DePaul promotes Jill Pizzotti to replace longtime women's coach Doug Bruno

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CHICAGO (AP) — DePaul promoted assistant Jill Pizzotti on Thursday to take over for longtime coach Doug Bruno, who stepped down last week.

Pizzotti was hired by DePaul in 2011 and served as interim coach with Bruno missing this season because of health issues. The Blue Demons went 13-19 overall and finished sixth in the Big East Conference at 8-10.

“This season, I had the opportunity to see Jill in a new light as Interim Head Coach, and I was especially impressed by her ability to teach, lead, and build consensus among the young women in our program," athletic director DeWayne Peevy said in a statement. “She knows exactly what it takes to compete at a championship level, and she has the recruiting ability, player development expertise, and motivational leadership to bring the best to Chicago and keep them here. Jill understands the direction this program needs to go, and I have full confidence in her ability to continue the championship standard we’ve come to expect for our women’s basketball program at DePaul.”

DePaul has made the NCAA Tournament 10 times and advanced to the Sweet 16 twice since Pizzotti's arrival. The Blue Demons have won six Big East regular-season championships and five conference tournaments in that time. She was elevated to associate head coach in 2014.

“Working to fulfill the vision of legendary coach Doug Bruno is an honor,” she said. “We want to bring DePaul women’s basketball back to national prominence and use the energy and momentum in our great sport now to reach new heights.”

A Chicago-area product, Pizzotti has three decades of coaching experience. She was head coach at Saint Louis University from 1995 to 2005 after working as an assistant at Northern Kentucky and Indiana. From 2005 to 2010, she was Nike's manager of women's college basketball, serving as the liaison with the nation's top teams as well as the Women’s Basketball Coaching Association and USA Basketball. She was an assistant at West Virginia for the 2010-11 season, when the Mountainers finished 24-10 and made the NCAA Tournament.

Pizzotti has big shoes to fill at DePaul.

Bruno played for Naismith Hall of Fame coach Ray Meyer. He led the women's team to 786 wins, 25 NCAA Tournament berths and 19 conference titles over 39 seasons and two stints after initially being hired in 1977. He was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.

Bruno is staying at the school as the special assistant to the vice president/director of athletics for women’s basketball.

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