As they look to find success in their second straight season with a new head coach, the Mountaineers are in good hands with Darian DeVries.
The current climate of college athletics, marked by one-and-done freshmen, multi-time transfers, and league realignment, does not make room for slow transitions. After underperforming with interim head coach Josh Eilert, WVU Basketball proved this by choosing to move on from Eilert and, with him, most players on the roster, after just one year.
Ahead of 2024-2025, WVU fans are promised a grant shift in Mountaineer basketball’s identity for what may be years to come, but all of that hinges on a strong start. Luckily, coach Darian DeVries has a track record in that department.
In six years as Drake’s head coach, Darian DeVries made every game count, proving himself as an efficient winner. Under DeVries, the Bulldogs won 73.2 percent of all games, won two conference championships, made three NCAA Tournaments, and recorded more 20-win seasons than the program had total before DeVries’ hiring.
DeVries began building his winning identity at Drake almost immediately, too, coaching the Bulldogs to a historic 2018-2019 season as a first-year coach.
For the first time since the 2007-2008 season, the Bulldogs were Missouri Valley Conference regular season champions under DeVries. Drake finished the year with a 24-10 overall record with a 12-6 record in-conference.
Drake’s roster was a mixed bag of program-developed talent, new transfer recruits, and growing underclassman talent, and DeVries utilized all of it.
6’8″ senior Nick McGlynn had an increased role with increased minutes in his fourth and final year at Drake, and under DeVries he was the team’s leading scorer with 15.2 points per game on 54 percent field goal shooting. On the flip side of that, fifth-year transfer from Iowa Brady Ellingson and freshman D.J. Wilkins averaged double-digit points as guards.
Despite being a brand new head coach, DeVries was quick to assess his talent and get the best out of it, allowing Drake to go 11-2 in non-conference games to start the year. Transitioning to conference play was initially challenging, as Drake lost three of its first four games, but the Bulldogs recovered with a pair of four-game winning streaks to win the MVC regular season.
Room for growth was certainly present, as the postseason proved disappointing for Drake, who was bounced by Northern Iowa in the MVC tournament semifinals, but a grace period was more than welcome for a coach who led such a quick turnaround for a program that had not finished with a winning record in seven seasons.
Unlike his upcoming season at West Virginia, DeVries did not necessarily have to start from scratch, as he made use of the team’s foundations that were already in place. With just two returning Mountaineers entering next year, DeVries does not have that luxury in Morgantown, but as he proved in his first season with Drake and the five successful seasons that came after, WVU’s new head coach is more than capable of making the best of his opportunities.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
