Darian DeVries Outlines Plan For Indiana Basketball

Darian DeVries was introduced Wednesday as the new head Indiana basketball coach.

Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries speaks at his introductory press conference at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Athletic director Scott Dolson didn’t know it at the time, but he was watching Indiana’s next basketball coach.

No. 12 seed Drake led No. 5 seed Miami by five at halftime during the 2023 NCAA Tournament in Albany, N.Y., as Dolson waited for the fourth-seeded Hoosiers to take on Kent State later that night. That’s when Dolson first became familiar with Darian DeVries, and he was impressed, despite the Bulldogs seven-point loss.

Their paths crossed again in November as Indiana and West Virginia participated in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. The Mountaineers were coming off a 9-23 under interim coach Josh Eilert, and DeVries rebuilt the roster with eight transfers and three freshmen going into his first season. 

As 15.5-point underdogs, West Virginia upset No. 3 Gonzaga 86-78 in overtime. Dolson watched with more of a fan’s perspective that day, not knowing he’d be looking for a new coach, but that performance from DeVries’ team stuck in his mind.

“We sat there after that game just going, ‘Wow, so impressive how West Virginia played,’” Dolson said Wednesday. “And so I kind of knew him. Certainly when we realized that we were going to be in a search, his name then was in the back of my mind, would he be a candidate.”

About four months later, Dolson introduced DeVries as Indiana’s head basketball coach, replacing Mike Woodson after four seasons with an 82-53 record and two NCAA Tournament appearances. Dolson had over a month to really search for a new coach after announcing Feb. 7 that Woodson would step down after the season, but the process quickly sped up.

Indiana and West Virginia were the first two teams left out of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, beginning Dolson’s hiring timeline in earnest and making DeVries available. Dolson highlighted factors that made DeVries the choice. 

DeVries has won consistently – a .713 win percentage in seven seasons as a head coach with five 24-plus win seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances – and generated significant turnarounds in his first seasons at previously unsuccessful programs. He coaches a modern offense and a tough, blue-collar defense that recruits want to play. He’s a proven developer and evaluator, and he has embraced modern roster construction strategies. Lastly, Dolson talked to many people who vouched for DeVries’ work ethic and character, and he noticed DeVries’ passion to build the identity of Indiana basketball. 

“I got a text last night late from a father of a former player of ours who Darian had recruited out of high school, and that parent texted me just to say, ‘Wow, you hit a home run,’” Dolson said. “… And said that he is an absolute perfect fit on and off the court. His style is going to really resonate, particularly how he looks forward.”

DeVries, 49, took the West Virginia job almost exactly one year ago, and he said Wednesday his intention was to continue building that program. But as an Aplington, Iowa, native who grew up watching Big Ten basketball, he saw Indiana – a program he considers one of the sport’s biggest brands – as a dream job he could not pass up.

From his first conversation with Dolson, DeVries emphasized that he felt alignment in their vision to build sustainable, high-level success at Indiana. He believes Indiana has some of the best resources in the country and everything is in place for an opportunity to win at a high level. 

But he also said resources alone do not win games. That starts with being process-oriented and recruiting players who want to be part of something special.

“We will know when we have made it when every time a fan, a booster, an alumni, or a former player comes to watch us play and turns on the TV, and after that game is over, that they are filled with pride because they have so much respect for how our team plays, how unselfish they are, the joy they play with, and the enthusiasm they play with and their love for this university,” DeVries said.

“Once we get there where everyone can watch us on a nightly basis and they can say with great pride on a consistent level that, ‘That is my team,’ that’s when the banners will rise again.”

DeVries takes over an Indiana program with five seniors set to graduate – Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, Oumar Ballo, Langdon Hatton and Dallas James – and a sixth in Luke Goode, who would like to return to Indiana if his medical hardship waiver is approved. Gabe Cupps and Malik Reneau have entered the transfer portal but could return, while decisions have not been publicly announced by Myles Rice, Mackenzie Mgbako, Kanaan Carlyle, Bryson Tucker and Jakai Newton.

