Chicago Sun-Times: Hard to gauge what Wainwright's about

Word is new DePaul basketball coach Jerry Wainwright is intense. I find that interesting. I have heard intense used as an adjective for a lot of things.

Such as insecure.

Insincere.

Incongruous.

Inappropriate.

Inept.

Here's hoping none of the above apply for the 11th coach in DePaul hoops history and that the only meaning for intense as it relates to Wainwright is hard-working, focused, serious, and devoted.

But I wonder.

I always wonder about the Division I-A mens basketball merry-go- round.

More and more it seems that every coach is in play," as they say at the Vegas roulette tables, and that the only god any of these whistle-tooters worships is the two-headed deity known as Power and Dollars.

Dave Leitao leaves DePaul after three quickies for Virginia, paying obeisance to that double-domed monster, and of course, somebody has to replace him at the little Barbecue on Belden.

The same thing is happening at the University of Richmond, where Wainwright showed up in 2002 to replace the briefly-tenured John Beilein, who left for West Virginia, etc.

Ad nauseum.

Heck, the main reason Mike Krzyzewski is portrayed as a saint- like beacon of truth, justice, and morality is simply because the wildly successful Duke coach has stayed in one place for a few years.

Can you blame me if I don't trust college basketball coaches, in general, for the simple fact that they are slaves to their recruits, their egos, to whimsical high school kids, to those kids' coaches, and advisors, to devious AAU team mentors, to heavily-leveraged, TV- mad athletic directors, to alumni groups who only want to be entertained, to boosters with lots of money who figure that for their cash layouts they basically own these college teams?

Wainwright is 58 years old, and that's a little old to be in play.

He was paid about $400,000 a year at Richmond, where he coached the Spiders to a 50-41 record. And now he'll be making about $685,000 a year at DePaul.

One step closer to god.

And maybe this is athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto's idea of the stable coach, the guy who will rekindle the memories of Ray Meyer, the great grandpa who stayed for a century or two with the Blue Demons.

But I wonder.

What have DePaul fans and power brokers got here in this deal?

This intense guy has been on the slow, slow, upwardly mobile path for a long time, from Berwyn to Highland Park (Highland Park High School) to Franklin Park (East Leyden High School) to North Carolina- Wilmington to Richmond to ... paydirt?

I don't know.

I just don't know.

I always wonder what in the world Pat Kennedy was doing at DePaul, and if somebody has the answer to that -- lo, these several years later -- please drop me a line.

But the money-power grab is always the most obvious in these deals. Even if DePaul is clearly at mid-branch on the cash-muscle tree.

Indeed, the subtext here is that DePaul is tired of going after young, hotshot coaches with stars in their eyes and getting stiffed like the fat girl with the handsome, devious boyfriend. With this hire DePaul has declared that the novice Brad Pitts can pass by.

Come on down, Dennis Franz!

I listened intently as Lenti Ponsetto announced Wainwright at Thursday's press conference as a good coach, a good communicator, a good technician, and possesses a work ethic."

Wainwright, she added, came not only highly regarded," but outstanding."

Hmm. Forget the fractured syntax.

Jerry has demonstrated success at every level," said Lenti Ponsetto. Jerry, welcome home."

New university president the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider added, Nine months ago I was named the 11th president of DePaul University. Today, I understand you've been named DePaul's 11th coach. Let's pray for each other that there will be many years before there's a 12th."

Big laugh. Big applause.

Then Wainwright spoke.

The first thing he said was, What a neat thing to be at a school where you can hug and kiss your athletic director and nobody talks and it'll be on the front page!"

What?

The rest of his rambling, cliche-ridden talk ranged from dull coach-speak to nearly incomprehensible to surreal.

Good god, did he really introduce his young wife, Debby, and say, If you take a good look at her and a good look at me, I dare you to say I can't recruit"?

I guess it was meant as a joke.

But what about the fact he went 14-15 last year at Richmond and earlier this month had to suspend one of his top Spider recruits, starting sophomore point guard and leading assist man Daon Merritt, because the player had been arrested for beating up a woman on campus?

How about his reverent reference to U-Conn coach Jim Calhoun, whose backup freshman point guard, Antonio Kellogg, was expelled from school Wednesday for two recent arrests?

I don't know. It gives me pause.

When Wainwright said, You can't really say all the things that ultimately you'll say," I had no clue what he was talking about.

Does DePaul?

And if it does, good luck.

Listen to Rick Telander on The Rick Telander Show," weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on WSCR-AM (670). Send e-mail to inbox@suntimes.com with name, hometown and daytime phone number (letters run Sunday).