How is Darian DeVries Doing So Far?

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

DDV gets another year at a minimum if for no other reason than the the 3 freshman commitments and Ryan Carr's hiring.  

Coach Cig is part of Dolson's legacy and so is DDV but if the DDV hire proves to be a disaster, that is how Dolson will be remembered.

[Jeff Flabjohns]

I see no way he’s let go even after next year.

He gets three years (which is fair) but it’s entirely likely we miss the tournament all of those years. His HC resume to this point doesn’t inspire confidence.
At that point he’d be fired and nobody would fault us for it. 

[Pagoda]

24 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

DDV gets another year at a minimum if for no other reason than the the 3 freshman commitments and Ryan Carr's hiring.  

Coach Cig is part of Dolson's legacy and so is DDV but if the DDV hire proves to be a disaster, that is how Dolson will be remembered.

I'll take the other side of that prediction.  I think he'll be remembered for the IUFB transformation and 16-0 National Championship season.  It's probably the best story in college sports history.  

IUBB stunk long before Scott took over, so what's happening isn't new.  I guess if he ends up needing to hire two more MBB coaches and he flubs those hires, and IUFB falls off... maybe the MBB struggles start to be more top of mind when it comes to him.  That would be grim.

We'll know in 10 years or so...

[HoosierDevils]

24 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

DDV gets another year at a minimum if for no other reason than the the 3 freshman commitments and Ryan Carr's hiring.  

Coach Cig is part of Dolson's legacy and so is DDV but if the DDV hire proves to be a disaster, that is how Dolson will be remembered.

Really looking forward to the offseason and hopefully see the Ryan Carr’s impact on roster construction and decision making: https://www.insidethehall.com/2026/02/25/new-iu-executive-director-of-basketball-ryan-carr-excited-for-opportunity-ahead-in-bloomington/

 

[Jeff Flabjohns]

5 minutes ago, HoosierDevils said:

Really looking forward to the offseason and hopefully see the Ryan Carr’s impact on roster construction and decision making: https://www.insidethehall.com/2026/02/25/new-iu-executive-director-of-basketball-ryan-carr-excited-for-opportunity-ahead-in-bloomington/

 

This is an incredibly reassuring read.

DDv, unlike is predecessor, seems fully aware of his blind-spots and what went wrong this year. Talks began this month as a reaction to the how last offseason and this season have gone. 

Maybe Carr is the ex-Bob Knight student manager we actually needed! Just from that article the guy is confident in his abilities and views IUs pursuit of him as further evidence they’re serious about getting this right.  

[Uspshoosier]

52 minutes ago, str8baller said:

That’s not going to save Devries. Woody made it 2/3 years and was fired midway through year 4 when we still had a shot at his 3rd tourney. 

I didn’t  say it would save him. Just pointed out if you want hope those coaches flipped their situation and made it a positive.   DeVries will either figure it out or he won’t and we get to see if another coach can turn it around.   Either way I’m here for the long haul whether they become a 1 seed or bubble team or a non tourney team.  

[Hoosierfan2017]

On the bright side, maybe a bad finish and missed tournament will move me farther up the season ticket waiting list lol. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

 

[Shooter]

19 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

On the bright side, maybe a bad finish and missed tournament will move me farther up the season ticket waiting list lol. 

I didn't know there was still a waiting list. How long have you been on it?

I'm a season ticket holder, and based on trends this year I bet you get seats next year. A lot more empty seats this season, and resale prices are significantly down from prior years. I thought it was just temporary while football was still going, but it hasn't really changed.

[Pagoda]

8 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

 

He's got a clear and confident vision.  I wish CDD sounded more like this.

There is a lot to fix, but this an encouraging move.

[Stuhoo]

At the risk of getting tangentially off-topic, even with a 'meh' basketball team I will be just fine and a very happy Hoosier fan. It's because due to the combination of decades of less than successful basketball and a now historically incredible football team, my focus has changed.

Much like basketball used to be the headliner for my IU sports focus and football was something I watched and hoped for a good moment or a good giggle? Now my IU sports focus has been reversed, only with a dramatic difference:

• Before the past two years, I was focused on
  • a moderately/not successful and extremely frustrating basketball team, and
  • I tolerated an unimaginably bad football team.
• Now? I am focused on
  • an extraordinarily, unimaginably successful football team, and
  • I tolerate a meh basketball team.

That's a fantastic upgrade for my Indiana University fandom.

[str8baller]

49 minutes ago, HoosierDevils said:

Really looking forward to the offseason and hopefully see the Ryan Carr’s impact on roster construction and decision making: https://www.insidethehall.com/2026/02/25/new-iu-executive-director-of-basketball-ryan-carr-excited-for-opportunity-ahead-in-bloomington/

 

Encouraging read. He touched on a couple of things that have been debated here. 1) is the role of agents and NIL/Rev sharing in getting players, and 2) talks about IUs commitment in the NIL era heavily implying we’re serious players.  
 

Now let’s hope most of our problems are just roster construction. Because maybe we have a real answer there. 

[Home Jersey]

13 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

I wish CDD sounded more like this.

That jives a lot with this: 

1 hour ago, BGleas said:

The IU Basketball administration has been so inept so I won't give them credit for this, but maybe they've stumbled into something with this Carr guy?

Everyone is raving about him and he's a proven NBA front office guy. Maybe put him in charge of the entire operation, including the coaching staff?

Build a real, NBA-style front office with a department of scouts, recruiters, analytics people and NIL experts, and put Carr in charge of the entire thing. 

You then minimize the need for the coach to be the "face" of the program and university, and you just need a real coach. 

