Kansas State Basketball: 8 candidates to replace Bruce Weber as head coach

Darian DeVries

There are different types of coaches that will attract attention for Kansas State and we’d be remised to not run through some of the really successful mid-major coaches in the area. While the fans of Kansas State may want to make the splashiest hire possible, there are some smart resourceful coaches at the mid-major level. This one in particular is even a geographic match.

DeVries played his college ball at Northern Iowa, spent nearly two decades on the coaching staff at Creighton, and has led Drake basketball for the last four seasons. His work with the Bulldogs has been impressive, leading them to a regular-season title in his first season, an NCAA Tournament bid last season, and trips to the MVC Tournament finals each of the last two years. The Bulldogs, who weren’t exactly impressive the decade before his arrival, are also 48-24 in MVC play in his four seasons with the program.

The jump from MVC to Big 12 is a big one, but it’s one that Porter Moser has seemed to handle at Oklahoma. Clearly, DeVries doesn’t have the resume of Moser or some of the other coaches on this list, but he’s a scrappy young coach who always gets the best out of his lineups. Four straight 20-win seasons looked improbable a decade ago, but DeVries has Drake in position as one of the MVC’s very best programs. He could certainly bring excitement back to Manhattan, even if he’s a little more green than some of these other coaches.