In a year where Louisville has been the laughing stock among Power Conference teams, no high-major team has been worse than the DePaul Blue Demons. With the program bottoming out and currently sitting at 3-15, the school decided to fire head coach Tony Stubblefield

The Blue Demons have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2004 — the longest active drought among Power Conference teams — and Stubblefield's win total has decreased in each of his three seasons in Chicago. DePaul is not a historical powerhouse, but the program consistently made the NCAA Tournament one of the last true independents in college basketball during the 1980s.

This season is a total loss for DePaul, but the team can get a head start on the search for its next head coach. Here are three candidates the Blue Demons should consider to turn their program around.

Former DePaul head coach Tony Stubblefield

Josh Schertz (Indiana State)

In a decade-plus at Lincoln Memorial (TN), Josh Schertz asserted himself as one of the best coaches in DII college basketball as he took LMU to three Final Fours and a National Championship game. Now in his third season at Indiana State, Schertz has the Sycamores as a top 30 team in the NET Rankings while playing some of the best basketball in the country. ISU leads the nation in effective field goal percentage and is 29th in assist rate as five players average multiple assists per game and six Sycamores shoot better than 40% from deep.

Not only does Indiana State play beautiful basketball, Schertz's team is playing winning basketball. The team sits at 16-3 after going 11-20 in his debut season. Josh Schertz is a coach who could rebuild this dormant DePaul program from the ground up while playing an attractive brand of basketball that will put fans in the seats.

Will Wade (McNeese St.)

Controversy has followed Will Wade wherever he has coached but so has winning. Wade has won 20 games in a season with three different programs and is on the verge of doing so again in his first year at McNeese St. He took VCU to the NCAA Tournament in both of his seasons in Richmond and led LSU to the tourney three times in four years. His coaching job a McNeese might be his best yet. The Cowboys are 16-2 and are 13 years removed from their last season and 23 seasons removed from their most recent NCAA Tournament appearance.

Wade was under constant fire under LSU, with his tenure including FBI wiretaps and too many recruiting violations to keep track of. LSU terminated his contract in March 2022 after yet another recruiting violation, and Wade received a 10-game suspension — which he served at the beginning of his McNeese tenure this year.

Will Wade is a risky hire on the PR side of things, but it is almost a guarantee that he could turn this DePaul program around.

Bryce Drew (Grand Canyon)

A winner at the mid-major level with Valparaiso and Grand Canyon, Bryce Drew will want to prove that his disappointing three-year stint at Vanderbilt is just a blip on an otherwise strong resume. Drew took Valpo to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and is looking to lead GCU to its third March Madness berth in four years. Despite recently relinquishing the second-longest winning streak in the country, the Lopes sit at 17-2 and have an outside chance at an at-large bid this year.

Under Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon has not finished outside the KenPom top 110 while winning nearly 75% of its games. Drew is great at attracting fan bases to games, making him an ideal fit at DePaul.