Comparing Indiana's Darian DeVries To Other First-Year Coaches

Any time Indiana misses the NCAA Tournament, it's going to be viewed as a disappointing season.

There's been a lot of that lately, as the Hoosiers have reached the NCAA Tournament just twice in their last 10 tries –– both coming under Mike Woodson in 2022 and 2023. The rest of the decade includes two misses by Woodson, four misses by Archie Miller, one miss in Tom Crean's final season and a miss in Darian DeVries' first try.

Despite Indiana's poor recent history, the fan base annually maintains high expectations in hopes of returning to the national prominence it had during the Bob Knight era. The athletic department's financial commitment reflects an effort to get there. So after an 18-14 first season under DeVries, a large portion fan base is discouraged, though others are willing to give him time to build a program before drawing any major conclusions.

Now that the Hoosiers' season is officially over –– with Indiana missing the NCAA Tournament and announcing it will decline any other postseason invitations –– it's a good time to reflect on DeVries' first season. One way to do that is by comparing him to other first-year coaches. For the sake of brevity, we'll limit this list to DeVries and the other 14 first-year coaches from the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC and Big East.

The goal of this is not to say DeVries is destined for great success or epic failure at Indiana because he did better or worse than other coaches, rather to give a big-picture perspective on first-year coaches in college basketball. Each coach is subject to different circumstances, and successful coaches all have different timelines and paths.

We'll break this down into five categories: coaching backgrounds, recruiting, first-year records, postseason participation and metrics.

Darian DeVries Indiana Basketball — Indiana Hoosiers coach Darian DeVries against the Northwestern Wildcats at the United Center. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

First-year coaching backgrounds

Coach	Career record	Last season	Previous head coaching jobs	NCAA Tournament History	Regular season conference championships
Ben McCollum, Iowa	52-16 (.765)	31-4 at Drake	Drake (2024-25), Division II Northwestern Missouri State (2009-24)	2025 Round of 32; four Division II national championships	2025 Missouri Valley, 12 MIAA
Jai Lucas, Miami (FL)	25-8 (.758)	Duke assistant	None	None	None
Sean Miller, Texas	505-210 (.706)	22-12 at Xavier	Xavier (twice), Arizona	Four Elite Eight, Four Sweet 16, 14 appearances	Five Pac-10, Three Atlantic 10
Darian DeVries, Indiana	187-82 (.695)	19-13 at West Virginia	West Virginia (2024-25), Drake (2018-24)	Three Round of 64 appearances	2019 Missouri Valley
Will Wade, NC State	266-118 (.693)	28-7 at McNeese	McNeese (2023-25), LSU (2017-22), VCU (2015-17), Chattanooga (2013-15)	One Sweet 16, Three Round of 32, Three Round of 64	2016 Atlantic 10, 2019 SEC, 2024-25 Southland
Bucky McMillan, Texas A&M	120-63 (.656)	22-11 at Samford	Samford (2020-25)	2024 Round of 64	Two Southern Conference
Ryan Odom, Virginia	230-122 (.653)	28-7 at VCU	VCU (2023-25), Utah State (2021-23), UMBC (2016-21), Charlotte (2014-15)	One Round of 32, Two Round of 64	2021 American East, 2025 Atlantic 10
Ross Hodge, West Virginia	64-38 (.627)	27-9 at North Texas	North Texas (2023-25)	None	None
Buzz Williams, Maryland	385-249 (.607)	23-11 at Texas A&M	Texas A&M (2019-25), Virginia Tech (2014-19), Marquette (2008-14), New Orleans (2006-07)	One Elite Eight, Three Sweet 16, 11 total appearances	2013 Big East
Kevin Willard, Villanova	359-257 (.583)	27-9 at Maryland	Maryland (2022-25), Seton Hall (2010-22), Iona (2007-10)	One Sweet 16, Two Round of 32, Four Round of 64	2020 Big East
Richard Pitino, Xavier	262-204 (.562)	27-8 at New Mexico	New Mexico (2021-25), Minnesota (2013-21), FIU (2012-13)	Two Round of 32, Two Round of 64	2025 Mountain West
Niko Medved, Minnesota	237-190 (.555)	26-10 at Colorado State	Colorado State (2018-25), Drake (2017-18), Furman (2013-17)	Two Round of 32, One Round of 64	2017 Southern Conference
Luke Loucks, Florida State	18-15 (.545)	Sacramento Kings assistant	None	None	None
Steven Pearl, Auburn	17-16 (.515)	Auburn assistant	None	None	None
Alex Jensen, Utah	10-22 (.313)	Dallas Mavericks assistant	D-League Canton Charge (2013-15)	None	None

Ben McCollum Iowa Basketball — Iowa Hawkeyes coach Ben McCollum against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

First-year recruiting and roster building

(rankings per 247Sports Composite)

