How Is Darian Devries Doing?

[68Hoosier]

12 hours ago, Chris007 said:

After a disappointing season, he has redeemed himself some with this portal class. Now he needs to get them to gel and win 25 games this season with one of them being NW. But first he’s at the Office Lounge having a beer with his wife. My brother is bartending and he said they just walked in. I told him to buy them a round on me.

Well, have you brother tell him, he can have last night off but he has 3 more spots to fill so only a couple of drinks allowed.  LOL

[Josh]

On 4/17/2026 at 8:02 AM, Pagoda said:

GMs are getting common in CBB.  To name a few schools with one: Michigan, UConn, and Illinois.  And there are many others.  This trend will likely continue.

Everything is of course contingent on results, but bringing in a GM is a smart move.  I don't see the issue here.

My point was that we brought in a GM to help with scouting and rosters, then gave Devries the credit for improving the roster somehow.  We saw what happened when he was in charge of the roster

[Pagoda]

22 minutes ago, Josh said:

My point was that we brought in a GM to help with scouting and rosters, then gave Devries the credit for improving the roster somehow.  We saw what happened when he was in charge of the roster

CDD is still in charge of the roster.  Ryan is part of the IUBB staff and reports to CDD. 

Every CBB coach relies heavily on their staff for recruiting.  CDD hired a guy to improve and round out his staff.  Pretty standard stuff.

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Pagoda said:

CDD is still in charge of the roster.  Ryan is part of the IUBB staff and reports to CDD. 

Every CBB coach relies heavily on their staff for recruiting.  CDD hired a guy to improve and round out his staff.  Pretty standard stuff.

I’d pay $10 bucks to borrow the CIA’s mind reader machine and see the real org chart in Dolson’s head. Lol

[Uspshoosier]

[Stuhoo]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

My point was that we brought in a GM to help with scouting and rosters, then gave Devries the credit for improving the roster somehow.  We saw what happened when he was in charge of the roster

So he built a mediocre roster on the quick last year, and took necessary steps to get better and build an excellent roster this year?

Seems like a mature, effective, grown-@$$ man move to me. 

[Pagoda]

6 minutes ago, str8baller said:

I’d pay $10 bucks to borrow the CIA’s mind reader machine and see the real org chart in Dolson’s head. Lol

Ha.  I don’t think there is anything surprising.  The plan was always to hire a GM.  It would be great to do that the day after CDD was hired, but it’s reasonable to see how such a big hire isn’t possible in such a short time.

CDD worked on Carr for months before he joined, he wanted him on the staff.  At the end of the day all these recruits look at the head coach who has to close them.  It’s still the head coach’s call and he’s responsible for the results.

There is plenty to criticize and be concerned about 13 months in, but hiring a GM doesn’t seem like one to me.

[str8baller]

7 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

but it’s reasonable to see how such a big hire isn’t possible in such a short time.

Sure. By why wouldn’t it have been done in the summer after the season concluded, instead of going into the year without a GM and Carr going back to the Pacers as a senior personnel guy when they’re angling for a top 3 pick in the draft?  
 

And doesn’t Dolson’s relationship with Carr predate Devries’ ? 

[Demo]

15 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Ha.  I don’t think there is anything surprising.  The plan was always to hire a GM.  It would be great to do that the day after CDD was hired, but it’s reasonable to see how such a big hire isn’t possible in such a short time.

CDD worked on Carr for months before he joined, he wanted him on the staff.  At the end of the day all these recruits look at the head coach who has to close them.  It’s still the head coach’s call and he’s responsible for the results.

There is plenty to criticize and be concerned about 13 months in, but hiring a GM doesn’t seem like one to me.

What I’d love to hear is Carr comparing this job to the Pacers’ job. This is miles harder. Schools that didn’t go out and find a Dude for that role, hello Mark Pope, are getting slaughtered and it’s going to get nothing but worse.

[Stuhoo]

11 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Sure. By why wouldn’t it have been done in the summer after the season concluded, instead of going into the year without a GM and Carr going back to the Pacers as a senior personnel guy when they’re angling for a top 3 pick in the draft?  
 

And doesn’t Dolson’s relationship with Carr predate Devries’ ? 

Agreed. They tried to do that with Woody by bringing in Matta from day one. The difference is that Woody shunned Matta's advice and Devries is apparently smart enough to rely on Carr's expertise.

So I would say that not bringing in a guy like Carr from the get-go is a bad decision ... that was corrected.

[Pagoda]

13 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Sure. By why wouldn’t it have been done in the summer after the season concluded, instead of going into the year without a GM and Carr going back to the Pacers as a senior personnel guy when they’re angling for a top 3 pick in the draft?  

