Oklahoma State Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Mike Boynton as Head Coach

Darian DeVries

There’s always a collection of names that have had success at the mid-major level that everyone expects to soon make the jump to a bigger job. Several of those names were hired last season, but one who remains entrenched at his school is DeVries. Fortunately for him, he’s become an even more attractive candidate after what he’s accomplished this season.

DeVries played his college ball at Northern Iowa after growing up in the state and then spent twenty seasons at Creighton under Dana Altman and Greg McDermott. A full-time assistant for many of those years, he garnered plenty of experience before becoming head coach at Drake in 2018. These six years have been filled with success, including three trips to the Big Dance and 150 wins to date. DeVries led the Bulldogs to a second consecutive MVC Tournament title this season as well.

It’s only a matter of time before a bigger school scoops up DeVries. He’s a native of Iowa and has experience coaching and working in the right part of the country, even if he’s never worked directly in Oklahoma. The jump to the Big 12 would certainly be significant, but he’s spent more than half a decade turning Drake into a mid-major power and could have similar success with time and resources with these Cowboys.