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It also said the coaches who aren’t announced will steer working behind the scenes. It seems like a weird approach but I don’t think it will handicap anyone.

I hope I’m wrong but I think Iowa has more deep tournament runs over the next five years than we do. It will be interesting to watch!

“Vindicated” is such a weird word, like there are winners and losers here. This is not Mad Max. It’s a message board. All the podcast did was say it was DeVries before anyone else had that, suggesting Curry Hicks had a great source. But that source also suggested “someone really ******* big”—and Curry Hicks was careful to say it was the level of Stevens without saying it was or was not Stevens—was in play as late as Sunday. So people saying Chris and the others hallucinated the Brad to IU possibilities—I just don’t think they did. Some version of “Brad listened and considered but ultimately said no again” was true. And the podcast offers some national context that corroborates what they were hearing. People want to pick fights and accuse and blame and that’s just so childish. Even Curry Hicks doesn’t know what really happened. Dolson and Whitten are probably the only ones who know the full story. But the podcast is more smoke that supports Chris et al, so I figured I’d share it

Not necessarily but I have no reason to think Chris or the other insiders were lying. And the Hicks context is a national clue that aligns with what they said. Also the fact that Hicks knew DeVries before almost anyone else suggests the other part of his report is true—there really was a big candidate who was in until the last minute. It’s hard for me to imagine Stevens backing out again but that’s where the telephone stuff comes into play. Or maybe Dolson didn’t need anyone to give a final yes or no until the season ended. Who knows? We will never know everything.

That’s why I’m curious why he said no! But if he was just waffling about college vs the NBA or something I totally agree.

Sure I’d love to see it. I’ve never sent anyone a DM because I try to respect everyone’s time and sanity, lol. But I’m definitely curious what happened and if we have hints on why he said no. Thanks for replying. You and the others made the last few weeks very fun. And I agree—I’m more a McCollum guy than a DeVries guy, but I think this hire will make us very good next year. I see the vision.

I’m starting a new thread because (understandably) a lot of posters just want to look forward. But I think this info is useful for contextualizing what @Chris007 and @BehindTheBench and @GP711 were passing along. On Monday night, March 17, a full day before the DeVries news leaked, Curry Hicks Sage on his influential national podcast said that IU seemed out on McCollum and that it was between DeVries and “someone really ******* big.” Curry also said he meant someone like Stevens, even if he didn’t know who exactly it was. This podcast has the best info of anyone—even better than Trilly. I think it’s easy to connect the dots here and say that our insiders had heard for weeks that Stevens was in serious talks and that he ultimately declined this weekend. Dolson didn’t want to get caught flat footed again so he had also been working for weeks on backups, including DeVries. Once Stevens was out, Dolson pivoted. There’s obviously a game of telephone between the donors here, which may explain why @BehindTheBench heard that Stevens said yes while @Chris007 heard only that Stevens had not said no. Also, I still have a lot of questions, mostly involving why exactly Stevens said no a second time. My sense was always that Chris was pretty optimistic based on his info—the Center Grove house, for instance—but that he tried to keep his optimism in check so as not to repeat the heartbreak of the last search. He and most of the other insiders were clearly trying to be level headed, and I appreciate them doing that. I understand why some other posters still feel misled about Stevens, but the Curry Hicks Sage podcast suggests this was all real. Again, I have no idea why Stevens said no. I am curious to hear any other details people want to share—not just on Stevens but also on whether McCollum was actually Dolson’s choice over DeVries, as Chris hinted. I can’t be the only who hopes that @JerryYeagley23 shares more intel at some point too. I’m excited for the new coach, but I’m also curious if we can get any closure on our shared month of insanity. And I wanted to point to the podcast that backed up our insiders.

Not sure if this has been posted but good analysis of DDV’s offense—note the modern small ball consistency: https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/article/deep-dive-statistical-analysis-to-understand-the-darian-devries-offense-229278704/

Note the dates. Maybe DDV was Scott’s guy all along?

The buyout is another consequence of Woodson getting a fourth year. We could have hired DD from Drake. Instead we pay five million in NIL and a five million buyout now for a lost season. Incredible.

This is the biggest piece of intel so far, IMO. Thamel is much less likely to spin compared to Goodman. other posters are warming me up to DeVries. But my heart belongs to McCollum and I feel like he’s going to haunt us from Iowa for a decade.

Is DeVries worth agonizing about lol?

The flights people tracked suggested they met in Chicago.

I thought it was just more proof of how abnormally quiet Dolson’s search has been.

Apparently Devries and the Iowa AD are out of the office today because they’re meeting in Iowa City for an interview. This is the chatter among Iowa and WV fans.