Dave Leitao
Current position | |
---|---|
Title | Head coach |
Team | Cold Hearts |
Conference | Overtime Elite |
Record | 9-4 |
Biographical details | |
Born | New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S. | May 18, 1960
Playing career | |
1978–1982 | Northeastern |
Position(s) | Maine Red Claws |
2012–2014 | Missouri (assistant) |
2014–2015 | Tulsa (assistant) |
2015–2021 | DePaul |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 211–239 (.469) (college) |
Tournaments | 2–2 ( ACC Coach of the Year (2007) |
David Antonio Leitao Jr. (born May 18, 1960) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for City Reapers of
Biography
Playing career
The 6'7" forward was recruited by
Early coaching career
Leitao was recruited by Calhoun to join his staff at Northeastern University in 1984, and followed him to the University of Connecticut as an assistant from 1986 to 1994. He returned to serve as head coach at his alma mater, Northeastern University, from 1994 to 1996. Leitao returned to Calhoun's staff for six seasons, including the Huskies national championship in 1999.
DePaul
He secured the head coaching position at DePaul University on April 16, 2002,[4] six weeks after his predecessor Pat Kennedy had resigned from the position on March 5.[5] The Blue Demons qualified for the postseason in each of Leitao's three years at DePaul, appearing in the NIT in 2003 and 2005 and the NCAA tournament in 2004.[6] His overall record with the Blue Demons after those three seasons was 58–34.[7] Jerry Wainwright succeeded him on April 28, 2005.[8]
Virginia
Leitao replaced Pete Gillen when the University of Virginia bought out the final five years of Leitao's contract with DePaul on April 15, 2005.[7] He became the first person of African descent to coach any varsity sport in Virginia Cavaliers history.[3] Leitao was hired by Virginia's Craig Littlepage, the first African-American athletics director in ACC history. He inherited a team that finished last in the ACC in 2004–05.[7]
His first season at Virginia, with only seven scholarship players, the
Leitao started his
Leitao's
In Leitao's
Maine Red Claws
On July 21, 2011, Leitao was named head coach of the
Return to DePaul
Leitao returned to DePaul on March 29, 2015,[13] replacing Oliver Purnell who had resigned fifteen days prior on March 14 after a 12–20 campaign which ended with an eight-game losing streak and concluded a five-year stretch in which the Blue Demons went 54–105.[14] DePaul, which conducted the process of finding a new head coach with Parker Executive Search,[15] was criticized by fans because of the perception of the university being stuck in the past and not moving into the future.[16] The Blue Demons won only 9 games in both the 2015–16 and 2016-17 seasons, the first two of Leitao's latest tenure at the school. In his third season, the Blue Demons improved slightly, winning 11 games.
The 2018–2019 season, Leitao's fourth, saw a turnaround for DePaul as the Blue Demons finished with a 19-17 overall record. Leitao's squad won their tenth game before mid-January with a non-conference schedule ranked last in the Big East. The season also saw the Blue Demons beat a ranked opponent for the first time in several years, winning 79-71 against No. 24 St. John's, who was playing without its best player, Shamorie Ponds.[17] Following the regular season, the Blue Demons were invited to the 2019 College Basketball Invitational tournament.[18] The team finished as runner-up to the University of South Florida Bulls. In the Best of Three Championship series, DePaul beat South Florida in game 2, but dropped games one and three to the Bulls to give DePaul a second place finish in the tournament.
