Ray Meyer, Old School Contd.

 The men’s basketball coach at DePaul University stepped down after amassing a 54-105 record over five seasons.  It just hasn’t been the same since Ray Meyer stepped down 31 years ago.

Yes, you guessed it, Meyer was very old school, as you would expect of anyone who coached 42 years (1942-1984).  I got to watch Meyer as an undergraduate in the 1970s.  This was when the “L” had place names instead of colors and the Blue Demons played in that indoor bandbox known as Alumni Hall.

The thing about Coach, as everybody called him, was his dual nature, shy and not so shy.  He never sought attention or upstaged anyone.  See him walking on campus or talking to a reporter, and you might mistake him for the most mild-mannered retiree.  Oh, but to see him at practice, he was all fire and brimstone; the court had burn holes in it, I swear.  For some reason, Al McGuire of Marquette brought out the best in Meyer, who excelled as the underdog.  McGuire was all Brooklyn flash, but he saw a kindred soul in Meyer, a coach who believed in team ball and at least a smidgen of education for his players.  McGuire and Meyer may have been the original bromance.

I half think Meyer made a deal with the devil in his last years, abandoning his style of coaching to accommodate star players; they took him deep into the NCAA playoffs but never all the way.  At the time, DePaul also abandoned Alumni Hall for a generic big box in the suburbs.  Winning was never as sweet as it happened on Belden Avenue, by the “L.”

Eventually, Meyer turned the reins over to his son Joey, who had a pretty good run at it, until 1996, when he was forced out after a 3-23 season.  Coach resigned in protest.  None of the five coaches has found a way to recapture the magic of Ray Meyer at Alumni Hall.  The university and city are working on a new facility, but it’ll be located miles from where Blue Demon basketball made any sense.  You almost have to feel sorry for the next coach.