Indiana basketball has hired Darian DeVries as its next head men’s basketball coach, the program announced Tuesday.
DeVries will leave his post as the head coach at West Virginia for the job with the Hoosiers.
DeVries had been viewed as a potential replacement for Fran McCaffery at Iowa.
McCaffery spent 15 seasons as Iowa’s head coach and is the program’s all-time winningest head coach. But one day after Iowa’s loss to Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament, Iowa decided to move in a different direction, ending McCaffery’s tenure at Iowa. The Hawkeyes missed the last two NCAA Tournaments.
More: Iowa basketball coaching search profile: Ben McCollum
DeVries has ties to Iowa — both the state and the university. He is an Iowa native, attended Aplington-Parkersburg High School and played basketball at Northern Iowa. DeVries’ brother, Jared, was a consensus All-American for the Hawkeye football program.
DeVries took his first head coaching job at Drake in 2018. DeVries spent six seasons as Drake’s head coach, where he led the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament three times, including in each of the last two seasons at the helm. DeVries won at least 20 games in each of his six seasons with the Bulldogs.
DeVries tallied a 150-55 overall record during his time as Drake’s head coach.
In 2024, DeVries left for the opening at West Virginia.
In his first season at West Virginia, DeVries led the Mountaineers to a 19-13 overall record. He helped West Virginia to multiple marquee wins, knocking off Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Iowa State.
In an unexpected turn, West Virginia did not make the NCAA Tournament this year. The Mountaineers were among the first four teams left out of the field of 68.
Combined between his Drake and West Virginia tenures, DeVries holds an overall record of 169-68 (.713). He has been to the NCAA Tournament three times.
DeVries to Iowa would’ve made sense on multiple levels. But that won’t come to fruition.
He will instead take over at a Big Ten foe. Indiana has featured a revolving door of head coaches as the program tries to revitalize the winning ways it achieved under Bob Knight. DeVries will try to be the solution to that.
So where could Iowa go from here?
It’s important to note that coaching searches are not an exact science. If you have been following the developments around Iowa and other college jobs over the last few days, it’s likely you get a sense that the public narrative can change rather quickly. That is the nature of this business.
The two names that have generated the most public buzz for the Iowa opening are DeVries and Drake’s Ben McCollum.
Like DeVries, McCollum has ties to the state of Iowa. McCollum was born in Iowa City and raised in Storm Lake. He started his playing career at North Iowa Area Community College.
In 15 seasons as the head coach at Division II Northwest Missouri State, McCollum tallied an overall record of 394–91 (.812). He helped lead Northwest Missouri State to four Division II national titles in his 15 seasons at the helm.
And McCollum has continued to win at Drake.
This is his first season with the Bulldogs. After the departure of coach Darian DeVries to West Virginia, McCollum hasn’t missed a step. At 30-3 overall, Drake won both the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships and is in the NCAA Tournament. Drake plays Missouri in the round of 64 on Thursday.
There is basically one major hole in McCollum’s resume. He has been a head coach at the Division I level for just one season. He has never been at a power conference program.
McCollum proved his winning ways translate from Division II to Division I, but would it also translate from mid-major to high-major?
Few things are guaranteed in coaching searches — if any at all. This means that it’s not certain that Iowa will be able to land McCollum. Or for director of athletics Beth Goetz to throw a curveball. The unknown is the beauty — and danger — of the coaching carousel.
It’s not like there aren’t other intriguing options out there. But the bigger question is how realistic it would be for them to end up at Iowa.
Mississippi State’s Chris Jans has ties to the state of Iowa. Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun took the program to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at the helm. There is a litany of names that could fit, as we outlined last week.
We’re not going to speculate what might be going through Goetz’s mind at this moment. Because, as history has proven, there isn’t an excess of certainty floating around. Not just at Iowa, but for jobs across the country.
DeVries is out of the equation now. At least on paper, McCollum is a logical target. Beyond that, it gets murkier.
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at [email protected]
