I have no frame of reference for Fogel but good search firms are worth their price. They often find candidates you would not be thinking of. Firms who operate in this kind of environment know the landscape and may find you a diamond in the rough at places outside of the geographic sphere of influence. The hiring of a search firm is a strong indication the administration is open to candidates outside the obvious names that have been put forth.

If DePaul’s leadership has any smarts, and that’s certainly up for debate, it will instruct whatever search firm it hires to make an early, lucrative run at Bobby Hurley, the former Duke star and current coach at the University at Buffalo. The Blue Demons won't be alone in this target.

Forget the famous name, though it helps. The 43-year-old Hurley has shown he can coach in just two years at Buffalo, going 42-19. Most importantly, he just won a conference tournament, the first in the school's short Division I history. In a one-bid league, that’s your “get out of the MAC free” card.

John Groce, then at Ohio University, parlayed a second MAC championship and a Sweet 16 run in the NCAA tournament into the Illinois job. Buffalo has that potential. Groce had a great team coming back at Ohio, including signee Caris LeVert, who ended up at Michigan and is now a potential NBA draft pick, but he knew when to get out.

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Forget the local guys. DePaul needs Hurley, a fiery competitor who quickly alienated himself in the MAC because he's loud and he wins.

That's cool. The Blue Demons need someone to -- excuse the pun -- raise some hell. Jerry Wainwright was the guy you want MC’ing your Kiwanis Club roast. Purnell, a good coach, chased the cash.

DePaul needs some intensity to convince everyone this is still a Division I program. Passion is severely underrated these days, in my opinion.

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Hurley has ties across the country, and in real basketball hotbeds. He is Catholic basketball royalty, having played for his father, the legendary Bob Hurley Sr., at Saint Anthony in Jersey City, New Jersey. He has relationships in ACC country.

That’s where DePaul needs to recruit. Get the kids in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, wherever. Get enough talent that doesn’t look down on DePaul and some Chicago kids will stay home, too. That’s how it works.

1. Look for Buffalo coach Bobby Hurley to get a nice, new contract in the Saul Phillips (Ohio University, $500,000) range after the Bulls NCAA Tournament run. And while many think Hurley will quickly jump to a big-time program, I don't. My read is Hurley, with seven of his top nine players returning for 2016 plus waiting transfers in house, likes being a big fish in a farm pond and will be at UB for several seasons to come.

White is talking with Hurley about a second contract extension in a little over a year, a preemptive strike against an outside suitor (Seton Hall, perhaps?). Hurley’s last extension carried through the 2018-19 season.

Hurley makes a base salary of $300,000. He also has a clause that gives him 25 percent of net ticket revenue above $300,000. That’s considered a major perk with attendance rising and likely to get a bump if UB makes the NCAAs.

Still, money talks in the elite conferences, where coaches make significantly higher salaries. The average salary of the 68 coaches who made the NCAAs in 2012 was $1.4 million, not counting bonuses.