DeVries plans to meet individually with these players. He’s open to retaining players from the 2024-25 roster if the fit makes sense for both parties, but understands that may not be the case with everyone. He shared some insight into how he plans to balance high school and transfer portal recruiting, while recognizing that might be different going into year one.

“In our ideal world we would build it from high school up,” DeVries said. “This first year, that's not possible. We're going to have to fill some holes in the roster through the portal, and then your hope is in each year, you might lose a guy or two. Your hope is they love it here so much that nobody ever wants to leave here, and then you replace a few guys from the portal.”

DeVries took over a Drake program that went .500 or below in six straight seasons prior to his arrival, including three straight years with single-digit wins. He went 24-10 with a conference title in his first season. He revitalized West Virginia in a similar manner, going from nine wins before he arrived to 19 wins in year one. 

NCAA Tournament appearances are the bare-minimum standard at Indiana, which fell short the last two seasons. As he tries to take the Hoosiers back to the big dance, DeVries said those quick turnarounds start on the front end with recruiting. 

“I think when you're very particular about the guys you recruit and don't give into it, the process is the process,” DeVries said. “Your standards are your standards. Make sure that when we go out that we're not making exceptions to what we believe is important. … We just really believe that locker room is critical because you cannot survive without a good locker room.”

Dolson mentioned he wants a consistent identity with the program moving forward. From a style of play standpoint, that wasn’t always present with Woodson’s teams. DeVries highlighted shooting as a huge priority as he builds his first Indiana team.

When describing his offensive style of play, he referred to what he learned as an assistant coach at Creighton under Greg McDermott from 2010-18. After a missed shot or turnover, DeVries wants his team to score within the first 12 seconds, because he thinks the best way to score is on a broken floor before the defense is set. He took that from McDermott and used it at Drake and West Virginia. He also prefers up-tempo, energetic and detailed-oriented practice sessions where everyone goes as hard as they can for an hour or hour-and-a-half.

West Virginia ranked 44th in 3-point attempt rate this season but just 235th in 3-point percentage at 32.5%. DeVries' last two Drake teams shot 36.6% and 37% from beyond the arc, which ranked top-50 nationally. His son, Tucker, was a big part of that as a career 37% 3-point shooter at Drake and West Virginia. The 6-foot-7 guard/forward missed all but eight games in 2024-25 due to a shoulder injury, but he’s expected to transfer to Indiana. Tucker was named Missouri Valley Conference player of the year two years in a row, and his shooting ability is what DeVries looks for.

“Overall, shooting is a critical piece,” DeVries said. “We're in a pretty decent spot. We lost a couple of our better shooters to injury this year, so it did impact a little bit of our overall shooting for the season. But as we move forward and build a roster and roster construction, we want plenty of depth in the shooting areas because I think you can't win if you don't make shots.”

DeVries’ hiring comes at a critical time for Indiana. The program has five national championship banners hanging at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, but the last came in 1987 with no Final Four appearances after 2002. For most of the last two decades, it hasn’t come close to achieving those aspirations.

That put pressure on the last three hires, Tom Crean, Archie Miller and Mike Woodson, and that pressure is going nowhere with DeVries at the helm. But instead of running from it, he’s welcoming it head on.

“I hope everybody, every fan base wants to win,” DeVries said. “I want to win. We all want to win. The passion is awesome. You want passion in a fan base. You want that. You thrive off that. Our players thrive off that. Nobody is going to want to win as bad as I do or our players do or our staff does or our fans do. So from my standpoint, let's do that together. As a fan base, as a community, let's rally around one another to let's go make this thing happen and let's take this thing to as high a level as we can.

“I think you embrace everything about the past,” DeVries said. “That's awesome. Our history is our history, and it's a great history. Why would we not want to embrace that? Now my job is what the future looks like, and that's what we want to do is we want to be a part of that history and be a positive part of that history. That for us is, like all former players and alumni from here, yeah, we want to embrace them. That's awesome. This is their program. They built this thing. We want to be a big part of that as we move forward. That's our goal.”

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