Baker used search advantages to bring him to DeVries
West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker had a head start on many of the open jobs across the college basketball landscape and he wanted to keep it that way.
The Mountaineers hunt for a new leader for the basketball program began in earnest March 13 when Baker formally announced that interim Josh Eilert would not return.
But Baker actually had nine months to plan out how he would attack the opening and was able to secure his prime target Darian DeVries.
“He is the one that checked all of the boxes we were looking for,” Baker said.
Baker said that over his 22 coaching searches in his career, this one had more interest than any other in large part because of the passion of the fan base, the resources available, the history and tradition of the program and finally the quality and depth of the Big 12 Conference.
West Virginia had an advantage given that extra time and worked a day or two ahead of most people and Baker never wanted to lose that edge.
After the Mountaineers had conducted zoom interviews, Baker made it known to candidates that while he didn’t want to interfere with any team’s schedule or preparation he would come to where they are to meet them on their free time.
“So, we did a lot of zig zagging back and forth to different locations to see people,” he said. “And we got our guy. I’m happy with the way it turned out.”
In DeVries, Baker could see the sustained success with a 150-55 record over his six years at Drake and how his teams fared in metrics such as KenPom. The brand of basketball was appealing as well.
“How balanced they were. They’re good defensively, especially defensive efficiency. They’re really good offensively, they’re great at defensive rebounding which I think is a very disciplined stat,” he said. “They play at a pace that our fans will enjoy.”
But it was the meetings that sold Baker. While he might have waited earlier in his career, now with more experience when you know you know and DeVries was exactly what West Virginia wanted.
And the positive is that Baker, given his contacts in the industry, felt the attraction was mutual.
“I knew he had us really high not just because he was saying that, but this was a job you want but I was hiring from others in the industry that different people had reached out to him, and he was lukewarm because this is the one he wanted,” Baker said.
On top of his success on the court, Baker believes that DeVries is a great fit to represent the basketball program from a cultural standpoint with his authenticity and realness in his message.
It was a quick, efficient process but in the end both parties got exactly what they wanted.
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