The son of a legend and for much of his tenure the caretaker of his father's legacy. Joey Meyer inherited a program that had made seven NCAAs in nine years including a Final Four, an Elite Eight and two Sweet Sixteens.
Meyer was the coach during the program's last extended strong run as he followed his father's tenure with seven NCAA appearances in his first eight years as coach. Overall he was 231-158 in 13 seasons.
His last five seasons, which mostly coincided with DePaul's move from an Independent to the Great Midwest Conference -- the precursor to Conference USA -- foreshadowed the program's decline. The Blue Demons were 63-79 in that span including 11-18 and 3-23 marks in his last two seasons.
Many here don't remember a time when DePaul was a top Men's Basketball program.
Starting with 1997-98, DePaul has made just two NCAAs, in 2000 under Pat Kennedy and 2004 with Dave Leitao.
In the 26 years since Meyer's departure (not including 2023-24) DePaul is 330-371 (.471) overall and 66-256 (.205) in Big East play.
Kind of hard to believe he was only 48 when he left DePaul as he largely faded from the limelight. Meyer spent about a dozen years coaching in the NBA D-League.
May he rest in peace.
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