On the brink of giving it up, a Bench Mobster found a home at DePaul
Monday began with an early-morning film session for the DePaul Blue Demons. Wanting to emphasize the importance of communication and accountability, head coach Dave Leitao shifted the team’s focus to walk-on guard David Molinari.
The only time the cameras were rolling on Molinari last season was when they were capturing one of his rehearsed or improvised sideline antics. Molinari was a member of the DePaul Bench Mob, one of the more entertaining end-of-the-bench quartets in all of college basketball. His performances included giving up a home run to teammate Joe Hanel, driving a tee shot out of Allstate Arena – later seen working on his short game during a road game against St. John’s – and imitating a jumper in a double-dutch routine.
.@DePaul_Benchmob having fun as usual! #BIGEAST http://t.co/VBbdhVUCZ5
— FS1 (@FS1) February 4, 2015
Capitalizing on the cult following they had received, Molinari created a Twitter account for the DePaul Bench Mob. The bio read: “The 4 white guys at the end of DePaul’s bench – 0 athletic scholarships – 3.81 cumulative GPA – 1:1 can dunk to can’t dunk ratio – 1.000 batting average.”
By the end of Monday morning’s film session, part of that bio had become inaccurate. Leitao segued his lecture about communication and accountability into an announcement that Molinari had been awarded a scholarship.
“I wanted to use that moment to continue to empower him,” Leitao said. “It’s very hard in that position as a non-scholarship guy to have your words resonate with the guys in the locker room. His approach has been really different. His knowledge of the game is different, and I think as a result of everything, his respect in that locker room is very high. They all listen to him. That says a lot about who he is.”
Leitao had informed Molinari of his decision during a private meeting prior to the film session. For Molinari, his final season of eligibility will be as a high-major scholarship player, an ending he didn't envision after his college career began – and was almost cut short – at the Division III level.
“My goal as a high school kid was getting a Division I scholarship,” Molinari said. “Going to a Division III school and then not playing here my junior year, it just doesn’t seem like it would happen.
“I remember my high school coach [Eddie Mathews] told me at my senior banquet, ‘You just keep working and one day you’ll be where you want to be and you’ll get what you deserve.’ I always believed him.”
Before he became known for his choreographed celebrations along with Hanel, Cory Dolins and Peter Ryckbosch, Molinari attended Illinois Wesleyan University, a small liberal arts school in Bloomington. He was limited to just 16 games due to several concussions.
Molinari, who had previously suffered a concussion during an AAU the summer of his senior year, endured two more at Illinois Wesleyan. On similar plays, the 6-foot guard crashed the glass only to be greeted by an elbow to the head. The first caused him to miss eight games during his freshman year. The second occurred in the preseason of his sophomore season, forcing Molinari to re-evaluate his playing career.
Midway through his sophomore year, Molinari transferred and spent a semester at Western Illinois, where his father, Jim, was the head coach. Jim Molinari, now an assistant coach at Nebraska, was on the DePaul coaching staff for 10 seasons (1979-89).
Molinari transferred to DePaul in the fall of 2013 with plans of just being a student, an Economics major in the Driehaus College of Business.
“I realized I had missed the game,” Molinari said. “Once I was cleared by doctors, I decided to walk-on.
“I came by open gyms in the spring of my academic junior. I played OK and started to build some relationships with some of the guys. You could tell during the tryouts in the fall that it was important to [then head coach Oliver] Purnell that he brought guys in the locker room who got along with the players. Since I had relationships with those guys by playing with them in the spring, Purnell brought me on.”
Molinari and Hanel walked on at the same time, joining Dolins and Ryckbosch at the end of the bench. The bench mob had already been in place at DePaul, but in an age of social media, it took off during the 2014-15 season.
“I’d say one reason we made the Twitter account was we’d see fans from the other schools tweet about our bench, whether they thought it was awesome or thought that we were annoying,” Molinari added. “We wanted to be able to interact with them. We just thought it was funny that we were being noticed.”
Following a 12-20 season, DePaul and Purnell parted ways, paving a return for Leitao, the last coach to take the Blue Demons to the NCAA tournament. It was clear from the start that Molinari wasn’t just a court jester.
“I found out very early on in our meetings that he speaks a very educated basketball language," Leitao said. "And then he can back it up by being a sound person. I’ve seen him in here at 11 o’clock at night. I’ve seen him in here at 8 o’clock in the morning.”
During DePaul’s summer trip to France, Molinari saw an increase in playing time, averaging 17 minutes per game in the Blue Demons’ four-game exhibition tour. Leitao says Molinari could see some minutes during the regular season, providing an additional ball handler for the Blue Demons.
The bench mob will continue under the new coaching staff. “It’s encouraging to the other guys on the team, I see no negatives to it,” Leitao said. But Molinari’s seat may just be a bit further up the bench.
“One of the beauties of being on this team is that none of the players or coaches ever treated us walk-ons any different,” Molinari said. “We're all just part of the same family, so nothing seems different. It’s been a dream come true for me and my family. It’s probably sunk in, but not totally yet.”
