Notre Dame Basketball: 8 early candidates to replace head coach Mike Brey

Darian DeVries

There’s certainly a list of deserving mid-major coaches ready to take the jump to the next level, and we’ll look at a few of those today. Sometimes, the most deserving coaches don’t immediately take the jump, sticking it out at their programs a few years after they become hot commodities. For someone like DeVries, this wasn’t a mistake because he remains a hot name in coaching circles.

DeVries played at Northern Iowa before spending nearly two decades on staff at Creighton, including for their first five years in the Big East. He became head coach at Drake back in 2018, giving him even more intimate familiarity with the MVC. With the Bulldogs, he tied for the regular season title in year one before getting an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament in year three. He’s won at least 20 games in his first four full seasons and has the Bulldogs in shape for another run at the MVC title this year.

Those five seasons on the Creighton bench are his only experience in a power conference atmosphere, but that shouldn’t dissuade the Fighting Irish. He’s shown that he can find talent in the Midwest, and a number of his recent Drake players are actually from Indiana. If he can win like this at Drake and can recruit that hotbed of a state, then he’s definitely someone Notre Dame should keep its eyes on.