Darian DeVries - New IUBB Head Coach

[Pagoda 3,833]

1 hour ago, Bankshot said:

I hope our new basketball coach is wildly successful.

But, as an Alum, donor (very small time), longtime fan, and taxpayer, I would like to see a postmortem report on the search. (I’m not saying that it would realistically ever happen.)

I think there are important questions that need to be answered regarding our program, the athletics department, and the management and stewardship of all of it.

For example: I don’t have a good feel at all for how “well” or how “poorly” the athletic department is being run.

- Was Dolson standing in a hole dug for him by his predecessors, and he did the best he could?

- Was the search conducted well? Poorly?

- Who was interested in the job… who wasn’t?

- How was the pool of candidates developed… who was on it?

- Who was interviewed…who wasn’t?

- How and when was the final selection made?

- What were the criteria?

Dolson is at least the second A.D. we’ve had that came into the job with zero experience as a D1 AD. Is he doing the job well or not? I can’t really tell.

With the exception of maybe the Cignetti hire, I don’t think I see him doing what “good to great” ADs seem to do.
 

And I don’t think our goals for this search were  to get a coach that’s “better than Woodson” or to “make it to the tournament next year”. I thought we were looking for a “great to outstanding” coach that would compete for championships.

I think the primary question may be “ is this just where this once national championship level program finds itself”, or are we holding ourselves back as we continue to make some of the same mistakes and blunders?

I mean it sounds like after several bad basketball hires, we just went through a process (with tons of resources behind it ) where we hired our fifth choice. How exactly did that happen? (If it did).

Not at all sure what to think about all of this.

When assessing the athletic dept, like it or not, the focus has to be on the football program.  Football is really all that matters financially to an athletic dept, even at a bball school, and what Scott has accomplished with this very important sport is exceptional.  Through smart hires and securing significantly increased resources, Scott has managed to get IUFB on a path to get out of the bottom of the conference to midpack, which could change the entire financial profile of the athletic dept.  I'm not saying we are going to have a season like 2024 again, but just being a decent to good program that sells out most games is a very big deal to the future of IU athletics.

As for CDD, this is Scott's hire and Scott is ultimately responsible for IUBB's wins and losses.  We'll probably only get spotty info on the search.  I'm not sure it's fair to call CDD our 5th or 6th pick if some of the supposedly preferred picks are not actionable for any CBB program.

Scott has navigated the insane politics of IUBB to fire Woody and still keep all the donors on side such that we have top-5 NIL/rev share available for the next coach.  Not bad.  But we'll have to see how CDD performs, that's all that matters, and it's way too early to tell. 

As for Scott overall, he has been doing a pretty darn good job the past few years.  Things could go wrong of course, but so far… good stuff.

[go iu bb 8,590]

39 minutes ago, BehindTheBench said:

Clown 

Speaking of clowns, wasn't it you who started posting like you had inside information then turned around and admitted you didn't have inside info when people started calling you out only to then start trying to act like an insider again? 

[hoosierdogg 3,329]

So, Cig and DRock....I like it.  Sorta like The Dark Knight and Boy wonder.

[jepwatso 216]

9 minutes ago, OKHOOSIER said:

We hired a guy who flipped Drake, flipped WVU, who had a top three transfer class in his first year, who has a top 25 high school class for next year, and continued having a decent year after losing his best player and from a P5 school. 
 

and people are pissed. Anyone who thinks it’s not a solid hire is living in fantasy land 

I thought Kendrick Lamar flipped Drake?

[AZ Hoosier 10,364]

1 hour ago, BehindTheBench said:

5th choice, says it all. Such incompetence by Scott to let it fall apart like this. Is this guy a top 10 coach in the country? Top 20? Top 50? We need to start to realize what we are. Outdated. Old. Forgotten. Irrelevant. Just an embarrassing day for Indiana Basketball.

Why is Indiana "Outdated. Old. Forgotten. Irrelevant" when we hire an up and coming younger coach like DeVries, but Kentucky and Louisville get a pass for hiring Pope and Kelsey, respectively, just last year? 

Stevens, Donovan, Few, Drew, Pearl, Otzelberger et al were not coming... get over that.

After the last 8 years, I get the "woe is me" schtick... but DeVries is a good hire who will work hard and make us proud... at the very least, he deserves a chance... damn...

[JustWinBaby 1,436]

59 minutes ago, Hoosier Guy said:

Are we seriously still ragging on certain posters?  Information is wrong sometimes.  It’s not life or death if someone isn’t always correct on a message board.  I’m thankful that posters like to share what they’re hearing at the time.

Folks were willing to get excited over rumors about Stevens and others, but I don't think most of us actually thought we'd be getting Stevens. Yes, I got a little rush every time RTZ dropped a gif or Yeagley popped in. It was silly fun. But I didn't assume they were correct, I just figured they were hearing positive things. That's just how rumors work, and rumors end up being A) not true, B) true, or C) true and then something changes. These things can be fluid, and what was true one day can be completely turned on its head the next.

It's not fair to call any of those posters trolls. Nor is it fair to put any of your disappointment in the hire on them. You are responsible for your own emotions. And you are responsible for deciphering what is worthy of credibility when there are rumors running rampant during a coaching search. There's always going to be misinformation, misdirection, and unsubstantiated rumors. Unless someone is intentionally pushing falsehoods, as in the case of our friend IsaacTor, I see no reason to blame them.

That is, unless you have to pay a monthly fee to hear what they have to say. Then a much greater degree of accuracy in their reporting should be expected.

[jonz44 834]

Kansas has consistently nailed championship basketball hires for 40 years. I think IU fans might be the ones in for a rude awakening if they think Kansas will make a small time hire. 

