March 25th, 2024 by WCBC Radio

Drake's Darian DeVries is West Virginia University next men's basketball coach, a five-year deal, the school announced Sunday. The hire comes in the wake of a nationwide search that saw WVU officials visit multiple candidates in person. DeVries had emerged as one of the country's top mid-major coaches in recent years, leading Drake to the NCAA tournament in three of the past four seasons. He has won at least 25 games in each of the past 4 seasons. DeVries takes the vacancy created when Bob Huggins left WVU amid a hailstorm of controversy in the wake of his DUI arrest in June. The school placed assistant coach Josh Eilert in charge for the 2023-24 season before reopening the search for Huggins' full-time replacement. DeVries' experience includes 17 seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton and 20 total seasons on staff with the Bluejays. His time there included working for both Dana Altman and Greg McDermott. DeVries takes over a WVU program that went 9-23 this season, including a 4-14 conference mark that tied for the bottom of the Big 12. The Mountaineers qualified for the NCAA tournament under Huggins in 13 of the prior 18 seasons a tournament was held, and they reached the Final Four in 2010.