Report: Darian DeVries Among Top Candidates For Indiana Basketball Job

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana and West Virginia were the first two teams left out of the NCAA Tournament, and now they've been connected in the coaching carousel.

According to national college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman, West Virginia coach Darian DeVries "has emerged as one of - if not the top candidate for the Indiana job. I'm told by sources that nothing is done yet, but that DeVries could wind up being the guy. Drake's Ben McCollum and a third "mystery" candidate still in the mix as well."

West Virginia's Darian DeVries has emerged as one of - if not the top candidate for the Indiana job - source told @TheFieldOf68.

I'm told by sources that nothing is done yet, but that DeVries could wind up being the guy. Drake's Ben McCollum and a third "mystery" candidate…
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 18, 2025

DeVries just wrapped up his first season at West Virginia, which was arguably a bigger NCAA Tournament snub than Indiana. Going into Selection Sunday, the Mountaineers were included in 111 of 111 tournament projections on bracketmatrix.com, but ultimately got left out. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey has even asked to launch an investigation into the matter.

DeVries led the Mountaineers to a 19-13 overall record and a 10-10 mark in the Big 12, good for eighth place. West Virginia finished No. 51 in the NET and went 6-10 in Quad 1, including wins over No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 24 Arizona, No. 7 Kansas and No. 2 Iowa State.

The Mountaineers rank No. 53 in KenPom, with the nation's No. 131 offensive efficiency and No. 15 defensive efficiency. Guard Javon Small became an All-American candidate after transferring in from Oklahoma State. West Virginia also played without Tucker DeVries, Darian's son, for all but eight games. He'd been averaging 14.9 points per game prior to his injury.

West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker discussed rumors around DeVries during an appearance on the Metronews Sportsline Podcast.

“I think the first thing I would caution people is I’ve ran searches and I would say less than 10% of what you read and the speculation out there is true," Baker said. "Social media and the internet and message boards and all of that has certainly created a lot of awareness and attention and there’s some positives to that, but there’s also a lot of negatives. There’s not a lot of fact-checking that goes on with a lot of that. I’ve been in situations on both sides of this where you’re not having a good season and you’re having to contemplate making some hard decisions and where you’ve had a good season and you have people trying to come talk to your coaches."

DeVries landed the West Virginia job after a successful run at Drake. Across six seasons, DeVries had a 150-55 overall record (.732 win percentage) and a 78-33 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. He led the Bulldogs to one regular season conference title, two conference tournament championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. Drake finished second in the Missouri Valley his final four seasons. In 2023-24, Drake ranked No. 40 in offensive efficiency and No. 73 in defensive efficiency.

The Bulldogs earned No. 10, 11 and 12 seeds under DeVries and lost in the Round of 64 each time. Despite the early exits, DeVries accounted for three of the program's seven all-time NCAA Tournament appearances. Before DeVries, Drake hadn't been to the tournament since 2008, and before that, 1971. Drake went 17-17 the year prior to DeVries' arrival and and had single-digit wins in the three previous seasons.

DeVries, 49, was an assistant at Creighton from 2001-18 under current Oregon coach Dana Altman and current Creighton coach Greg McDermott.

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