I wonder if everyone will still be singing "Kumbaya" when Iowa has a better season than IU.
I do think whether DeVries fails or succeeds here will be determined in large part to how he does compared to May and McCollum. The fans all wanted Woody fired after year 3 and May hired. Most then wanted McCollum over DeVries. The administration has botched every single hire these past 25 years when the fan base usually had it right. That simply cannot happen again. I do really like DeVries though.
Maybe the 6th time is the charm and we have the right coach.
@dbmhoosier I know I will always have an eye on what McCollum is doing. He just landed Trey Thompson, a guy IU and Purdue were both recruiting. On the old site, I spent many a post advocating for McCollum. Now that Iowa has him, and we have DeVries...a situation that very easily could have happened in reverse... I think it will be a regular topic of conversation, especially for a few years.
Obviously its not definitive, or even remotely close to it, which one will be a better B10 level coach. And even if McCollum does show that he is, it'll never be known if he would have fit in, and thrived, at IU.
I personally don't love DeVries pedigree. Being a McDermott disciple doesn't really move the needle, for me. But he has been a consistent winner. And how impressed the main WVU media guys were with him, after having guys like Boelein and Huggins for years... speaks volumes.
Again, I do like DeVries. But I could definitely see him being our Brad Underwood in that he has a pretty solid team each year but never really gets us where we want to be. And if that's the case I see the fans getting really antsy after 4-5 and things going south especially if Dusty and Ben McCollum are killing it. DeVries won't be an Archie or Woodson though. I'd almost guarantee it.
And what DeVries did at Drake was very impressive. I believe when he left in 2024 they had only made the dance like 4 times in the past 50 something years and 3 of them were under him. What he did at WVU last season was impressive too with a very gimped roster. They should've been in the tournament. He can coach.
@tammany Oh I hope he does too. All speculation, but I think a couple likely drivers for him, if he didn't like the IU job. 1)We were already in on DeVries, I believe. If a guy like McCollum didn't feel like he was THE candidate, I could see him being soured on the whole thing. 2)In one of his interviews, he talked at length about how he has approached job interviews in the past. And that it's always been very important to him, that he feels very comfortable that the admin, school, etc... will embrace HIS program, and that he wouldn't feel like he needed to change his own styles or ideals. Even though IU's traditions are all very far removed, they're still there. I could see Dolson struggling to ensure to him that he'd be allowed complete autonomy.
Anyway... DeVries can wash away all of this McCollum talk. Hope he does.
@dbmhoosier I know I will always have an eye on what McCollum is doing. He just landed Trey Thompson, a guy IU and Purdue were both recruiting. On the old site, I spent many a post advocating for McCollum. Now that Iowa has him, and we have DeVries...a situation that very easily could have happened in reverse... I think it will be a regular topic of conversation, especially for a few years.
Obviously its not definitive, or even remotely close to it, which one will be a better B10 level coach. And even if McCollum does show that he is, it'll never be known if he would have fit in, and thrived, at IU.
I personally don't love DeVries pedigree. Being a McDermott disciple doesn't really move the needle, for me. But he has been a consistent winner. And how impressed the main WVU media guys were with him, after having guys like Boelein and Huggins for years... speaks volumes.
Again, I do like DeVries. But I could definitely see him being our Brad Underwood in that he has a pretty solid team each year but never really gets us where we want to be. And if that's the case I see the fans getting really antsy after 4-5 and things going south especially if Dusty and Ben McCollum are killing it. DeVries won't be an Archie or Woodson though. I'd almost guarantee it.
Agree those two will be the main comps to CDD since we maybe could have hired them.
Also, Pope and Kelsey are some coaches who will be looked at in terms of the bar they are setting since they did huge rebuilds of bball schools the year before we did.
@tammany I love IU, but I don't blame him given what's transpired the last eight years (or more). Things haven't exactly been "stable," hoops-wise, in quite a while.
I would bet the "DeVries has always been the guy" narrative is BS; I think the job was BM's if he wanted it. I have nothing to back this up ... just my feeling/opinion.
@tammany I love IU, but I don't blame him given what's transpired the last eight years (or more). Things haven't exactly been "stable," hoops-wise, in quite a while.
I would bet the "DeVries has always been the guy" narrative is BS; I think the job was BM's if he wanted it. I have nothing to back this up ... just my feeling/opinion.
We just have no idea if it was Ben's job or not. Only Scott knows.
Bottom line for me is CDD really wanted the job. Ben didn't and he went to wimpy ass Iowa, which for as bad as we are, we are a better job than Iowa. Iowa prioritizes FB and wrestling before bball. I think Ben is a very good coach, but he's the enemy now and I hope he stinks it up there.
@walt542 time will tell
While I regarded God as a tyrant I thought my sin a trifle; But when I knew Him to be my Father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against Him. When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against One who loved me so, and sought my good.” C. H. Spurgeon
@tammany I'm all in on IU--and I think DD will have success--but I'm still upset that McCollum is not the HC ... for whatever reason. I genuinely think BM is a generational coach, but time will tell. Even though Iowa is the enemy, I'll root for him to do well against every team but the Hoosiers.
Anyhow, DD will most certainly be compared to May and McCollum, two guys who were linked to IU. If they succeed (or, in May's case, continue to succeed) and fare better than DD, things will get dicey in Bloomington, fair or not.
@gthomas Agree Dusty and Ben will be comps. As will Pope and Kelsey to some extent.
I think Scott gets a pass on Dusty because Quinn & Co. were protecting Woody and not allowing a new hire that year. However, if Ben at Iowa outperforms CDD that’s going not going to go over well like you said. Hopefully that doesn’t happen…
I would bet the "DeVries has always been the guy" narrative is BS; I think the job was BM's if he wanted it. I have nothing to back this up ... just my feeling/opinion.
IU is a tough job, and I can see why Iowa could be more appealing (IF he indeed passed on IU)
@gthomas I disagree- you may end up being correct, but I think the Iowa change is far more difficult than is the IU change.
think about this- for years Iowa has been all offense, run and gun and fire 3’s. Now, with BM in charge, they have e to transform to a more defensive minded group.
IU has an all new roster with all new staff- much easier to implement a style imo.
@gthomas Agree Dusty and Ben will be comps. As will Pope and Kelsey to some extent.
I think Scott gets a pass on Dusty because Quinn & Co. were protecting Woody and not allowing a new hire that year. However, if Ben at Iowa outperforms CDD that’s going not going to go over well like you said. Hopefully that doesn’t happen…
Let's just hope he's another Ray Harper.
All these CDD comparisons to BM and DM remind me of when we were all comparing Cris Holtman to Archie. Seemed like Holtman had the lead for a while but in the end they both fell flat. Sure hope that does not happen this time.