Why DeVries? Baker Details WVU's Choice

Wren Baker explains why Darian DeVries was the right man for the job.

After a year of being able to closely follow other coaches around the country, WVU athletic director Wren Baker entered his search for the next men's head basketball coach with a clear picture of what exactly he was looking for.

"We had some qualities we desired in our next head coach. We wanted someone who understands and will embrace West Virginia values and what WVU is all about. The passion, the work ethic, the grit, resiliency, determination that makes us Mountaineers. Someone who is committed to building championship programs on the court, but building leaders off the court. Someone who can demonstrate a knowledge and a plan of navigating the complexity of college athletics today and running a basketball program in the world of the portal and name, image, and likeness. We wanted someone that we can be proud of and who can embrace the role of not just representing this program, but representing an entire state. Finally, we wanted someone who would entrench themselves in West Virginia. This is a great place to live and work. It's a privilege to represent Mountaineer Nation and we felt it was important for our next head coach and their family to put down roots and embrace this state and community."

It didn't take long for Baker to notice who stuck out the most and aligned with everything he and the WVU administration were searching for.

"We had tremendous interest from candidates all over the country in our program. (Inaudable) to lead a head coaching search as an AD and I've participated in several more in other roles. The interest in this position was as great as any other search that I've executed. What we heard from candidates was the passion of the fans, the resources we provide, our facilities, our history, and our tradition as well as the quality and depth of the Big 12 made this job very desirable.

"While we vetted and considered many candidates, one candidate stood above the others. Coach DeVries is a winner. He won big as an assistant at Creighton for two different head coaches before taking over a Drake program that had struggled to find consistency for decades. Drake has played basketball for 118 seasons. They've had eleven seasons where they won at least twenty games. Six of those occurred during his six years as head coach. In those 118 seasons, Drake has made seven NCAA Tournaments, three of those occurred during his six years as head coach. Over its history, Drake has won 47% of its games. Coach won 73% of his games during his six years. So 5% of the seasons coached, 55% of their winning seasons and over 40% of their NCAA appearances. So it's clear, we hired a winner.