Indiana is among the notable programs not in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, but the Hoosiers took a step toward getting back to the Big Dance in 2026 by hiring Darian DeVries.
The Hoosiers went 19–13 and just missed the tournament this year. It marks a two-year absence for the storied program that has been in two tournaments in the past nine years. DeVries, who coached at West Virginia this season, wants to bring the tradition back to a program he has long admired.
Indiana’s storied history consists of five national championship teams, eight Final Four appearances, 41 NCAA tournament appearances, 22 Big Ten titles, and an all-time .632 winning percentage. Hoosiers legends include past head coaches Bob Knight and Branch McCracken plus past players such as Isiah Thomas, Oscar Robertson, Quinn Buckner, Calbert Cheaney, Eric Gordon, and Alan Henderson.
“We want to build something that is sustainable for a long period of time, and we will do that by staying true to what this program is about,” DeVries said. “We will know when we have made it when every time a fan, a booster, an alumni, or a former player comes to watch us play and turns on the TV, and after that game is over, that they are filled with pride because they have so much respect for how our team plays, how unselfish they are, the joy they play with, and the enthusiasm they play with and their love for this university.”
A former Northern Iowa player from 1994 to 1998, DeVries got into coaching as an assistant with Creighton from 2001 to 2018, followed by his first head coaching job at Drake between 2018 and 2024. DeVries coached the Bulldogs to a 150–55 record and three NCAA tournament appearances in that span.
Drake continued its success after DeVries this year with another NCAA tournament trip. He took the job at West Virginia in 2024 and led the Mountaineers to a 19–13 record, and the team ranked as high as No. 21 in the top-25 poll.
DeVries took over a program that had a down year in 2023–2025 amid a 9–23 record. The Mountaineers returned to more recent success under DeVries. The program had produced at least 15 wins annually since 2013–2014 amid six NCAA tournament appearances. DeVries wants to take a similar approach to Indiana in getting the Hoosiers back on track by recruiting players who can perform at a high level offensively.
“Yeah, I think it’s critical for us as you’re building out a roster, and this year as—this past year at West Virginia as we took over a roster, there’s only one player that returned from the previous year,” DeVries said. “So we put a roster together that we felt could fit and make the pieces fit as best we could during that spring signing period.”
“I think it’s critical in how we want to play because in the ideal world on a missed shot, turnovers, we would like to score in those first 12 seconds,” DeVries said. “That’s how we played. I was an assistant coach at Creighton University for a long time under Greg McDermott. Took that offensive philosophy with me to Drake, and then to West Virginia.”
The latest Hoosiers squad averaged 74.7 points per game, and that’s around 10 points below many of the top teams in this year’s tournament. Alabama, Gonzaga, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Auburn, Illinois, and Duke all averaged 82.7 points per game or better.
