For the third time in 21 months, West Virginia will be in the mix for a new men’s basketball coach.
Darian DeVries is one and done in Morgantown and off to Bloomington to become the next head coach at Indiana.
“Coach DeVries informed me of his plans to accept the head coaching position at another institution,” WVU Director of Athletics Wren Baker said in a statement released through the university. “Coach and I had several conversations in recent weeks focused on working together to build on a strong foundation and continue to grow our program. I made it clear to him that WVU is committed to invest in him and provide the resources needed to compete in the Big 12 and nationally. Ultimately, he decided to move on, and I want to thank him for his time at WVU.
“We have an outstanding basketball tradition with some of the most loyal and passionate fans in college basketball. We have tremendously generous supporters and a great partnership with the University that allow us to compete in this new era of college athletics. The alignment between the leadership of our Board of Governors, the University and Athletics Department is strong, and I am confident our momentum will continue as we work diligently to identify the next leader of our men’s basketball program.”
Welcome to Indiana, Coach DeVries! pic.twitter.com/Hy8y6q3MLd
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) March 18, 2025
The 49-year-old DeVries helped guide the Mountaineers to a 19-13 record, 10 wins in Big 12 play and non-conference victories over Gonzaga and Arizona in his lone season.
West Virginia was thought to be headed to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Mountaineers’ season came to an end when they were not chosen as an at-large team.
WVU opted not to play in the first year of The Crown Tournament, which revealed its 16-team field Monday.
Throughout the second half of this season, DeVries was rumored to be a top target at Iowa, a job that recently came open when the Hawkeyes moved on from veteran head coach Fran McCaffery.
“I’ve been in situations on both sides of this where you’re not having a good season and having to contemplate making some hard decisions or you’ve had a good season and you have people trying to come at your coaches. When you deal with football and men’s basketball, there’s a lot of pontification and speculation out there,” Baker said Monday night as a guest on CityNet Statewide Sportsline. “Every coach we have that has a successful year has people that reach out to them to see if they’re interested in talking.”
Instead, DeVries, an Iowa native, will take over another Big Ten program considered e a more high profile job and with a rich tradition.
However, the Hoosiers have only four Sweet 16 appearances since 1994 and have qualified for the NCAA Tournament only twice since 2017.
Like WVU, Indiana finished 19-13 this season and had a case to be in the NCAA Tournament, but was not selected. The Hoosiers announced during the regular season they’d be parting ways with head coach Mike Woodson.
That both teams are not included in the NCAA Tournament expedited the process and leaves the Mountaineers looking for a new head coach again.
WVU, which will have its fourth head coach in as many seasons, hired Josh Eilert on an interim basis in June 2023, before introducing DeVries as head coach on March 24, 2024.
DeVries was hired by the Mountaineers on a five-year deal and had a salary of $2.8 million this season. The salary was set to increase $100,000 each of the next four years. DeVries will now owe WVU 37.5 percent of his remaining contract.
DeVries spent six seasons as head coach at Drake, leading the Bulldogs to a 20-win campaign every year and NCAA Tournament berths on three occasions.
His son, Tucker DeVries, was a key piece of the success at Drake for three seasons and twice earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year. The 6-foot-7 senior played the first eight games this season at WVU before being shutdown with a shoulder injury related to similar health issues he encountered at Drake.
WVU announced DeVries would miss the remainder of the recently completed season on February 4 and that he would apply for a medical redshirt to have one year of eligibility remaining.
DeVries has a 169-68 record as a head coach. He was an assistant coach at Creighton from 2001-2018.