West Virginia basketball fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing a new head coach has been chosen.
After a rough season, the West Virginia basketball program has officially announced a new skipper will be leading their basketball program. Darian DeVries and the Mountaineers agreed to a five-year contract for him to take his talents to Morgantown.
DeVries was recently the coach for Drake University in Des Moines, IA where he led his team to a Missouri Valley Conference Championship this season. Drake faced Washington State in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament but lost by five.
He spent six seasons with Drake, winning Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year twice, and earning two NCAA Tournament appearances. Prior to this, he spent 17 years as an assistant coach at Creighton where he worked under Greg McDermott and now-Oregon coach Dana Altman.
In addition to Coach DeVries, West Virginia also gains a new player. Tucker DeVries will be following his father to play for the Mountaineers. Tucker is a two-time Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year, three 500-plus point seasons, and led Drake in almost every statistic.
West Virginia basketball went 9-23 overall and 4-14 in conference this season. Their tumultuous season came after the resignation of former coach Bob Huggins who had been with the Mountaineers for 16 years. On June 16, 2023, Huggins was pulled over in Pittsburgh, PA, and had a blood alcohol content level of 0.21%, more than twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania.
Former assistant coach Josh Eilert was appointed as interim head coach for the 2023-24 season. However, many players from the previous season’s squad, including Tre Mitchell and Joe Toussaint, entered the transfer portal after Huggins’ resignation. Others who had planned to transfer to West Virginia, like Kerr Kriisa, reentered the transfer portal but ended up returning.
Eilert faced every adversity he could have during the 2023-24 season, including injuries, transfer waiver issues, and criticism from those who opposed the resignation of Huggins. Despite all of this, Eilert managed to beat talented opponents including Texas and Kansas at home.