What Makes Darian DeVries A Winning Head Coach? He Doesn’t Compromise Principles

In the final part of a series on what makes Darian DeVries tick as a successful coach, the Indiana head coach illustrates the principles he's used as a head coach to win.

Drake head coach Darian DeVries calls to players during a men's basketball game at the Knapp Center on Saturday, November 25, 2023 in Des Moines. / Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When Drake went hunting for its fourth head coach of the decade in the 2018 offseason, the program was in a familiar place.

The coaching regimes of previous coaches Mark Phelps and Ray Giacoletti had fizzled out. Niko Medved, just recently named Minnesota’s head coach from Colorado State, got the job at Colorado State after a single .500 season at Drake.

That was thought to be a pretty good season at Drake, especially in year one. Considering that Drake had only been .500 or better seven times since 1982, it’s no wonder Medved took advantage of his .500 season at Drake to move to Colorado State.

This is what Darian DeVries confronted when he was hired as Drake’s coach in that 2018 offseason. There was excitement about his arrival at the small Des Moines, Iowa, private school.

DeVries came from a winning program at Creighton, and he is an Iowa native. . And Drake did have a basketball practice facility (not every Missouri Valley Conference team has one) that was less than a half-decade old at the time.

Still, success at Drake had eluded so many coaches. But DeVries made it look easy.

Drake was 24-10 overall and 12-6 in the MVC in DeVries’ first season. The Bulldogs tied for first place with a Loyola team that had much of its personnel back from what had been a Final Four team the season before.

And DeVries never stopped succeeding. The Bulldogs won at least 20 games every year, had only one losing MVC season and made the NCAA tournament three times when DeVries was there from 2018-24 Drake had been in the NCAA Tournament just once since 1971 until DeVries arrived.

So what made DeVries so successful right away? In earlier stories, we looked into his background growing up on a farm, something that formed his work ethic. His 20 years on the staff of two different Creighton coaches gave him grounding.

Once he took over himself, what did DeVries rely on to win?

“I think it all comes back to having great people around you, a great staff, and great players in that locker room about all of the right things,” DeVries said in an interview with Hoosiers On SI.

DeVries has also talked in other contexts about piecing his rosters together. He wants toughness. He wants players who fit together from an X and O standpoint. But just as important is a group that is ultra-competitive. For DeVries, it’s a trait you seek out and covet when you get it.

“You put a bunch of competitive guys in a room that all want to win. Your chances of winning go up, and that's what we've really tried to do and focus on,” DeVries said.

“I've said before, a lot of those wins and losses are done before you've even played a game, and that's why you have to be so stubborn making sure that you stay true to what you want that to look like,” DeVries added.

The principles that DeVries holds dear stand to reason. He doesn’t intend to deviate from that standard at Indiana.

“You take care of the ball, you defensive rebound, you play with discipline and toughness and those types of things. That's what we want, some energy, some enthusiasm, some love for the game,” DeVries said.

Right now, Indiana is in the middle of building a roster. When this was written, Conor Enright, Tucker DeVries and Reed Bailey checked the boxes that DeVries wants in terms of building a roster. He has several more spots to fill.

Nonetheless, the culture has to come from the top. DeVries knows that piecing together his coaching staff was a big key. Nick Norton, Drew Adams, Kenny Johnson and Mike Bargen are the coaches DeVries has brought on to get things started. It will be on them to set the culture for the new players being pieced together.

“I think you try to win it on the front end as you're recruiting. Then when they get there it's just kind of having that (culture) established every day,” DeVries said.

As he gets started at Indiana, DeVries has a conception of how building the culture will play out.

“Certainly, that first year it's harder because so much of it has to come from your coaching staff as you're trying to get that locker room to kind of think and act the way you want it to do,” DeVries said.

“Then in year two, hopefully there's some carryover. Some guys stay, and I would say (culture) starts to come from the locker room, instead of always just from the coaches,” DeVries continued.

These are the ingredients that DeVries has used to go 169-68 as a Division I head coach. Indiana will hope that his recipe works in the Big Ten and restores the Hoosiers to championship contention its fans expect.

Part 1: From the farm to the bright lights of Indiana.

Part 2: Long Creighton stint allowed Darian DeVries to learn from two successful head coaches.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• DEVRIES WON'T BE RUSHED TO PUT ROSTER TOGETHER: Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVres is committed to achieving the right fit with his roster and he won't be rushed. CLICK HERE.

• DEFENSE COMES FIRST WITH DEVRIES: When building his teams, defense is the first priority for new Indiana men's basketball coach Darian DeVries. CLICK HERE.

• DEVRIES EMBRACES INDIANA TRADITION: In an interview with Hoosiers On SI, Darian DeVries discussed how he intends to uphold Indiana's tradition of winning. CLICK HERE.

• DARIAN DEVRIES CONTRACT DETAILS: Indiana athletics released details of Darian DeVries contract on Thursday. CLICK HERE.