Darian DeVries doesn’t want to force any player into a redshirt season but it is something that he’s had success with over the course of his career as a head coach.
The first-year West Virginia coach admitted that he hasn’t made any decisions with the current roster in terms of anybody he could potentially talk to about taking a potential redshirt season but it’s a decision that he’s never made without the blessing of the player first. Those decisions are often made ahead of the season, but not always as he plans to sit down with each player on the roster.
That could continue to spill over as the season proceeds as well depending on what West Virginia needs on the floor and what those players can provide.
“We’ll bring everybody in and kind of talk about where things are at, where I see them and what that role looks like and then let them make those decisions,” he said. “I’m never going to force a kid to redshirt. I want that to be their decision that they feel is best for them.”
That’s always been important but perhaps more than ever in the transfer portal era as transfers are not required to sit out and there is constant player movement across the board.
“It’s hard when you have 13 guys on scholarship and all 13 guys are looking up at you wanting to play. That’s why in previous years it’s been nice to have those one or two guys that were transfers and they had to sit out,” DeVries said.
DeVries admitted that even with this current team there is the possibility for one or two players to fit under that potential redshirt umbrella, but those decisions have yet to be made by anybody. And the key is to keep his team motivated at all levels for as long as possible.
That way he is able to get the maximum effort out of each as the roles start to define themselves and opportunities could present themselves with injuries or other changing circumstances.
“I don’t want anybody to take the approach of not getting themselves ready to play because you don’t ever know, it can be three days before a game and somebody gets hurt and now they’re not ready because they haven’t been approaching it with that mindset,” he said.
One thing that could bring an interesting wrinkle to these decisions in the future is the possibility of much like in football allowing players to play in a certain percentage of games and still redshirt. DeVries supports this and believes it would be a best-case scenario for all involved.
“I think it’s beneficial for the kids. Maybe not utilize a whole year in a situation that’s not best for them,” he said.
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