You no longer 'need' an Izzo, Pitino, Coach K, etc, etc. The coach doesn't need to be a recruiter, NIL experts, scout, fundraiser, mouthpiece and all of that stuff and can just coach. 

It widens the available talent pool because you no longer need a personality, you just need a coach. 

Make it a pro operation. Outside of the players, the face of the program for the Celtics is Brad Stevens, for OKC it's Sam Presti, for the Eagles it's Howie Roseman and for the Seahawks its John Schneider. 

I don't know, just trying to come up with something. 

Great post, interesting idea. Yesterday was an egregious L, no two ways about it. But before the game, a lot of people were relatively hopeful about DDV's abilities as a coach.

Roster construction is obviously problem #1 and Carr should help with that. But it's not the only problem.

Shot selection needs to be seriously addressed. We can't go a quarter of the game without scoring a basket multiple times. Thats my main gripe with DDV's tenure so far. Lack of adjustments in some games kinda concerning (like letting Enright switch onto Martinelli yesterday). But coaches can improve and hopefully he learns.

I haven't fully bought the idea that DDV's demeanor can't work here, but A) he doesn't seem the type to work a room very well - don't love that for NIL or recruiting B) I can't get over him not getting a T at the end of the game yesterday when the outcome was basically decided.

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around a CBB coach not being the face of their program but in this era, having that kind of infrastructure around the HC so they can stay focused on coaching is an exciting idea. IU has limitless potential in sports. We now know this to be a fact.

[Hoosierfan2017]

20 minutes ago, Shooter said:

I didn't know there was still a waiting list. How long have you been on it?

I'm a season ticket holder, and based on trends this year I bet you get seats next year. A lot more empty seats this season, and resale prices are significantly down from prior years. I thought it was just temporary while football was still going, but it hasn't really changed.

I just signed up this week (lived out of state for a while and am moving back this summer). I’m telling myself it’s a long-term strategy to get myself in the door in case we get good again and demand for season tickets skyrockets. 

[Jeff Flabjohns]

Regarding Carr:

Says it all came together in just the last two weeks. Nothing was happening before then. 

You don’t make this move from high-level Pacers exec without complete confidence in the coach and administrations vision to build a winning program. Or without having complete confidence in yourself as well.

His scouting experience, agent relationships, management of contracts will be invaluable.

“No other blue blood has someone like me on staff, with my experience”. 
Getting Cig vibes watching this presser. Dude is here for all the right reasons

Also points out the obvious, that the roster has been too reliant on seniors the last two years—akin to overpaying in Free agency. 

[Stuhoo]

28 minutes ago, Jeff Flabjohns said:

Regarding Carr:

Says it all came together in just the last two weeks. Nothing was happening before then. 

You don’t make this move from high-level Pacers exec without complete confidence in the coach and administrations vision to build a winning program. Or without having complete confidence in yourself as well.

His scouting experience, agent relationships, management of contracts will be invaluable.

“No other blue blood has someone like me on staff, with my experience”. 
Getting Cig vibes watching this presser. Dude is here for all the right reasons

Also points out the obvious, that the roster has been too reliant on seniors the last two years—akin to overpaying in Free agency. 

I very strongly suspect that this came together two weeks ago because after 2/3 of this season, Dolson has recognized that the roster construction strategies by Devries are not working. And so he  took a proactive step to do something about it.

[pumpfake]

12 hours ago, HoosierDevils said:

I’m so conflicted on this. On the one hand, late start. On the other, most hires bring some guys with them — staff, players, recruits — to help with the transition. Didn't want to retain any of Woody’s guys (makes sense), but odd that save for his son he didn’t want to keep anybody from his team either. I think it’s fair to say if that’s a choice DDV made then criticism is fair game. 

While not totally CDVs fault, the frustrating thing to me is that we began looking for a coach in February yet still ended up stuck in the roster-wise until very late in the portal season.

[TadQueasy]

I see PROs and CONs to this Carr hire: 

PRO: 

They are making a clear statement to DDV and anyone else that needs it that they are not messing around.  Get this thing going in the right direction or more change is coming. 

CON: 

Less than a year after hiring their head coach they had to make this move because it seems they see clear problems in what he is doing or not doing.  

I wonder if Dolson ever gets Cignetti's view on the basketball program?  I would be interested in his opinion on how they are doing things.  

[iu2win]

Like many/most Hoosier basketball fans, I was prepared and of the mindset that this season would be a total rebuild and likely a tough season.  I had hoped for an NCAA tournament bid as a first-year step; that is looking like a long shot but still a possibility.  The jury is certainly still out for our new coach and he deserves an opportunity to build his system with players he chooses beyond one year.  Still, watching the game last night, I fail to see a large improvement in this group throughout the season and that is the most concerning thing from my standpoint.  Fundamentals???  Marinelli is a talented player but he strolled down the lane untouched on several occasions last night and not a single IU player stepped in to even attempt to draw a charge.  It just seems, once the initial IU defender is beat, there is little to no help.  It is as if this team is determined (and confident to its own peril) in terms of outscoring the opponent despite numerous defensive deficiencies.  Shouldn't there be signs of improvement in terms of fundamentals at this point?  Setting screens, blocking out, keeping your feet on D, etc.

[Magnanimous]

1 hour ago, Jeff Flabjohns said:

I see no way he’s let go even after next year.

He gets three years (which is fair) but it’s entirely likely we miss the tournament all of those years. His HC resume to this point doesn’t inspire confidence.
At that point he’d be fired and nobody would fault us for it. 

If IUFB can win the NC in year 2 then IUBB can make the NCAAT in year 2. This wait and see approach needs to stop with these guys.