One of many things that stood out to Athletic Director Wren Baker when evaluating Darian DeVries for the head coaching role of the men’s basketball program was his loyalty.
The 48-year-old has only worked two jobs over his 26 years in coaching. He started his career as a graduate assistant at Creighton before moving into a full-time assistant role for 17 seasons under first Dana Altman and then Greg McDermott.
Over that time, DeVries was part of a 460-211 overall record and 231-129 in conference games experiencing plenty of success working under those two coaches.
And while other schools were interested, DeVries wanted to wait for the right fit for his first head coaching job. That came in March 2018 when the Drake job opened. The Iowa native would spend six years there leading the Bulldogs to a 150-55 overall record and three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Over the 118 seasons that Drake has played basketball, DeVries holds six of the 11 total 20-win seasons, three of the seven total NCAA Tournament appearances and won 73-percent of his games compared to the 48-percent that Drake has won during their history. Clearly the results were there.
But while the success could be easily seen, in the spreadsheet that Baker used to track candidates something stood out. DeVries was the only one who didn’t fill the column up when it came to holding a long list of jobs over the course of his career.
“He’s amazingly loyal and showed maturity to not just chase the next job,” Baker said.
That isn’t typically a necessity, but in this search, West Virginia felt it was important to find somebody who would entrench themselves in the state and put down roots with their family. Embracing both the state and the community was a key aspect for this role and DeVries certainly filled that.
Tradition was a big part of DeVries' journey so far, so naturally what the Mountaineers offered to him was appealing on that front alone. Combine that with the passion of the fan base and everything else that the school has to offer, and it was enough to get him to consider leaving Drake when the job came open.
“I know when I took the job I said it would take something pretty special. I’m from Iowa, I grew up in the Midwest, it was going to take something special to have me leave there,” he said.
That was at West Virginia, and it became clear to DeVries after speaking with Baker about the position and his vision for what not only the program currently is but more importantly could become. He also saw Morgantown as a place where he and his family could see themselves for a long time.
All of his experience to this point has brought him to West Virginia and DeVries is excited for the opportunities that lie ahead both on and off the court.
“They teach you it’s more than teaching basketball. And I think that’s the thing I’ve taken away more than anything. It’s more than basketball. It’s about people, it’s about developing people,” he said. “And I can’t wait to do that here at West Virginia.”
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