By Bill Nestor
West Virginia University has been in hot pursuit of the right man to run the men’s basketball program since legendary coach Bob Huggins resigned prior to last season. Athletic Director Wren Baker could have rushed a search for a replacement, but instead elected to elevate Josh Eilert instead.
Eilert was extremely familiar with the program and the players that were set to take the court, making him a favorite in the locker room. It was a smart move for the A. D. for a few reasons. Rushing into a hire is never a good decision. Without proper time to do research and homework, a bad hire could really backfire on an athletic director. In this particular case, it could have been worse.
With all that went down with Bob Huggins that led to his departure, followed by his decision to retake his previous position, a smoke screen covered the season before it even began. Most candidates that Baker would have targeted would have stayed far away from the soap opera in Morgantown at that time, leaving a lesser candidate or candidates contending for hire.
Eilert bought Baker time to comb the country to find the proper pick for the program. Halfway through the campaign, the team’s record was going the wrong way and WVU was in the basement of the Big 12 Conference. Baker was in position to move away from Eilert and move on to the new search.
The other reason to wait was the newbie in charge of the women’s basketball program. Baker was fresh off of the hiring of Mark Kellogg and wasn’t sure how their season would turn out. Sure, Kellogg was sixth among active women’s basketball coaches with 445 wins coming into Morgantown, , but there were questions about the big step for Kellogg. He had spent the previous eight seasons at Stephen F. Austin and this would be his biggest gig yet.
If he would have taken a nose dive and a quick trigger followed on the men’s side, then Baker would have been under the gun.
Kellogg proved to be a great hire, going 25 and eight while guiding the Mountaineers to a NCAA Tournament win over Princeton.
Baker, fresh off of the Kellogg home run, took a big swing and landed Drake’s Darian DeVries. DeVries became the 23rd men’s basketball coach in school history and continues the hoops youth movement in Morgantown. Kellogg was born in December of 1975 and DeVries is a tad older, born in April of the same year.
DeVries spent 20 years at Creighton before taking over at Drake. In seven seasons, DeVries has won no fewer than 20 games and compiled a 150 and 55 record, winning 73 percent of his lock-ups. He took the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament three times during his tenure, including back to back appearances the last two seasons.
It’s hard to argue with the level of success that DeVries has seen at Drake, but the question is will he be able to duplicate what he did in the Missouri Valley Conference when he reaches the Big 12 Conference?
The two keys to success on this level are players and schemes. The head man has to have the correct plan in place and the proper players to execute the game plan. The next two months are pivotal for DeVries as he looks to assemble a coaching staff and a roster for this upcoming season. The clock has started and time will tell if DeVries is the right man for the job.
That will do for now. Until next week . . . take care and God Bless!