Long-time Chicago basketball icon Doug Bruno to step down as DePaul women's basketball coach

One of the longest-tenured coaches in Chicago sports, and a women's basketball icon for decades, has stepped down from coaching.

DePaul women's basketball coach Doug Bruno has stepped down as the Blue Demons' head coach Friday, the school announced.

Bruno did not coach the 2024-2025 basketball season after suffering a medical event in October 2024. Jill Pizzotti served as interim head coach.

"I owe my professional athletic life to DePaul University, starting with Coach Ray Meyer offering me a basketball scholarship in 1968 and continuing through my Athletic Department roles as Ticket Manager, Facilities Director, Academic Advisor, Athletic Administrator and Head Women’s Basketball Coach. DePaul University has been my home for 44 years," Bruno said in a statement.

Bruno amassed a 786-405 record while earning 25 NCAA Tournament berths and collecting 19 conference titles in his 39 seasons as head coach. 

He ranks 18th all-time in Division I women’s basketball history in total wins. Bruno won conference Coach of the Years five times and was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.

Bruno's absence was felt all season long as the Blue Demons finished with a 13-19 record. Pizzotti, who took over on Oct. 7, was someone who attested to the Bruno legacy in the greater Chicago area.

"I was a Doug Bruno camper, like very female in the Chicagoland suburbs, and he's just a guy that bleeds DePaul women's basketball. He bleeds Chicago," Pizzotti said before the season began. "I have a ton of admiration just for what one individual can make in an impact on a program."

With Bruno away from the coaching bench, even those most legendary coaches took notice.

"It does feel like there's a void," UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said in February. "There's going to come a time when people are going to look down the bench and neither of us are going to be there. That's a fact of life. That's just not the time right now."

Bruno will transition to a new role, titled the Special Assistant to the Vice President/Director of Athletics for Women’s Basketball. That position is effective May 1. 

A national search for DePaul’s next head coach will begin immediately, the school said.

"Athletic success is the result of three forces coming together and working together: a talented, hardworking and supportive administration, coaching staff, and most importantly, players, and I’ve been fortunate to experience all three at DePaul," Bruno said in a statement. "I am grateful to DePaul's leadership, including President Rob Manuel, Vice President and Director of Athletics DeWayne Peevy, and Executive Associate Athletic Director Jill Hollembeak, for their unrelenting support of DePaul Women’s Basketball, as well as all past Presidents and Athletic Directors including Gene Sullivan and Jeanne Lenti-Ponsetto who played vital roles in establishing Women’s Athletics at DePaul."