After March Madness snub, West Virginia’s Darian DeVries could be on the move to blue-blood program

Darian DeVries narrowly missed out on the NCAA Tournament his first season at West Virginia, and now the former Drake head coach could be on the move again. Indiana also ended up on the wrong side of the March Madness bubble, losing out to North Carolina, and with head coach Mike Woodson stepping down, the Hoosiers are reportedly interested in hiring DeVries away from Morgantown. 

According to the Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, DeVries is emerging as the favorite to replace Woodson. After spending just one season as a Power Conference head coach, DeVries could land a blue-blood job with the task of reviving a long-dormant Big Ten giant. 

Darian DeVries reportedly the favorite to replace Mike Woodson at Indiana

DeVries led West Virginia to a 19-13 overall record with a 10-10 record in Big 12 play. Much of his success with the Mountaineers came after his son and star player Tucker DeVries went down with a season-ending injury. After losing most of the year and only playing eight games, DeVries could potentially be eligible for an additional season of eligibility and would undoubtedly follow his father to Indiana. 

DeVries led Drake to the NCAA Tournament three times over his six seasons as the program’s head coach, winning at least 20 games every year. However, he failed to win a game with the Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament, something his replacement Ben McCollum will look to do as an 11-seed this week. 

McCollum made the jump to Drake from Divison 2 Northwest Missouri State, bringing this year’s Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz with him. McCollum outdid DeVries best years at Drake, winning 30 games en route to MVC regular season and tournament titles. That season has vaulted him onto Indiana’s radar as well after just one-year as a Divison 1 head coach. 

If the Indiana job goes to McCollum or a “mystery candidate” as Goodman mentioned in his report, that doesn’t necessarily mean DeVries will stay put in Morgantown. He learned first hand that despite being a power conference, the Big 12 is not the Big Ten or SEC (which got 14 teams into the NCAA Tournament field), and he may be interested in jumping to a program in one of the sport’s two power brokers. 

Indiana isn’t the only Big Ten job open this offseason. After getting bounced early in the Big Ten tournament, Iowa moved on from longtime head coach Fran McCaffery, and the Hawkeyes could be another fit for DeVries. 

The coaching carousel will move quickly this offseason, and getting snubbed on Selection Sunday may have been a good thing for DeVries who could now be the first domino to fall.

UPDATE: DeVries not a candidate at Iowa

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported on Tuesday that DeVries is not a candidate for the Iowa job, quelling speculation about his next steps.