Coach	# of Incoming Transfers, Class Ranking	# of Incoming Freshmen, Class Ranking	Notable returning players
Ben McCollum, Iowa	8, 8th	3, 45th	Cooper Koch (7.7 ppg)
Jai Lucas, Miami (FL)	6, 21st	7, 16th	None
Sean Miller, Texas	5, 25th	3, 36th	Tramon Mark (13.5 ppg), Jordan Pope (13.3 ppg), Chendall Weaver (5.7 ppg), Nic Codie (4.0 ppg)
Darian DeVries, Indiana	10, 10th	1, 118th	None
Will Wade, NC State	8, 14th	3, 50th	Paul McNeil (13.9 ppg)
Bucky McMillan, Texas A&M	10, 20th	2, 62nd	None
Ryan Odom, Virginia	7, 28th	4, 26th	None
Ross Hodge, West Virginia	8, 35th	4, 51st	None
Buzz Williams, Maryland	9, 18th	3, 40th	None
Kevin Willard, Villanova	7, 64th	3, 43rd	Tyler Perkins (13.7 ppg)
Richard Pitino, Xavier	10, 38th	None	None
Niko Medved, Minnesota	9, 50th	1, 150th	Isaac Asuma (11.1 ppg)
Luke Loucks, Florida State	7, 58th	3, 141st	None
Steven Pearl, Auburn	4, 9th	6, 14th	Tahaad Pettiford (15.5 ppg)
Alex Jensen, Utah	7, 55th	1, 101st	Keanu Dawes (12.5 ppg)

Jai Lucas Miami — Miami Hurricanes coach Jai Lucas against the Delaware State Hornets at Watsco Center. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Overall record, conference record, conference finish

Ryan Odom, Virginia –– 29-5, 15-3, 2nd ACC
Jai Lucas, Miami (FL) –– 25-8, 13-5, 3rd ACC
Kevin Willard, Villanova –– 24-8, 15-5, 3rd Big East
Bucky McMillan, Texas A&M –– 21-11, 11-7, 4th SEC
Ben McCollum, Iowa –– 21-12, 10-10, 9th Big Ten
Will Wade, NC State –– 20-13, 10-8, 7th ACC
Ross Hodge, West Virginia –– 18-14, 9-9, 7th Big 12
Sean Miller, Texas –– 18-14, 9-9, 10th SEC
Darian DeVries, Indiana –– 18-14, 9-11, 10th Big Ten
Luke Loucks, Florida State –– 18-15, 10-8, 7th ACC
Steven Pearl, Auburn –– 17-16, 7-11, 11th SEC
Niko Medved, Minnesota –– 15-17, 8-12, 11th Big Ten
Richard Pitino, Xavier –– 15-18, 6-14, 10th Big East
Buzz Williams, Maryland –– 12-21, 4-16, 17th Big Ten
Alex Jensen, Utah –– 10-22, 2-16, 16th Big 12

Postseason participation

Ryan Odom, Virginia –– No. 3 seed NCAA Tournament
Jai Lucas, Miami (FL) –– No. 7 seed NCAA Tournament
Kevin Willard, Villanova –– No. 8 seed NCAA Tournament
Ben McCollum, Iowa –– No. 9 seed NCAA Tournament
Bucky McMillan, Texas A&M –– No. 10 seed NCAA Tournament
Sean Miller, Texas –– No. 11 seed NCAA Tournament (First Four)
Will Wade, NC State –– No. 11 seed NCAA Tournament (First Four)
Steven Pearl, Auburn –– No. 1 seed NIT
Niko Medved, Minnesota –– College Basketball Crown
Ross Hodge, West Virginia –– College Basketball Crown
Darian DeVries, Indiana –– missed NCAA Tournament, declined other invites
Luke Loucks, Florida State –– missed NCAA Tournament, declined other invites
Buzz Williams, Maryland –– Did not qualify
Alex Jensen, Utah –– Did not qualify
Richard Pitino, Xavier –– Did not qualify

Ryan Odom Virginia — Virginia Cavaliers coach Ryan Odom against the Duke Blue Devils during the ACC Tournament at Spectrum Center. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Metrics

(Ordered by NET rankings, KenPom overall, offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency)

Coach	NET ranking	KenPom Overall	Adjusted Offensive Efficiency	Adjusted Defensive Efficiency
Ryan Odom, Virginia	12	13	27	16
Ben McCollum, Iowa	27	25	31	30
Jai Lucas, Miami (FL)	32	31	33	38
Kevin Willard, Villanova	35	33	41	35
Will Wade, NC State	36	34	20	86
Steven Pearl, Auburn	38	38	15	107
Darian DeVries, Indiana	41	46	42	65
Sean Miller, Texas	42	37	13	112
Bucky McMillan, Texas A&M	44	39	49	41
Ross Hodge, West Virginia	59	59	154	17
Luke Loucks, Florida State	62	56	56	93
Niko Medved, Minnesota	81	77	88	72
Richard Pitino, Xavier	97	97	69	182
Alex Jensen, Utah	132	126	85	213
Buzz Williams, Maryland	138	120	133	127