In the 2019-2020 season, Leitao began the season suspended due to a recruiting violation in connection with a former player. He made his season debut at Iowa following assistant Tim Anderson coaching the Blue Demons to three straight wins. He won nine of his first ten games of the season including an upset at Iowa and an exciting overtime win against Texas Tech at home. After coaching DePaul to 9 of its 12 non-conference wins and only losing a single non-conference game, Leitao coached the team to a 3-15 conference record, enough to land the team in last place of the Big East conference for the fourth consecutive season. Leitao won a Big East Tournament game for the first time ever, beating Xavier 71-67. The remainder of the tournament would be cancelled the next day due to concerns over the coronavirus. While DePaul won 16 games this season, only 13 of those wins are attributable to Dave Leitao's head coaching record, as he was suspended for and did not coach in three of DePaul's wins. Following the season, DePaul extended Leitao's contract through the 2023-24 season.[19]
At the conclusion of the 2020-21 season, DePaul fired Leitao on the heels the program's fifth straight last place conference finish.[20]
Team Elite
On May 6, 2021, Leitao was hired as the head coach of Team Elite of the prep basketball league Overtime Elite (OTE).[21]
Head coaching record
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Northeastern Huskies (North Atlantic Conference) (1994–1996) | |||||||||
1994–95 | Northeastern | 18–11 | 10–6 | 3rd | |||||
1995–96 | Northeastern | 4–24 | 2–16 | 10th | |||||
Northeastern: | 22–35 (.386) | 12–22 (.353) | |||||||
DePaul Blue Demons (Conference USA) (2002–2005) | |||||||||
2002–03 | DePaul | 16–13 | 8–8 | T–6th | NIT First Round | ||||
2003–04 | DePaul | 22–10 | 12–4 | 1st | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
2004–05 | DePaul | 20–11 | 10–6 | T–4th | NIT Second Round | ||||
Virginia Cavaliers (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2005–2009) | |||||||||
2005–06 | Virginia | 15–15 | 7–9 | T–7th | NIT First Round | ||||
2006–07 | Virginia | 21–11 | 11–5 | T–1st | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
2007–08 | Virginia | 17–16 | 5–11 | 10th | CBI Semifinal | ||||
2008–09 | Virginia | 10–18 | 4–12 | 11th | |||||
Virginia: | 63–60 (.512) | 27–37 (.422) | |||||||
DePaul Blue Demons (Big East Conference) (2015–2021) | |||||||||
2015–16 | DePaul | 9–22 | 3–15 | 9th | |||||
2016–17 | DePaul | 9–23 | 2–16 | 10th | |||||
2017–18 | DePaul | 11–20 | 4–14 | T–9th | |||||
2018–19 | DePaul | 19–17 | 7–11 | T-8th | CBI Runner-up | ||||
2019–20 | DePaul | 13–16 | 3–15 | 10th | |||||
2020–21 | DePaul | 5–15 | 2–14 | 11th | |||||
DePaul: | 127–147 (.464) | 51–103 (.331) | |||||||
Total: | 212–242 (.467) | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
|
References
- ^ Goodman, Jeff (March 18, 2009). "Leitao out as Virginia coach after subpar season". Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
- ^ "To Know Leitao is to Appreciate a Special Human Being". DePaul Blue Demons. May 13, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ a b "Leitao named 'Hoos first African-American head coach". virginia.edu. 2005. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
- ^ "DePaul Names Dave Leitao Coach," The Associated Press (AP), Tuesday, April 16, 2002. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- ^ "Kennedy steps down at DePaul," United Press International (UPI), Tuesday, March 5, 2002. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- ^ Katz, Andy. "Dave Leitao, DePaul agree to deal," ESPN.com, Sunday, March 29, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- ^ a b c Schlabach, Mark. "Cavaliers, Leitao Agree To Terms," The Washington Post, Saturday, April 16, 2005. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- ^ "Jerry Wainwright named coach at DePaul," United Press International (UPI), Thursday, April 28, 2005. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- ^ "Virginia coach Leitao resigns after losing season". March 16, 2009.
- ^ "Washington State's Bennett to Virginia," United Press International (UPI), Monday, March 30, 2009. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- ^ Red Claws hire Dave Leitao as head coach, accessed July 22
- ^ Leitao joins Tigers Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 17, 2012
- ^ Phillips, Scott. "Dave Leitao returns as head coach at DePaul," NBC Sports, Sunday, March 29, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ Greenberg, Steve. "Oliver Purnell out as coach at DePaul," Chicago Sun-Times, Saturday, March 14, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ "DePaul Names Dave Leitao Men's Basketball Coach," Parker Executive Search, Sunday, March 29, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ Seligman, Andrew. "Dave Leitao insists he’s right coach to turn around DePaul," The Associated Press (AP), Monday, March 30, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
- ^ With Ponds out, No. 24 St. John's loses 79-71 to DePaul, accessed January 13, 2019
- ^ "It's official. Let the games begin!". College Basketball Invitational. Twitter. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ "DePaul extends coach Dave Leitao's contract through 2023-24". ESPN. Associated Press. April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ Jeff Borzello (March 15, 2021). "DePaul Blue Demons fires Dave Leitao after 5 straight last-place finishes". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
- ^ "Former UConn assistant Dave Leitao joins Kevin Ollie's Overtime Elite staff as associate head coach". The Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2022.