And doesn’t Dolson’s relationship with Carr predate Devries’ ? 

I don’t know.  After our ‘25-26 roster was set there isn’t a rush to get a GM in place.  It’s pretty common for someone to need some convincing (comp, NIL budget guarantees, whatever) to change jobs.

I’d guess Scott knew him before Darian.  Not sure what can be concluded from that.  CDD worked on Ryan for months to get him to join.  I don’t think Scott forced it.

But, if someone reports otherwise I’ll listen.

[AH1971]

The timing of the Pacers run to the finals was probably the hold up in bringing Carr over. Pacers season ended June 22md and the draft was 3 days later.

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Pagoda said:

It’s pretty common for someone to need some convincing (comp, NIL budget guarantees, whatever) to change jobs.

Ya think? Leave a job where you basically have lifetime job security for one where your “boss,” and thus you, could be fired in 2-3 years.  
 

I’m sure it took some convincing. More money, I’d bet my life on. I’d also guess a defined role was part of the negotiation too. So when the season is going south and everyone, including the head coach and AD, are blasting roster construction for those troubles, do you think that strengthened or weakened Ryan Carr’s negotiating position?  
 

People can believe what they want, but I’d be pretty surprised if Carrs role doesn’t come with more authority and autonomy than most other college basketball GM’s. 

[Pagoda]

9 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Ya think? Leave a job where you basically have lifetime job security for one where your “boss,” and thus you, could be fired in 2-3 years.  

I’m sure it took some convincing. More money, I’d bet my life on. I’d also guess a defined role was part of the negotiation too. So when the season is going south and everyone, including the head coach and AD, are blasting roster construction for those troubles, do you think that strengthened or weakened Ryan Carr’s negotiating position?  

People can believe what they want, but I’d be pretty surprised if Carrs role doesn’t come with more authority and autonomy than most other college basketball GM’s. 

Yea I think.  It's just a discussion and the question on why it took so long was raised.  And yes, I'd guess Carr had plenty of leverage the whole time, he didn't need to leave the Pacers, and it only increased once the season got wobbly.  Not disagreeing with that.  Pretty cool we got him, assuming we perform this season.

What additional authority and autonomy do you think he has vs. other GMs?

[skhoosier2]

25 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Ya think? Leave a job where you basically have lifetime job security for one where your “boss,” and thus you, could be fired in 2-3 years.  
 

I’m sure it took some convincing. More money, I’d bet my life on. I’d also guess a defined role was part of the negotiation too. So when the season is going south and everyone, including the head coach and AD, are blasting roster construction for those troubles, do you think that strengthened or weakened Ryan Carr’s negotiating position?  
 

People can believe what they want, but I’d be pretty surprised if Carrs role doesn’t come with more authority and autonomy than most other college basketball GM’s. 

I'm in this camp on Carr.  I think he's got alot of input in roster building, NIL distribution, and the overall scouting on what is needed with input obviously from what CDD wants the team to look like.

Do I think Carr leaves a lifetime job to come to IU and hinge everything on no guarantees he's staying even if CDD were to get the ax?  NO I do not.  I am sure CDD wanted a GM given how his roster came together last season.  I don't doubt he and Dolson collaboratively came together to get someone they thought would be an asset to getting the roster that was needed to compete in the B1G.  They will all spin in the media CDD convinced Carr to come, he reports to CDD, and whatever else it looks like to make sure it appears nobody thinks CDD is incompetent and this was a needed change by Dolson (I am not saying he's incompetent but if it appeared this was not CDD decision that would be questioned is my guess).  I would expect nothing less than statements of alignment from all involved.  IDK how it came about nor do I care honestly.  But I do believe that Carr will have a job even if CDD gets the ax, and he may end up having a hand in choosing another coach should it get to that point (hoping it doesn't).

Carr seems to have done some really good evaluations to this point given the team we assembled through the portal.  We still have some spots to fill so I think his talent eval will really be worth his salary to see who they come in with in these last few additions.  Carr was much needed and I think we will be much better off with him well into the future assuming he stays long term.

[IUHoosierJoe]

3 hours ago, str8baller said:

I’d pay $10 bucks to borrow the CIA’s mind reader machine and see the real org chart in Dolson’s head. Lol

This seems to be one of those things that’s a matter of fact that everybody is gonna have their opinions about anyway. It would seem pretty silly for Dolson & Company to lie about the organizational chart when the reporting structure is spelled out in the employees’ contracts and can be requested at any time. Was DeVries’ contract amended to indicate that he reports to Carr? Or does Carr’s contract indicate he reports to DeVries? There isn’t anything in anybody’s head that overrides the contracts.