Kansas has not had to make a hire in the last 10 years or so. They might find the landscape is vastly different than it was 20 years ago.

Sent from my SM-S901U using BtownBanners mobile app

[Hardwood83 4,934]

2 hours ago, sirhoosierlot said:

People in West Virginia would leave at the sight of $60,000 much less millions 

Harsh, but accurate.

Did you hear about the huge tornado that ravaged West Virginia? It caused $4,000,000 in improvements. 

[AZ Hoosier 10,364]

1 hour ago, rayl456 said:

We’ve got an abundance of sour grapes right now…don’t we.  lol

Yep... we be making us some real sour whine.

[cleeter 3,004]

23 minutes ago, OKHOOSIER said:

We hired a guy who flipped Drake, flipped WVU, who had a top three transfer class in his first year, who has a top 25 high school class for next year, and continued having a decent year after losing his best player and from a P5 school. 
 

and people are pissed. Anyone who thinks it’s not a solid hire is living in fantasy land 

BUT BRAD!!!!

I think the best thing that can ever happen to this university is to forget that name from here on out. As long as "Brad" is involved, no one would ever be happy with the hire if it isn't him. 

[jonz44 834]

LOL. I'm not claiming everybody thought Woody was bad. 
I'm saying lots of people saw the issue with Woody and his lack of college experience.
I get that you're upset with the hire, but come on now. 
There were lots of people who were worried about Crean too. I remember going to Marquette's forum when he was hired and seeing how many people who happy that CTC was leaving for IU. That wasn't good at all. 
 

I wasn't near as concerned about his lack of college experience as I was about the mediocrity of his NBA experience. He was at IU what he was in the NBA. Mediocre.

Sent from my SM-S901U using BtownBanners mobile app

[ziggyiu 771]

I'm not excited or optimistic, but I also don't think this was a terrible hire. 

Partly I'm skeptical because IU has made horrible decisions for a quarter of a century, so nothing too much against DDV, but I have little reason to trust IU.

Also, my expectations were kind of slanted. I had started to believe in the possibility of a "big name" so this hire pales in comparison. 

Again, I suppose that's really nothing too much against DDV. That's more about my inability to stay level-headed and accept the trend in college basketball. 

I hope he's amazing and is everything we've missed the last 25 years. 

[JustWinBaby 1,436]

Aw man just got caught up on what's been going on the last hour or two and super bummed I missed @BehindTheBench's crashout happen in real time. That was a hysterically funny read though lol

[JustWinBaby 1,436]

Just now, ziggyiu said:

I'm not excited or optimistic, but I also don't think this was a terrible hire. 

Partly I'm skeptical because IU has made horrible decisions for a quarter of a century, so nothing too much against DDV, but I have little reason to trust IU.

Also, my expectations were kind of slanted. I had started to believe in the possibility of a "big name" so this hire pales in comparison. 

Again, I suppose that's really nothing too much against DDV. That's more about my inability to stay level-headed and accept the trend in college basketball. 

I hope he's amazing and is everything we've missed the last 25 years. 

I don't blame anyone for hoping we'd get a bigger name, but it's more important to get the right guy than win the press conference.

College basketball has changed. "Blue blood" programs cannot easily lure big name coaches away from places they're already finding success. Media rights deals and NIL (and soon revenue sharing) have significantly leveled the playing field. Everyone has cash and can use it. Almost any power conference program can become a powerhouse with the right coach, and a good coach can find success at many different programs.

Indiana swung for the fences like UK and Louisville did last year, and weren't successful. But they went and got the best guy available, and it worked out perfectly that IU and WVU missed the tourney so we could snag him immediately and get to work on the roster. This honestly couldn't have worked out much better.

Also, I've seen it multiple places now that Dolson and DeVries met back in November in the Bahamas. Dolson began researching him and vetting him at that time, and their conversations heated up over the past month. This isn't a hire that occurred spur-of-the-moment. It's been in the works for a while, and this was who Dolson zeroed in on for a number of reasons. Folks want to look at W/L records, and of course those matter - but I believe Dolson is smart enough to look beyond that. He identified the characteristics in a head coach that he believes would fit best at Indiana, and went and got that guy. Everything I hear about DeVries' work ethic, personality, and approach just makes me even more excited about the hire.

[iu eyedoc 4,175]

So I guess Drock isn't uniting the fan base?

[Hoosierfanyuh 4,866]

11 minutes ago, iu eyedoc said:

So I guess Drock isn't uniting the fan base?

He’d win ALOT of people over if he somehow got Mullins to come be a Hoosier, seems unlikely but that would be one thing that would help lol

[hoosiersoxfan 683]

1 hour ago, jonz44 said:

Kansas has not had to make a hire in the last 10 years or so. They might find the landscape is vastly different than it was 20 years ago.

Sent from my SM-S901U using BtownBanners mobile app
 

Try 22 years for Kansas since they’ve hired a coach. Counting DeVries, Kansas has had same amount of coaches in the last 60 years than IU has had in the last 10. 

[rcbowla 8,076]

Small point of contention but shouldn't it be D-Rock and not Drock. Drock sounds like a He-Man character.

[GloryDays 6,181]

5 hours ago, OliviaPope40 said:

So what do I win for pulling this one out.

Banned

[GloryDays 6,181]

5 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

There's too much wacky **** going on with Twitter in general but also within the IU sphere, for me to put much stock in that. 

I think Dolson was likely back channeling with DeVries and McCollum for weeks if not months and then like most dealmaking processes, things moved very quickly when it was time to close. DeVries missing the tournament helped expedite that process. That's what I'm telling myself anyway... Silat Player said something funny about spy novels... lol  

The Iowa people are shell shocked by DeVries spurning them and are now worried that McCollum may end up in Morgantown because of a relationship with the athletic director. I love it.