DePaul coach Oliver Purnell will return next season

DePaul head coach Oliver Purnell has a 41-84 record in his four seasons at the school. (AP Photo/Al Behrman) DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto said

DePaul head coach Oliver Purnell has a 41-84 record in his four seasons at the school. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto said men's basketball coach Oliver Purnell will return for a fifth year in 2014-15, despite the team not having a winning record in any of the four seasons he has been with the team.

DePaul has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2004. They are 11-20 overall and 3-15 in the Big East this season.

"When he came here we talked about taking four or five years to get it turned and to get the caliber of student-athlete we want in the program," Lenti Ponsetto said via the Chicago Tribune. "It's definitely a rebuild, this process that we're in, and we're going to stay the course, recruit, just get better and execute."

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Purnell, who has also coached at Radford, Old Dominion, Dayton and Clemson, originally signed a seven-year deal with the school in 2010.

"We have some outstanding young talent in this program and we're excited about the talent coming in," Lenti Ponsetto said. "I'm proud of our seniors. They made such a great commitment, they stayed the course. This team has had a lot of adversity and a lot to overcome."