Despite his team’s season coming to an end, Head Coach Doug Bruno believes DePaul University’s Blue Demons will be capable of reaching their ultimate goal of winning a national championship and consistently competing in Final Fours before he has to say “adios.”

The Demons women’s basketball team failed to reach its third Sweet Sixteen appearance in school history following its 63-48 loss to the Tennessee University Volunteers in the second round of the NCAA women’s tournament March 19. Bruno said he is proud that his “Magnificent Seven” were able to reach the tournament but has a feeling there’s more to come.

“There’s still one huge lap for this program to run,” he said.

His goals have been ambitious since his first stint as the Demons’ head coach during the 1977-1978 season when he led the team to 16 wins, a school record at the time. Bruno returned in ’88 with goals of scholarships for female players and higher achievements as a team.

After winning the Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship that year, he set out to get his team into the NCAA tournament. The Blue Demons did so seven times during the 90s. Bruno was happy but still dissatisfied with the team’s accomplishments.

“I was proud of that feat, but I was not proud of the program because it wasn’t whole yet,” he said. “It didn’t include a group of young women, like this group, that’s third in the nation academically.”

He spent the last 10 years recruiting players to complete the team he always dreamed of DePaul having, and in 2011 the team’s cumulative grade point average was 3.852.

“I rolled the dice,” he said. “I knew I was either going to be fired or I was going to very much enjoy the kind of people we were going to be bringing in.”

Now at the end of the ’11–’12 season, the Blue Demons are a Top 10 program academically and a consistent Top 25 basketball program. The team is returning six of the “Magnificent Seven,” and Bruno is excited about the incoming recruitment class.

“That should indicate that the future should be a quality year next year,” he said.

Even though DePaul lost five women to injuries this past season, including star senior forward Keisha Hampton, and was limited to having only seven players available per game, the team still received a tournament bid for the 10th straight season.

Junior guard Anna Martin and junior forward Katherine Harry, who took over the majority of the leadership and scoring roles, became emotional when talking about Bruno’s faith in the team.

“A lot of coaches would have used this as an [opportunity for] rebuilding and not believed in us but [Bruno] did,” Martin said. “He never let us have any excuses.”

Even though coach Pat Summit’s Volunteers ended the Demons’ year, Bruno chalks up his team’s continued growth to the work Summit has done during her career in women’s basketball. He also thanked DePaul University for its support.

“We couldn’t host this thing without the commitment of DePaul to women’s basketball; it’s a very expensive endeavor,” Bruno said. “We couldn’t be here as a program and we couldn’t be here talking and hosting an event in Chicago for women in sports.”

Even though coach Pat Summit’s Volunteers ended the Demons’ year, Bruno chalks up his team’s continued growth to the work she has done during her career in women’s basketball. He also thanked DePaul University for its support of the program.

“We couldn’t host this thing without the commitment of DePaul University to women’s basketball; it’s a very expensive endeavor,” Bruno said. “We couldn’t be here as a program and we couldn’t be here talking and hosting an event in Chicago for women in sports.”