Darian DeVries doesn’t need to set an alarm on his phone — his phone is either dead, or it’s being used to talk to coaches, players, agents and anyone else who can help set a foundation. He’s been to dinner in Bloomington a few times and taken brief hour-long breaks. Eventually, he says, he’ll get time to spend with his family and explore his new city.
But for Indiana men’s basketball’s new head coach, who was hired March 18 after one season at West Virginia University, there are more pressing boxes to check off.
“For the most part, it’s just full-go all the time,” DeVries told the Indiana Daily Student in a sit-down interview April 4. “It’s just part of the process.”
DeVries’ daily schedule includes a heavy dose of screen time — he spit-balled around 20 hours a day — and C4 energy drinks — he likes the Grape Frost and Orange Slice flavors. Most of his film work is done late at night or early in the morning.
Such is life for DeVries, who’s facing the daunting challenge of rebuilding Indiana’s roster from scratch. The Hoosiers lost seven scholarship players to the transfer portal and five to graduation. Four of Indiana’s seven transfers have already found new homes. Senior forward Luke Goode requested a medical waiver and is currently seeking a fifth year of eligibility.
The 50-year-old DeVries arrived in Bloomington open-minded about his roster and how many players he’d be able to retain — which, three weeks into his tenure, stands at zero.
“You’re kind of okay with, like, however that plays out is how it plays out,” DeVries said. “You don’t have a relationship with any of those kids as you come in. So, they got to do what’s best for them, and I certainly understand.”
DeVries has watched “some” of Indiana’s games from last year — not as much as he’d like, he said, because he hit the ground running with recruiting and hasn’t had the time. He looked more at individual players than watching the Hoosiers’ season at large, trying to gather information on the players he inherited and had sit-down meetings with before they chose to leave.
DeVries is already familiar with the process.
During his lone season at West Virginia, he had only one Mountaineer return from the year prior. Through his first four weeks on the job in Morgantown, West Virginia, DeVries had just two commitments: his son, Tucker, who’s now following his dad to Bloomington, and guard KJ Tenner, who originally signed to play for DeVries at Drake University.
All the while, seven players left West Virginia.
Such an exodus is understandable, DeVries said, because players committed to a different coaching staff. But it’s also a two-way street where the incoming coaching staff must make decisions on players.
“You need to do what’s best for you and make sure there’s a fit, whether it’s staying here or going somewhere else, and then vice versa — we’re in the process of the same way,” DeVries said. “Wasn’t necessarily their decision, so now they have a new decision to make of what they want to do to best finish off their careers.”
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In an ever-changing era of college athletics marked by name, image and likeness deals and mass player movements, DeVries hasn’t strayed from his core principles.
The same traits he thought players and coaches needed when he first took the head coaching job at Drake in 2018 — personality, enthusiasm, discipline and basketball-specific attributes such as defensive rebounding and limiting turnovers — are still emphasized.
And as DeVries starts building Indiana’s roster from the ground-up, he said he won’t sacrifice any of his foundational values while navigating the chaos of the transfer portal.
“I think the main thing is: are they about wanting to win, are they about wanting to get better? It’s more about what they’re about,” DeVries said. “Those things kind of shine through within conversations with people around them or with the kids. So, ultimately, we want guys that want come play for something bigger than themselves.”
When teams are built with selfless players, DeVries said chances rise to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. But the transfer portal, which has over 2,000 players in it as of April 13, offers a mixed bag of characters.
Still, DeVries hasn’t changed his approach to meeting with recruits — he’s asking the same questions and is focused on putting together a team with complementary skill sets. DeVries said NIL has added another component, forcing programs to manage money and figure out which prices work best for each player they’re recruiting.
It’s a time-consuming process. At West Virginia, DeVries didn’t pick up momentum on the recruiting trail until his fifth week, when he landed three players. He added two more commitments the next week.
Senior guard Javon Small, the Mountaineers’ leading scorer this past season, didn’t commit until May 1, 2024 — 38 days after DeVries officially took over.
DeVries started faster in Bloomington. Within DeVries’ first three weeks, Indiana received commitments from DePaul University guard Conor Enright and Davidson College forward Reed Bailey, while Tucker DeVries confirmed his intents to follow his father. Incoming freshman Trent Sisley, a four-star forward, also reaffirmed his commitment to Indiana.
With a portal past rooted in patience, Darian DeVries has reason to be unconcerned about his four-man roster — but his current high-screen-time, low-sleep lifestyle underscores the pressing nature of crafting his first Hoosier squad.
“Trust me, there is urgency to get a roster put together,” DeVries said. “There’s urgency in the guys we’re recruiting, and we feel really good about. We’re doing everything we can to try to get them, so we’re going to continue to always expand, but we got a lot of guys we’re recruiting. We’re pushing as hard as we can to get this roster built as quickly as possible.”
DeVries has been forced away from his preferred route of roster construction — he said in his introductory press conference March 19 he’d like to get two or three freshmen in each recruiting class, retain them over time and build from within.
But he acknowledged that’s not possible in Year 1. The Hoosiers, who missed the NCAA Tournament each of the past two years, are trying to get back to the heights reflected in the five national championship banners hanging inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
DeVries said banners will come when his team plays with joy, pride and selflessness that’s recognizable each time it takes the floor. But that only happens with non-negotiable standards and a commitment to building a strong locker room.
At West Virginia, DeVries spearheaded a 10-win improvement in his first season. He implemented his brand of basketball and took the Mountaineers from the Big 12 cellar to the first team left out of March Madness.
DeVries, naturally, wants to build a winner. He also wants to build a culture — something that starts with recruiting the right pieces willing to help establish his brand each day.
“Certainly, that first year, it’s harder, because so much of it has to come from your coaching staff,” DeVries said. “You’re trying to get that locker room to kind of think and act the way you want it to do. But in Year 2, hopefully there’s some carryovers that stay and now it starts to become from the locker room instead of just from the coaches.”
DeVries, a Midwesterner who grew up on a farm in Aplington, Iowa, said Indiana, with its history, tradition and resources, is one of a handful of schools he considers “a dream job.”
