Darian DeVries Accepts West Virginia Job, Off Oklahoma State’s Coaching Board
The Oklahoma State Cowboys have now missed out on two prime candidates.
The college basketball coaching carousel is in the early stages, and things will continue to move as the NCAA Tournament progresses. Oklahoma State happens to be one of the open jobs as they parted ways with Mike Boynton after a 12-20 finish this past season.
One of the first candidates was Dusty May of Florida Atlantic after consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, though he inked a five-year deal with Michigan. Another coach the Cowboys could have targeted was Drake’s Darian DeVries.
DeVries, like May, is now off the board. He’s going to a competitor of the Cowboys’, though, as he’s going to be the next head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Mountaineers finished bottom-table in the Big 12, just below the Cowboys.
Drake has appeared in three of the past four NCAA Tournaments under DeVries’ leadership, something Oklahoma State could have greatly benefited from. Instead, one of their Big 12 foes in West Virginia will get his head coaching services.
Two of Oklahoma State’s potential targets are now off the board, and their focus should now turn their focus to Utah State’s Danny Sprinkle. He’s the next best option in the carousel, as things stand now, after a successful season at Utah State. His season came to a close in the Round of 32 in a blowout loss to Purdue, though a tournament appearance is much better than Oklahoma State’s season.
Will Wade is another name on the potential board for Chad Weiberg and Oklahoma State to pursue, though there are still some big-name jobs needing to be filled, such as Louisville.
Whatever direction Oklahoma State decides to go in, they need to so quickly. The coaching carousel will continue moving on, but the new head coach needs to get to Stillwater to try and retain its talent from a season ago while filling out the roster from the transfer portal.
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