When it was announced yesterday that head coach Darian DeVries was leaving West Virginia to take the newly vacant head coaching job at Indiana, despite being at West Virginia for only one season, social media erupted into chaos with fans angrily posting their thoughts and feelings towards DeVries and the situation. Amidst all of the chaos, were some of his own players who contributed their thoughts using cryptic messages or just flat-out stating how they felt.
Shortly after the announcement of DeVries’s uproot from the university, it was announced that freshman standout Jonathan Powell was entering the transfer portal. This was yet another huge blow to the Mountaineer basketball team as the freshman guard was an elite three-point scorer who averaged 8.3 points per game in just his true freshman season. Powell was considered to be the future of Mountaineer basketball and to see him go so early was devastating to so many fans.
However, most of the players did not decide to uproot and leave West Virginia in the rearview mirror, in fact, a few of them expressed their dissatisfaction towards their coach and the decision he made. Last night, Javon Small took to Instagram and while not stating directly what he thought, he posted two laughing emojis on his story. These emojis were used in a satirical fashion displaying Small’s frustration with his coaches’ immediate departure from the program.
When Tucker DeVries went down, Small was there to put the team on his back and had an outstanding season. Small put up historic numbers and was nominated for many prestigious events due to his performance on the court in the Mountaineer blue. Despite doing all of that for not only his teammates and his coach, but to steer the program in the right direction, DeVries left seemingly destroying all of the hard work and progress Javon had made throughout the season.
Just as Javon Small did, center Eduardo Andre took to social media as well to express his thoughts on his coach departing from the program. Similarly to Small, Eduardo Andre could not do much more than laugh at the situation, posting the word “Lool” on his “X” account. Andre has now finished his playing career but still sympathizes with his teammates such as Sincere Harris and Kj Tenner who came to West Virginia to play for Coach DeVries.
Kj Tenner followed in his teammate’s footsteps and posted a photo on “X” of him wearing a warmup shirt with the words “Nothing Easy” on the front. This could be referring to DeVries taking the “easy” way out and abandoning ship just because his team did not make it into the tournament. It is speculated that Tenner is referring to Indiana making the process of making it back to the tournament “easier,” as Indiana has millions of dollars in NIL money that DeVries could use to build his ideal roster.
While these posts were of a cryptic nature, one player has taken to social media specifically stating not what he wants but rather who he wants. Sencire Harris took to “X” posting, “We want Fraz!!!” While there are many speculations about who the new head coach of the Mountaineers could be Sencire Harris seems to already have one in mind.
The move to Indiana by DeVries was not received well by Mountaineer fans. Despite being at the institution for only one year, DeVries managed to turn West Virginia basketball around as they were a serious contender for the NCAA Tournament. But it was not just the fans who were upset with his departure, but his own players as well. Now the search is on as athletic director Wren Baker is actively searching for new candidates to take DeVries’s place at the helm and bring Mountaineer basketball back to its former glory.
