West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries starting to gain traction for IU basketball head coach opening

A new name has started to emerge as a serious candidate for the IU basketball head coaching search and that is West Virginia’s Darian DeVries.

While a lot of the initial talk has connected DeVries to Iowa, national basketball analyst Jeff Goodman confirmed his connection to IU on Tuesday morning.

“West Virginia’s Darian DeVries has emerged as one of – if not the top candidate for the Indiana job – source told @TheFieldOf68. I’m told by sources that nothing is done yet, but that DeVries could wind up being the guy. Drake’s Ben McCollum and a third “mystery” candidate still in the mix as well, per source.”

For much of the past week, the two names connected to the IU basketball job have been Drake’s Ben McCollum and Clemson’s Brad Brownell. DeVries now joins that group and could be the name to keep an eye on, in what could be a quick moving process. There has been no clear indication which way IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson is leaning, however.

A few hours after Goodman’s report, ESPN national analyst Pete Thamel said that “West Virginia’s Darian DeVries is not a candidate for the Iowa job.”

There have been rumors that Iowa’s NIL is not up to DeVries desire and that a bigger program, like IU basketball, with more resources could be a factor. DeVries is originally from Aplington, Iowa and played college basketball at Northern Iowa. 

West Virginia failed to make the NCAA Tournament in DeVries first year as the head coach of the Mountaineers. They were the first team out of the field despite a 19-13 record and 10-10 record in Big 12 play. WVU had notable wins over Gonzaga and Arizona on neural sites, at Kansas and at home against Iowa State.

The selection committee seemed to ding the Mountaineers on the fact that one of their best players, guard Tucker DeVries, missed most of the season with an injury.

“At the end of the day, that was impactful, and that was part of our decision-making process as we were evaluating West Virginia, which is obviously when Tucker DeVries was there, that’s when they beat Arizona, that’s when they beat Gonzaga, and as Bubba said, since that time they were 13-11,” Selection Committee Vice Chair Keith Gill said. “That’s not taking anything away from their season. They had a great year. It’s just that the committee felt like that wasn’t enough to kind of earn that last spot.”

Darian DeVries spent the previous six years at Drake, leading them to a 150-55 overall record with three NCAA Tournament appearances. He also spent 17 years as an assistant at Creighton before taking over at Drake, working under Dana Altman and then Greg McDermott. 

He’s 1-3 in his career in the NCAA Tournament, with his one win coming in the First Four in 2021.

DeVries, 49, runs a slower tempo offense that hasn’t always been extremely efficient. In his years at Drake, he only had one season with an adjusted tempo ranked inside the 100s and just one more inside the top-200. He did have two years inside the top-50 in adjusted offensive efficiency. 

This year at West Virginia, the Mountaineers ranked 329th in tempo and 131st in offensive efficiency. They did rank 15th in defensive efficiency. They also ranked 38th in the nation in percent of points from three despite shooting just 32.6 percent as a team. Before Tucker DeVries went down with an injury, they were shooting 35.3 percent from three as a team.

SEE ALSO: Through excitement and disappointment, how will Mike Woodson’s time at IU basketball be remembered? Exactly that — a mixed bag and that’s okay.

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