Should Darian DeVries Have Won the Big 12 Coach of the Year Award?

Very few believed at the start of the season, myself included, that West Virginia would be able to put together a resume worthy of making the NCAA Tournament in the first year under new head coach Darian DeVries.

Boy, I, and a bunch of others were proved wrong.

This Sunday, the Mountaineers will hear their name called on Selection Sunday, returning to the dance for the first time since Bob Huggins last took them there in 2023.

West Virginia University head coach Darian DeVries | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

What DeVries was able to do this season, in my opinion, doesn't get talked about nearly enough on a national level. His best, or second-best player, Tucker DeVries, his son, was lost for the season just eight games in. WVU already had a short bench and lacked an offensive punch, so to overcome the injury, they needed Javon Small to play his tail off and for Darian DeVries to press all the right buttons in terms of managing games.

I could sit here all day long and pound the table for Javon Small to be the Big 12 Player of the Year, but I've done that enough, and you can read my thoughts on that robbery of an award, here.

But as far as the Big 12 Coach of the Year is concerned, it's hard for me to argue that it should be anyone else aside from Houston's Kelvin Sampson, who was rightfully named the recipient on Monday.

The Cougars went 19-1 in arguably the toughest league in college basketball. I don't care if they were expected to be up there at the top or not, that's an impressive feat that no one has ever done, partially because this is the first year with a 20-game conference slate.

Sampson would be my vote, but DeVries should have been recognized as well. He took over a mess of a situation, threw a team together over the summer, lost two scorers (DeVries and Jayden Stone) to injury and still found a way to beat three top-10 teams and make the tournament.

I mean, if the Big 12 can hand out TEN First Team All-Big 12 selections, I think they could do a split of the Big 12 Coach of the Year award.

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