DePaul University Athletics
Joey Meyer Maintained the Family Legacy
3/1/2017 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
(DePaulBlueDemons.com will be posting feature stories this week that have appeared this season in the men's basketball game programs looking back at great moments in Rosemont. DePaul's final game at Allstate Arena is Saturday, March 4 against Xavier.)
Tuesday, Feb. 28 - Stellar Broadcaster Swirsky Called the First Game in Rosemont
CHICAGO - This day is forever etched in the memory of one Joey Meyer as he reminisces about his coaching career at Allstate Arena.
It was March 15, 1987 and Meyer's DePaul team was facing off against the legendary Lou Carnesecca and St. John's in the NCAA tournament. They were playing in the second game of the day, so the stands were already packed when the Blue Demons walked into the arena during the first game. You wouldn't have noticed there was another game going on. The fans stood up and demonstrated their support for the men of DePaul with a standing ovation.
It was the genesis of a momentum that carried over from tipoff to final horn. The Blue Demons were down 69-67 with 19 seconds to go when DePaul forward Dallas Comegys missed a free throw on purpose. Kevin Edwards snatched the rebound and passed to Rod Strickland, whose layup with five seconds on the clock tied the game at 69. Meyer's team outscored St. John's 7-2 at the outset of overtime en route to an 83-75 victory.
It is one of coach Joey Meyer's favorite memories from Allstate Arena, he vividly remembered every detail of the game as if it happened yesterday.
"Walking into Allstate when it was sold out, that was really exciting," Meyer said. "We were a little lucky to be honest, but hey, I'll take it. There were a lot of great games in that building but that one stands out the most to me. Michael Jordan hadn't taken over the city yet, so at the time we were like the college and the pro team in the city and it was always so exciting."
Meyer was the assistant coach at DePaul under his father, the iconic Ray Meyer, for 11 seasons. When Ray Meyer retired after coaching the Blue Demons from 1942-1984, Joey Meyer took over the head coaching position. In total, he led DePaul to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in his first eight seasons highlighted by back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances in his second and third years heading up the program.
He followed in his father's footsteps, to say the least. And according to Meyer, he learned a lot of what he knows from Ray. Joey Meyer started out as the top recruiter for the Blue Demons under his father after playing for him.
"People don't remember, but at that time, we were not winning a lot of games," Joey said. "In fact, when I played for my dad, let's just say his worst team was when I was the senior captain, so we weren't doing really well. They were deciding at that time should we drop a level and go to Division II and then they hired me as the assistant."
Meyer's starting salary was $3500 during this tough rebuilding period for DePaul and it was up to him and his father to make a dramatic change.
"My budget was to drive around the city," Joey said. "Coach Ray was the main selling point we had. He became an icon when he was 65. But I just started traveling around the city and watching games."
Contrary to popular belief, DePaul was in the Elite Eight the year before the greatest Blue Demon of all-time, Mark Aguirre, arrived. Aguirre became the next selling point for the program.
"We went to the Final Four that year," Joey said. "And then we got Terry Cummings and all of the Chicago kids and we had a great run while it lasted."
Tommy Kleinschmidt played under coach Joey Meyer and remembers some of the great moments they shared together.
"Playing for Joey Meyer was a pleasure," Kleinschmidt said. "We were all so lucky. Obviously he was a great coach, his record speaks for itself. But he is an even better human being. He was what most of us on that team needed at that time in our lives. He was very patient, very intelligent, and he knew how to handle urban kids."
Coach Joey recalls a lot of memories about Coach Ray that have stuck with him throughout his career and shaped him into the man he is today.
"Longevity was what made Coach Ray so special," Meyer said. "If he was in a different era, he probably wouldn't have lasted that long because now if you don't win, you're gone. DePaul went a long time without going to the tournament."
Meyer also acknowledged the fact that Coach Ray had a personality unlike any other and that is something that will distinguish him forever.
"The real key was who he was," Joey said. "If you would have met him, you would have felt like he was your grandfather, your father, your friend. He had a way with people that was amazing. If you ever talk to anybody that met him, they would all walk away feeling as if they were his best friend. You could walk into his office and he would sit down and talk to you for an hour."
Meyer tells one of his favorite stories about his dad.
"We were at the Final Four and John Wooden, arguably the greatest coach ever, was on one side and a fan was on the other. And he talked to both. You couldn't tell with the amount of energy and time he gave, who was the legend and who was the fan."
He would stop and talk to everyone the same way. He treated everyone the same way and I think that is was what made him so special."
Meyer says that there is a lot about Coach Ray in the family folklore that makes him unique. He describes him as "that kind of person," but don't get him mad.
"He had a temper," Meyer said. "Everybody in the family, everybody that ever played for him knew that if he ever started to bite his tongue, you knew to get out of there as fast as you could.
We were down playing UAB, they were making a run at us and Mark Aguirre had missed a couple front ends of the free throw and they called a time out to ice him and make him think about it.
"He came over and Coach Ray looked at him and yelled 'What's the matter?'" and Aguirre said 'My free throw is broke.'
"I was a young assistant at the time and I looked at him and was like 'shut up Mark just make the free throw!'"
Meyer said Coach Ray looked at Aguirre and said "Well, fix it."
After that, Aguirre went out and hit both free throws and then the next four to help the Blue Demons win the game.
"Coach had a simplicity about his directives," Meyer said.
Basketball has been a part of Joey Meyer's life from the very beginning. He grew up with Coach Ray as a father, played under him at DePaul, went on to be the assistant coach for Ray Meyer, then took over to be the head coach. Meyer was also the head coach of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Indiana Pacers' NBA D-League affiliate. Currently, Meyer provides color commentary on Northwestern's WGN-AM radio broadcasts. He also the Midwest regional scout for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Meyer remembers the time when it hit him that basketball was really a part of his life. His father used to coach the College All-Stars in exhibition games against the entertaining Harlem Globetrotters. It was always a big game and the Globetrotters were "the team" at the time. Joey Meyer was only five years old when they had him perform a halftime skit with the Globetrotters.
"I was scared to death," Meyer said. "My mom used to have to push me out there because there were 20,000 people and I had no idea what I was going to do.
"But there's a picture of me standing next to Coach while he was sitting down, and he still towered over me since I was so young. That picture is kind of engraved in my mind. Basketball, in a lot of different ways, was our relationship."
As DePaul continues in their final season at Allstate Arena, Meyer hopes for nothing but good things.
"My dad's advice for me when I took over for him was to have better talent than the opposition," Meyer said. "It goes back to Coach's simplistic mentality. But I know the hope for DePaul is to bring in good players that can help them win games. Put the blinders on and keep going."