MORGANTOWN, W.Va – West Virginia University director of athletics Wren Baker has a job to do and he believes he can get it done quickly. With Darian DeVries departing as the university’s head men’s basketball coach after a single 19-13 season to take over at Indiana, Baker said Wednesday that it won’t be hard to find candidates to fill the role.
“We have a head start because we did a lot of work last year and we had a lot of time last year to dig very deep, knowing that we had an interim coach in place and could feasibly have a search,” he said, “While some of those candidates are off the board and there’s probably a few new ones on the board, a lot of them, we’ve already done deep, deep dives on.”
DeVries was hired from Drake last March, taking over a program that won nine games the previous season under interim head coach Josh Eilert. His first season came to an end officially on Sunday when the Mountaineers were left out of the NCAA tournament but Baker walked away ready to build something for the future.
He reiterated that his feelings have not changed without DeVries in the fold.
“I felt like we laid a really solid foundation in year one and I was very proud of them. I was prepared to continue to invest in the program and am prepared to do that. We are going to be competitive in rev share, competitive in NIL, competitive in budget,” he said.
He added that in his eyes, the success West Virginia had under DeVries should be looked at as a benefit moving forward and should help draw quality candidates to the job.
“Last year, we went out and we hired a proven, successful coach who had a great first year on the job. I think what he was able to do here does nothing but make this job more attractive.”
As for the events leading up to DeVries’ decision to leave West Virginia for Indiana, Baker explained that conversations had been ongoing about a contract extension that would have kept him in Morgantown. Discussions of what needed to be invested to keep the program competitive led Baker to believe he and his then-head coach were on the same page despite significant perceived interest in Devries.
“I think we had a really good shared vision of what we needed to do to continue to build on the program. Pretty much every job that was open inquired to see if he would have interest in talking. To my knowledge, he only talked to one so I don’t think it was a situation where he didn’t feel good about here,” he said.
According to Baker, the fast-moving courtship that resulted in DeVries being announced as the Hoosiers’ head coach on Wednesday left West Virginia without an opportunity to provide a counter-offer that he believes would have been competitive with Indiana’s offer thanks to strong donor support, particularly after the NCAA tournament committee excluded the Mountaineers.
Baker also addressed the terms of Devries’ contract buyout, a total in excess of $6 million, which he has determined to be one of, if not the largest on record in men’s college basketball.
“If there’s a bigger number out there, I’ve never seen it. I’ve asked a couple of national media guys about it and they can’t recall a bigger one for a men’s basketball coach,” he said.
Turning his focus toward the next hire he will have to make, Baker laid out his pitch for what will make West Virginia appealing in the open market.
“This is a great, great job. It’s a great community. It’s a great state and it’s a place that’s filled with some of the best people that I’ve ever had the chance to know so the next coach here is going to be extremely fortunate and lucky to be our coach and hopefully, they’re going to come in and really work to build a program and put down roots,” he said.
With West Virginia set to have its fourth men’s basketball coach in as many years, stability within the program is certainly a consideration to be made. Baker does not necessarily believe any specific criteria are needed but finding a candidate that fits the university, state and community is at the top of his agenda.
“I do think that this is a place that is about fit and we spent a lot of time in the search process hammering that away, almost I feel like too much. I talk a lot about the spotlight in the fishbowl and a lot about fit.”
Baker noted that while he does believe DeVries’ replacement can be hired quickly, he did admit that some potential targets are actively playing in postseason tournaments and, with success, could still have games to coach past this weekend and he wants to respect their need to focus on the task at hand.
When the time comes for a new coach to take over the program, he hopes the players that could return for the 2025-26 season will be open to sticking around.
“I hope our underclassmen give our new coach a chance to come in and give them a recruiting pitch,” he said, “I can promise them we’ll be resourced competitively within the Big 12 and nationally and we’ll find a coach that’s committed to them and committed to this university and this state.”
In the meantime, he explained that men’s basketball sport administrator Ben Murray will be in contact with current players to address their needs while Baker himself will be meeting with remaining staff members.
An interim head coach is not expected to be named but Baker did leave the door open for current staff members to be considered for the position on a permanent basis.