Darian DeVries On Banners At Indiana: 'We Want To Put Another One Up There Beside Them'

Hoosiers On SI sat down with new Indiana basketball Darian DeVries on Friday. One topic was how he embraces the Indiana tradition.

Indiana Hoosiers head basketball coach Darian DeVries speaks to the media on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. / Clark Wade/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries is a child of the Midwest – he grew up on a farm in Aplington, Iowa.

Like other college basketball fans who were born in the 1970s and grew up in the Midwest, DeVries was  influenced by the limited college basketball he could watch in person and on television in that era.

In the days before wall-to-wall conference coverage and the likes of Big Ten Network, exposure to the Midwestern basketball conferences was via syndicated games of the week on outlets like Raycom. And it’s where he first got an impression of Indiana basketball.

“When you're growing up as a kid. I grew up in Iowa, so back then, it was the old Big 8 and Big Ten, with Iowa and Iowa State. You had both leagues right there, and that's what you followed,” DeVries said in an interview Friday with Hoosiers On SI.

“You didn't have all of the social media and TV coverage that you had for all those other leagues back then. So when you grow up in the Midwest those are the two leagues that you follow,” DeVries continued.

“Your familiarity with (the Big Ten) was here's these programs … and Indiana has always been one of those that was like way up here as a kid. They're good. It’s something that you carry with you and it sticks with you.”

In his still-to-be-decorated Cook Hall office, DeVries made that point to illustrate that he is aware of the Indiana basketball tradition. It means something to him. He is aware of how much it means to Hoosier Nation.

Since Indiana last won a national championship in 1987, the Hoosiers have been trying to recapture their glory as national title contenders. There have been high points – the early 1990s teams, the 2002 Final Four appearance, two Big Ten titles under Tom Crean – but too many low points for most Indiana fans to tolerate.

DeVries has observed it all for most of his life from a nearby perch. DeVries grew up in Aplington, a town of 1,000 in northern Iowa, played college basketball at Northern Iowa, and was a long-time assistant coach at Omaha-based Creighton under two coaches. He first became a head coach in 2018 at Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.

DeVries has only been inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall once before. It was on Nov. 19, 2015, when Creighton came to Indiana as part of the Big Ten-Big East Gavitt Games. DeVries was an assistant coach on Greg McDermott’s staff at the time.

It wasn’t a great day for the Bluejays as the Hoosiers – who would eventually win the Big Ten that season – won 86-65. But an impression was made on DeVries and it stuck.

“That one experience, even though that was a long time ago, you saw that the fans are going to be there,” DeVries said. “They’re coming, and they obviously want us to win and are very passionate about it.”

DeVries has been a part of passionate fan bases. When he was an assistant at Creighton, the Bluejays regularly sold out their 18,975-seat arena. West Virginia, where he coached last year, is renowned for its passionate fans.

Indiana is on a different level. It’s a place that expects to win, and many Indiana fans see it as a birthright that Hoosiers success is part of upholding the state of Indiana’s pride in being a basketball state. There’s something elemental about it that goes to the very heart of being from Indiana.

DeVries understands that and embraces it.

“From a coach standpoint, I think that's awesome. We want to win. We love the fact that this fan base has expectations to win and at a high level. We want to match those expectations, and we're going to do everything we can to do that,” DeVries said.

Last Saturday, DeVries experienced basketball in the state of Indiana in its purest form. He attended the Indiana High School Athletic Association state finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Orleans, Manchester, South Bend St. Joseph’s and Jeffersonville won state titles. DeVries was able to soak in the vibe.

“Even just going down to the state tournament for a day … basketball means a lot to this state and that's why this job is one of the best jobs in the country. That’s why it's so exciting to be leading this program. We want to bring that back to the highest level possible,” he said.

DeVries is also mindful of what happens when the standard that Indiana expects isn’t met. Parts of the fan base can get ugly when things don’t go well. Every coach who has followed Bob Knight has had an element of the Hoosiers faithful turn on them at some point.

The pressure is significant at Indiana, but DeVries understands that.

“At the end of the day, I don't think anybody's going to put more pressure on themselves to win than what I will,” DeVries said. “That pressure from the outside is not going to become more.”

DeVries, of course, hopes he can be successful from the get-go and avoid any consternation from the fans. Winning cures all ills, and it quiets the critics. DeVries cites his work ethic as one reason why Indiana will return to the winning ways fans expect.

“There’s nobody that's going to drive harder and push harder to get us there. My 100% effort is going to be to do that. Our expectation is that we're going to get it there,” DeVries said. “Control the controllables – and what we control is our effort and energy that we put into it to make that happen.”

Now that DeVries is the boss at Indiana, he can reflect on what got him here. He can also strive to give Indiana fans that elusive prize they’ve been chasing since 1987.

“A few years later, now you're the head coach at Indiana,” said DeVries, reflecting on the journey that brought him to Bloomington. “And you see those banners hanging in Assembly Hall. It's something that we want to strive to bring another one. We want to put another one up there beside them.”

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