[Home Jersey]

4 minutes ago, IUHoosierJoe said:

This seems to be one of those things that’s a matter of fact that everybody is gonna have their opinions about anyway. It would seem pretty silly for Dolson & Company to lie about the organizational chart when the reporting structure is spelled out in the employees’ contracts and can be requested at any time. Was DeVries’ contract amended to indicate that he reports to Carr? Or does Carr’s contract indicate he reports to DeVries? There isn’t anything in anybody’s head that overrides the contracts.

I agree everyone will have their own opinions on this. I think boiling it down to the contract language is a bit of an oversimplification though.

IU basketball has an 8 figure player payroll, a big operating budget, and a ton of support staff to go with it. It's a pretty complex organization.

In that type of setting there are direct lines of reporting and "dotted" lines of reporting. Not disputing that Carr is a direct report to DDV as the head coach. DDV is accountable for the roster and the team performance at the end of the day. He deserves the blame and the credit that goes with it.

That being said, Carr definitely seems like an IU hire (Dolson-driven) rather than a DDV driven hire. Nothing wrong with that at all, just makes it easy to speculate that he has a dotted line of reporting to Dolson and maybe has more authority over the process for talent acquisition than one would expect the typical college GM to. We could be entering a world where GMs outlast coaches in CBB. 

It's still very early days in the world of CBB programs having GMs so I don't think there's an "industry standard" to point to yet. I have to assume the HC has final say on player personnel. Ultimately we will have to judge based on the court, but the process off of it seems much improved this time around and I'm content to give credit to both Carr and DDV. 

[Pagoda]

8 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I agree everyone will have their own opinions on this. I think boiling it down to the contract language is a bit of an oversimplification though.

IU basketball has an 8 figure player payroll, a big operating budget, and a ton of support staff to go with it. It's a pretty complex organization.

In that type of setting there are direct lines of reporting and "dotted" lines of reporting. Not disputing that Carr is a direct report to DDV as the head coach. DDV is accountable for the roster and the team performance at the end of the day. He deserves the blame and the credit that goes with it.

That being said, Carr definitely seems like an IU hire (Dolson-driven) rather than a DDV driven hire. Nothing wrong with that at all, just makes it easy to speculate that he has a dotted line of reporting to Dolson and maybe has more authority over the process for talent acquisition than one would expect the typical college GM to. We could be entering a world where GMs outlast coaches in CBB. 

It's still very early days in the world of CBB programs having GMs so I don't think there's an "industry standard" to point to yet. I have to assume the HC has final say on player personnel. Ultimately we will have to judge based on the court, but the process off of it seems much improved this time around and I'm content to give credit to both Carr and DDV. 

I think Carr has a lot of influence with everyone.  I also think if we flop and it’s clearly on CDD, Scott will try to keep Carr and marry him up to the next guy.

But, like you said I still think CDD has the final call on all things IUBB.  Like Carr can’t force a player on to the roster.

Regardless, this portal seemed to go pretty well.  The money helped too.  Time will tell…

[Hovadipo]

18 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

But, like you said I still think CDD has the final call on all things IUBB.  Like Carr can’t force a player on to the roster.

We also suffer from Battered Woody Syndrome because 99% of the time, things on the inside aren't adversarial to the point that this would even be a consideration. Under Woody, it felt like they might have been.

[Golfman25]

40 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I agree everyone will have their own opinions on this. I think boiling it down to the contract language is a bit of an oversimplification though.

IU basketball has an 8 figure player payroll, a big operating budget, and a ton of support staff to go with it. It's a pretty complex organization.

In that type of setting there are direct lines of reporting and "dotted" lines of reporting. Not disputing that Carr is a direct report to DDV as the head coach. DDV is accountable for the roster and the team performance at the end of the day. He deserves the blame and the credit that goes with it.

That being said, Carr definitely seems like an IU hire (Dolson-driven) rather than a DDV driven hire. Nothing wrong with that at all, just makes it easy to speculate that he has a dotted line of reporting to Dolson and maybe has more authority over the process for talent acquisition than one would expect the typical college GM to. We could be entering a world where GMs outlast coaches in CBB. 

It's still very early days in the world of CBB programs having GMs so I don't think there's an "industry standard" to point to yet. I have to assume the HC has final say on player personnel. Ultimately we will have to judge based on the court, but the process off of it seems much improved this time around and I'm content to give credit to both Carr and DDV. 

Maybe KathywithaC can come and clear it up.  : ]