Identity is the key word for WVU in the first offseason under DeVries
For West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries, it's safe to say the last few months have probably been a whirlwind.
DeVries, who was announced as WVU's next head men's basketball coach in the spring, was tasked with building an entirely new roster and coaching staff. Now, with the pieces assembled he looks to solidify his team's identity as they head towards the start of the school year.
"The biggest thing when you have a whole group of new guys, it takes some time to figure each other out, both as coaches and players. As coaches you’re trying to figure out how to best utilize each guys individual strengths and put him in the best position and vice versa, the players are trying to figure out what you want from them. I felt like over the 6-7 weeks we’ve made some strides," DeVries said. "The biggest thing is we have to learn as a group how to win together and that’s the part that takes probably the longest time. That’s why I’m glad we get summer workouts to work through some of that stuff."
Part of being able to win together is an on-court identity, DeVries said. This includes having high energy as well as leaving a lasting image in fans' heads.
"It’s just helping us create our identity, what do we want it to be every single day and what does it look like," DeVries said of summer practices. "I’ve told them, a day like today, or even when we just have a fan or a supporter come by and watch us, they should be able to leave and know what our identity is and if they can’t then we’re not there yet. We’re still working on that with what that looks like but we want people to leave our gym and talk about how hard we play, talk about how much energy and enthusiasm we play with, how connected we are. Those are the type of things that take time."
Part of the problem with that identity is the newness of his roster. DeVries said there is new terminology and plays for both players and coaches, and his son, Tucker, is the only player that has any background with what DeVries wants to do.
"Right now in the summertime, you have a lot of thinking taking place so sometimes it’s hard to play fast and free when you’re having to process stuff in your mind because you bog down trying to learn new plays, new terminology, when you only have essentially one guy, which was Tucker, that knows any of the stuff we ran before, everybody’s learning new stuff. Even some portions of the staff is learning new terminology, new ways we’re trying to do things. It’s a process, it takes time, that’s why I’m glad we don’t play until November," DeVries said.
As far as creating the identity and style his team will play with come this fall, DeVries said they have to not only talk the talk but walk the walk.
"I think your identity is [first], what do you talk about, what do you watch on film, and then what do you practice every single day. You can’t say your identity is one thing and then it’s not what you reinforce every single day," DeVries said.
"I always put this on us as coaches, our identity should shine through when somebody comes and watches us practice. Because if it doesn’t, then we’re not doing the right things to get them there and that’s our job to make sure when you come watch us play, we play incredibly hard, we play incredibly unselfish, they have a lot of enthusiasm with the game and those are the things we want to be about on an every day basis. It doesn’t mean every day is going to go perfectly but you just need to do those things consistently enough and then the wins will follow."
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