Big East Basketball: Ranking all 11 head coaches after Pitino/English hires

10. Tony Stubblefield – DePaul

Stubblefield is one of those coaches who waited a long time to get his chance as a head coach. A former player and assistant at Omaha, he spent nearly three decades as a D1 assistant, including a long stint under Lou Henson at New Mexico State (where he was interim head coach for 14 games) and an even longer stint under Dana Altman at Oregon. Those 11 years saw the Ducks accomplishment quite a bit, including a Final Four run, but Stubblefield has finally been running his own program with these Blue Demons.

DePaul brought him aboard in 2021 and it’s been a mixed bag since his arrival. His first season saw a 15-16 finish in the tough conference, though they shed some of that top talent and finished in 10th place this past year. This DePaul program has not been in a good place for at least two decades, but is all hope lost for the Blue Demons and Stubblefield?

He already has that experience in the conference, and his many years in the game keep him from the bottom spot on the list. However, with the state of some of the other programs in this league, especially the other ones near the bottom of the conference, it’s going to be pretty hard for DePaul to get out of the basement in the coming years. If they do, then that’s an even more impressive testament to Stubblefield’s ability as a head coach.