Was hiring Darian DeVries as head coach the right move for West Virginia basketball?

We’re not going to waste any time. This was a good hire by West Virginia Mountaineers basketball. The program just went through one of its worst seasons in recent memory. Actually it was the worst season since before John Beilein and way before Bob Huggins returned to coach the program. Josh Eilert, we thank you for your service, but there wasn’t any way you were landing this gig.

The Mountaineers hired Drake Bulldogs head coach Darian DeVries as their next head coach, announcing the move in the middle of the second round on Sunday evening. DeVries and the Bulldogs were bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the first round in a 66-61 loss to the Washington State Cougars. It didn’t take too long before DeVries found his next opportunity in Morgantown.

As a WVU alum, I immediately had friends reach out about the hiring. There’s always skepticism when it’s a name you’re not familiar of from a conference (Missouri Valley) that isn’t a power conference. But DeVries comes from a very familiar coaching tree via the Creighton Bluejays. DeVries was an assistant with Creighton FOREVER (from 2001-2018). He learned plenty from Oregon Ducks head coach Dana Altman, who coached the Bluejays from 1994 to 2010. Then, when Altman left for Eugene, current head coach Greg McDermott took over. DeVries opted to stay with Creighton as an assistant under McDermott from 2011 to 2018. That’s when DeVries left for Drake.

DeVries has had a lot of success over the past six season with the Bulldogs. The team has clinched a NCAA Tournament berth in three of those seasons; Drake likely doesn’t get in anyway in 2019-20’s canceled season. The Bulldogs have won back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference tournaments. If you’re familiar with Indiana State and Robbie Avila, Drake was the reason they weren’t in the NCAA Tournament this season. DeVries’ teams have won at least 25 games in each of the past four seasons. DeVries has a .732 winning percentage overall as head coach of Drake and a .703% in conference play. Seems pretty great to me.

One thing that’s worth noting when digging in on DeVries’ history with Drake is his ability to adjust to adversity. He won MVC Coach of the Year twice in just six seasons. DeVries had to deal with major injuries to key players in 2018-19 and 2020-21. In the latter season, DeVries and Drake lost two key players after beginning the season 18-0. They’d go on to make the NCAA Tournament regardless.

In terms of style, DeVries runs a pretty standard motion offense and man-to-man on defense. Former WVU head coach Bob Huggins used a lot of motion in his offense and found the most success with size, teams that were tough and competed hard, crashing the glass on both ends. We’ll see if DeVries can duplicate that mentality a bit while also implementing his style of getting the ball in the hands of his best players.

Speaking of best players, Drake’s top scorer from this past season was Tucker DeVries, the coaches son. It appears Tucker is set to transfer to West Virginia to remain learning under his father. The 6-foot-7 guard is a junior but may have two years of eligibility left. Tucker DeVries averaged 21.6 points per game this past season for Drake and is back-to-back MVC Player of the Year. Right off the bat, DeVries is bringing a stud to the Mountaineers program.

It also appears DeVries is a upstanding gentleman of basketball and citizen, which seems important given what Huggins did on his way out. McDermott wasted no time tweeting about the hire. McDermott and Creighton are set to face No. 2 Tennessee in the Sweet 16 this upcoming week.

If there’s one thing we should be concerned about, it’s the way Drake exited the past two NCAA Tournaments. With under 6:00 left in the first round vs. Miami in last year’s tournament, Drake was up by 8 points and in control of the game leading 55-47. Things fell apart from there. The Bulldogs would only score one more point the rest of the game. Multiple turnovers would lead to the Hurricanes coming back and advancing.

This season, things were about the same. Drake led 54-46 with just under 8:00 left in the game vs. Washington State. Tucker DeVries went cold and wouldn’t score another point. There were a few big turnovers in crunch time and the Bulldogs were ousted again in the first round. Drake also shot 6-14 from the free throw stripe in the loss. WVU fans know all about poor free throw shooting.

This isn’t cause for too much concern. But it will be a storyline if West Virginia is able to find early success under DeVries and the Mountaineers falter down the stretch in a tournament game. For now, we won’t worry so much about it. But it’s definitely worth mentioning.

I don’t like using cliches too often but this feels like the closest thing to a “slam dunk” hire that WVU could have had. DeVries may have a tough time in the Big 12 vs. the MVC but WVU has shown the ability to lure big-name transfer portal players to Morgantown. Had Huggins not derailed the season, a core of Jesse Edwards, RaeQuan Battle, Kerr Kriisa, Quinn Slazinski and Noah Farrakhan. Yes, the Mountaineers’ top-5 players were all transfers.

At this point it’s unclear who will be on the roster outside Tucker DeVries. Kriisa has another year of eligibility left and could stick around. Edwards and Battle were seniors who played the extra fifth year. Slazinski could get another year since he didn’t play much as a freshman at Louisville during the COVID-19 season. Same with Farrakhan. Then we have Kobe Johnson, Seth Wilson and Josiah Harris, who were all WVU recruits and should be back pending the transfer portal. Forward Patrick Suemnick could return after showing some flashes, most notably 20 points in the win over Kansas this season.

So between Tucker DeVries, Johnson, Wilson, Suemnick, Harris and possibly Kriisa and Slazinski, there’s enough to work with for the new head coach. We also may see a lot of players leave and DeVries have to do some recruiting (both in the freshman ranks and transfer portal). We could see players from Drake other than his son follow DeVries to Morgantown as well. Kevin Overton was a very good freshman guard for the Bulldogs this season. As a DeVries recruit, I wonder if he follows the coach to WVU. Guards Conor Enright and Colby Garland may also be in play.