Wondering why Darian DeVries had to leave after only a year? Well, West Virginia’s been on the other side of this equation before.
Bob Huggins was in this position in 2007, having taken the job at Kansas State in 2006 after his firing at Cincinnati. West Virginia wasn’t supposed to come open, but John Beilein took the job at Michigan after Tommy Amaker’s firing, and the Mountaineers needed a new coach. And despite Huggins knowing it wasn’t right to leave Kansas State after one year, he couldn’t say no to West Virginia. For him, it was a destination job.
Indiana is that for most college basketball coaches, whether or not they’ve ever seen Assembly Hall.
Five banners say a lot that needs to be said about Indiana’s blue blood status. (Hoosier fans certainly never tire of reminding Purdue fans that they have five titles and the Boilermakers’ best finish is runner-up). And while they haven’t won a title since 1987, Indiana takes its basketball very seriously.
Darian DeVries Had To Leave Because Indiana’s Still a Blue Blood
No, the Hoosiers haven’t been a national program in several years, but history has its perks. Unless you’re going to coach in the Big East, you’re going to be the No. 2 or even No. 3 coach at your school at most power conference schools. Football is king in most places, and that’s true at West Virginia too. No matter how many games Darian DeVries won in Morgantown, he would always run second to Rich Rodriguez.
That’s not the case at Indiana. And that’s even true with Curt Cignetti resurrecting Indiana football.
In Bloomington, the situation is completely different. No matter how many games Cignetti wins in the fall, he’s the one who’s going to be No. 2 at Indiana. Basketball is in Indiana’s blood, and in the NIL era, the Hoosiers are going to spend whatever it takes to be a national program. It staggers Indiana fans that the Hoosiers haven’t won anything notable in years and that Matt Painter has Purdue rolling.
Even as Indiana beat the heck out of Purdue 66-0 in football, it paled to the fact that the Hoosiers won one against the Boilers on the hardwood. If DeVries wins in Bloomington, he’ll be treated as a hero. And the Indiana alumni base will make sure he lacks for nothing to try to catch the Boilermakers. That’s a big reason why Darian DeVries had to leave.
Indiana Has a Natural Talent Base
As Gov. Patrick Morrissey said in his rant against the NCAA, the Mountaineers are all that West Virginia has. And while that means West Virginia fans take the Mountaineers very seriously, it also means that there’s not anywhere in the state to really recruit for basketball.
Between the men’s team and the women’s team, there were 29 rostered players this season. Not one is from West Virginia. And that’s going to be the case more often than not, because West Virginia has no real cities to recruit from. The nearest big city to Morgantown is Pittsburgh, and obviously, the Mountaineers have to go head-to-head with Pitt there.
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Indiana’s men’s basketball team has five players from Indiana, and that’s with Mike Woodson doing such a poor job of recruiting around the state that his nickname was Bigfoot. (As in, seeing him recruiting Indiana players was as rare as a Bigfoot sighting). If you successfully recruit Indianapolis and its suburbs, you win basketball games. Woodson did not, which is why he’s gone. But Matt Painter has done this perfectly at Purdue, as the Boilermakers start four players from the state of Indiana. You’ve probably heard of a few of them: Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
That’s the reality of being the Indiana basketball coach: there is more than enough talent to go around. To win at West Virginia, you have to get creative. To win at Indiana, you just have to show up. That’s what DeVries is heading to in Bloomington; you go where the talent is.
Indiana Has More Money
Here’s another part of the NIL era and why Darian DeVries had to leave: the Big Ten and the SEC are printing money. Indiana can afford to pay a massive buyout to West Virginia because it competes in the Big Ten and is going to be cashing big checks for years to come. What’s more, the Hoosiers have plenty of powerful alumni who care greatly about the state of the basketball program.
West Virginia just cannot match these advantages in basketball. And the Mountaineers wouldn’t be smart to try. Their biggest revenue sport is always going to be football, and that’s where they should invest the bulk of their dollars. West Virginia can certainly win in basketball, but it’s never going to be on the level of a blue blood in this sport. And that’s OK.
West Virginia Shouldn’t Feel Jilted
Does Darian DeVries leaving after one year sting? Sure. But the reality is that DeVries appears to have only considered doing so for two jobs: Iowa, where he’s from, and Indiana, a genuine basketball blue blood. It would be one thing if DeVries left for just any job in the Big Ten. If Mike Rhoades had been fired and DeVries had left for Penn State, that would be a slap in the face. Even with its football money and Big Ten status, Penn State is not a better basketball job than West Virginia.
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But Indiana…just is. And it is because it is one of a select group of schools that unquestionably put basketball first. That group includes Connecticut, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana and Purdue. North Carolina and UCLA, while both blue bloods, seem to focus about equally on football. But at those schools, if you win in basketball, you’re untouchable. DeVries could have the Indiana job for a quarter century if he wants it. And if he’d said no, he probably never gets the chance again.
West Virginia is a good job in a good league. It will get a quality coach. But the simple fact is that with this opportunity, Darian DeVries had to leave.
