA provides continuing education on sports betting and its consequences.
An e-learning module was launched in 2023 and more than “50,000 students-athletes have completed the training to date.” Prior to the 2024 March Madness tournament, the NCAA also launched an initiative called “Beyond the Line.”
The initiative’s intent is to “prioritize the student-athlete education on the effects of sports betting, while also addressing problem gambling for all that consume and participate in college sports,” read the NCAA membership tool kit for the campaign.
“Since we’ve been here, the education around sports betting has been phenomenal,” Holtmann said. “It’s been consistent and ongoing, and our players are well-informed on this issue.”
Holtmann nor his team let the news be an interruption as they prepared to host the Golden Eagles.
“We briefly addressed it yesterday (Thursday), but our focus was on preparing to beat Marquette and playing well. It’s only a distraction if you make it one, and it amounted to about a 30-second conversation during a three-hour practice,” Holtmann said.
Related stories:
- Former DePaul basketball players indicted on sports gambling charges
- DePaul defense and team chemistry standing out
- Live Updates: DePaul men’s basketball breaks through with win against Marquette, 80-75
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