COACHING STAFF
JIM DEPAOLO
Title: Head Coach
Jim Depaolo is from Grand Forks, North Dakota where he grew up playing and learning the game of hockey from some of the best players and coaches in the country. Depaolo started with the DBU hockey team as a graduate assistant four seasons ago and is in his second season as the head coach.
Jim and his wife Melissa live in Celina, TX with their three children whom never miss a chance to come out and support the team. Depaolo holds a Bachelors of Applied Science (BAS) in Management from Park University, a Masters of Arts Management (MAM) with a concentration in Human Resources, and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Conflict Resolution Management (CRM) both from Dallas Baptist University.
AL SPENCER
Title: Assistant Athletic Performance Coach
Al Spencer has served as an Athletic Performance Coach since April 2018. Coach Spencer also served as a Graduate Student Assistant for two years under Coach David Trevino before becoming full-time. Al graduated from DBU with his Master of Science in Kinesiology in August 2017. Spencer is currently pursuing his Ed.D. in Higher Education from the Gary Cook School of Leadership.
Coach Spencer currently serves as the Athletic Performance Coach for Women’s Golf, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Track & Field, and Cross Country. In addition to his current teams, Spencer has also worked with Baseball, Basketball, Women’s Tennis, and Ice Hockey. Coach Spencer also serves as the Fitness Center Coordinator and adjunct faculty with the DBU Kinesiology program. Spencer also developed a proprietary Athlete Management System that is utilized for load and performance monitoring to mitigate fatigue and injury while also directing efforts to best increase performance over an athlete's career.
During his tenure at DBU, Coach Spencer has developed over a dozen All-American athletes in multiple sports. He has accumulated more than 10 Conference titles (MVC, Lone Star, & Heartland). His teams have appeared in 9 NCAA Regional Tournaments and won 4 of them. Additionally, he was part of the historic 2021 season in which DBU Baseball won the Fort Worth Regional as well as appeared in their second-ever NCAA Super Regional and DBU Women’s Golf won the 2021 NCAA D-II National Championship.
Before coming to DBU, Spencer served as an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at Baylor University with the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams during the 2015-2016 season. While at Baylor, Coach Spencer assisted with the implementation and execution of daily warm-ups, workouts, and operation/management of the 6,500-square-foot weight room. Spencer also developed databases for each team to help track progress/performance, guide programming, and monitor/manage fatigue. Before receiving the Assistant position with Basketball, Spencer served as a Strength Intern for the Spring semester in 2015.
Al received his Bachelor’s Degree in Health, Human Performance, & Recreation from Baylor University in 2015. He holds the Strength & Conditioning Coach Certification from the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa - SCCC). He is also a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA - CSCS).
Alex and his wife, Shawna, reside in Grand Prairie, TX with their two sons, Wyatt and Rhett, and theirAustralian Cattle Dog, Charlie. The Spencer Family attends and serves at Creekwood Church in Mansfield, TX.
JEREMY FORTNER
Title: Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator