DePaul basketball fans receive extra incentive for supporting team, courtesy of coach Holtmann
As for DePaul, Chris Holtmann is focused on building traditions as he tries to turn around this Blue Demons program, now in his second year as head coach.
That includes an extra incentive for students to come to home games.
DePaul went from three wins to 14 in Chris Holtmann's first year as head coach, but that wasn't the only area the program saw improvement last season.
"We had the highest jump in overall attendance, second-highest in the Big East to St. John's. Year over year, second-highest jump in attendance at our games," he said
The team takes a picture with the student section after every home game, but Holtmann wanted to give fans even more for their efforts.
"It's 20 minutes away to go to Wintrust, you gotta get on a bus or travel on your own, so my way of saying hey thanks for coming, is let's do lunch."
After every home win this season, students who were at the game can get a free lunch. They just have to present their ticket for proof.
The food is completely paid for by Holtmann, who will even be the one who hands it out, if there's time between practices.
"I think the more connection they can have to me and to our players the more connection they're going to have to our program, and I don't get to spend as much time," Holtmann said.
If students aren't able to cross paths with the coach while grabbing their meals, they've still found creative ways to say thank you for them.
"They'll DM me and say coach thanks for the lunch like they're eating the sandwich. Show me a picture of their lunch. Yeah, it's the least I can do," Holtmann said.
Despite potentially adding additional expenses, Holtmann wants the team to feed fans as often as possible by winning.
"I would love to be at the point right now where I'm saying I'm having a hard time affording lunches for our students. I'm really glad we get to do it, and I think there will be other things we do in the future that will be similar to this or maybe even amplify what we're doing right now," he said.
As for the team in control of the meal planning, DePaul has five returners from last year, which is the second most in the Big East, next to UConn.
Continuity that Holtmann feels will help them take the next step in the second year under him.
"The biggest thing for us is when you play DePaul, you need to have a sense that this is going to be a really tough physical and highly competitive game. That needs to be our identity, it needs to be our identity at every game," he said.
All for fans who feed his team with their energy on gamedays.
Five of DePaul's eight wins this season have come on their home court at Wintrust Arena, with plenty more chances ahead, including a big one with fifth-ranked UCONN a week from Sunday.