Meyer, Public Coaches Slate Meeting of Minds

Westinghouse basketball coach Roy Condotti is calling forDePaul's Joey Meyer to put on the gloves and come out fighting.

Condotti, Marshall's Luther Bedford and a delegation of morethan a dozen Public League and community coaches organized byKennedy-King coach Willie Little will meet Tuesday with Meyer to"give him a chance to meet the coaches, to re-establish hisconnections with the public schools and dispel rumors there is awidespread anti-DePaul sentiment in the city's basketballcommunity."

They want to know: What is Meyer's coaching philosophy? Is he committed to recruiting Public League players? Why aren't there any Public League players on the roster? Who speaks for the program, Meyer or athletic director BillBradshaw? Is the university committed to building a Top 20 program? What does the school do to help athletes? Does Meyer plan to hire a full-time African-American assistant?

There are perceptions and misconceptions about DePaul'sbasketball program that have no basis in fact. And there are genuineproblems and concerns that DePaul has failed to address.

"A lot of things that have been printed are false," Meyer said."This will give me an opportunity to discuss the situation and showwhat DePaul is doing, not what the media says we are doing."

"It won't be a love fest," said Little, who coached Manley tothe 1980 state championship. "Some city coaches have legitimateconcerns about DePaul. The perception is DePaul isn't active inrecruiting in the city and some coaches are convinced that isreality."

Condotti and Bedford, president of the Public League BasketballCoaches Association, agree DePaul isn't doing enough recruiting inthe city.

Condotti was Frank Lollino's assistant at Westinghouse whenDePaul recruited Mark Aguirre, Bernard Randolph and Skip Dillard inthe late 1970s. DePaul also got Terry Cummings (Carver) and CurtisWatkins (Du Sable). From 1979 through 1983, DePaul ranked in the top10 for five successive years.

But the only Public Leaguers on DePaul's roster in recent yearswere Melvon Foster (Harper) and Joe Daughrity (Crane). There werenone on last season's roster. Coincidentally, DePaul hasn't been a top 10 team since 1987.

"If he (Meyer) doesn't want to recruit here, I won't send kidsthere," Bedford said. "They put themselves on the map with citykids. After they left, DePaul abandoned the idea of gettingtop-flight kids from the city. That's one of the reasons the programhas gone down.

"I suggest that DePaul should look more closely at what there isto offer in the city, to get back to where they were at one time. Ordo they have a different philosophy?"

Condotti traces DePaul's decline to the day it signed a contractwith WGN-TV, began telecasting its games coast-to-coast, became anational recruiter and stopped attracting local players.

"Maybe they discovered it is easier to recruit a kid fromCalifornia, who doesn't have to deal with the internal pressures thatlocal kids must face, who isn't stroked by his parents and friendsevery day," Condotti said.

But Condotti, Bedford, Little and others are more interested inwhat Meyer has to say in his own defense. They also want to knowabout Meyer's philosophy, DePaul's tutoring system, study halls andacademic support program and how the school works withstudent-athletes.

"My concern is personal," Little said. "I feel the news mediahas gotten too personal with Joey. It's all right to criticize andsecond-guess a person (for his coaching strategy and philosophy) butwhen you make personal attacks, that is going too far."

"That's why I'm going to the meeting, to hear Joey's story,"Condotti said. "When you constantly hear that a coach is in hotwater or not helping his kids, you want to hear Joey's defense. Hehasn't defended himself.

"There are plenty of positives. If it was me, I would behollering from the highest mountain. You can find negativesituations in all college programs. I wish (Meyer) would point outthe positive things that have happened at DePaul. I wish he'd fightback.

"If the graduation rates are where they belong, let's see them.Let's see what the school has done for kids after they graduate.They got Skip Dillard back into school without any publicity. Butthat isn't Joey's style.

"It is a shame if Public League coaches don't take advantage ofan opportunity to find out everything about DePaul's program. Whathappened 10-15 years ago is history. Let's find out what ishappening now."