West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker is at peace with his efforts albeit ultimately unsuccessful to retain previous head coach Darian DeVries.
Baker felt that DeVries and his team had laid a solid foundation in year one and was prepared to not only invest in the program with him discussing a potential extension with his agent since February.
West Virginia is not only going to be competitive in revenue sharing, NIL and the budget, but he wanted to reward DeVries for what he was able to accomplish in his first season atop the basketball program.
That led to multiple discussions between the two over several weeks and while he felt good about the plan DeVries elected to take the job at Indiana.
“I’m at peace that we were aggressive in trying to retain him, and ultimately, I recognize that it’s not my decision to make. He gets to make that,” Baker said.
It’s never a surprise when other people are calling coaches after a successful season, but Baker was able to discuss all of the things that West Virginia had to offer. And while plenty of jobs that came open inquired to see if DeVries would be interested in talking, to Baker’s knowledge it was just Indiana that he was receptive.
Baker believed that West Virginia had the ability to fend off most suitors given those candid and open discussions between the two, but while the Mountaineers had something special going on there was an obvious draw for DeVries to Indiana as well.
“So, I don’t think it was a situation where he didn’t feel good about here. I think there was probably things about Indiana that was very attractive to him,” Baker said.
West Virginia being snubbed for the NCAA Tournament is something that Baker doesn’t believe had it gone differently would likely have had a major impact because of the contractual commitment that Indiana made to DeVries as well as a buyout that that will be in excess of $6 million. But that’s clearly something nobody can answer with certainty outside of those making decisions with the Hoosiers.
“Our rev share numbers are very strong. Our NIL support is very good. What we have allocated for staff and for budget and what we’re willing to do for him is all very competitive in the Big 12,” Baker said. “We laid that out.”
Baker didn’t want to discuss the terms of the possible extension for obvious reasons with an ongoing coaching search now at the forefront but did make it clear to DeVries that he wanted the opportunity to counter any offer that ultimately came from Indiana. It was a counter off that Baker believes would have certainly been competitive due to the donor interest and commitment to building the roster and program.
But given the way the process unfolded, West Virginia was never given that opportunity.
“I made it clear that within reason, I think was the quote, within reason we will do what it takes to keep you here and to keep building this program,” he said.
However, that is now in the past and Baker has set his focus once again on finding the next men's basketball coach at West Virginia.
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