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Darian DeVries Ignites Tampering Hypothesis With Suspicious Admission About Indiana Job Timeline

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Darian DeVries Tucker Tampering Indiana Timeline
© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

West Virginia fans are not happy with the way that Darian DeVries left his job as the college basketball coach in Morgantown to take the same job at Indiana. They believe that he left their program for dead after first being presented with the idea in early December.

I do not know if there is any truth to the theory, nor do I choose to speculate either way, but I would be lying if I said that there isn’t more weight to this conspiratorial line of thinking than most.

DeVrives, 49, began his coaching career as an assistant at Creighton. He spent 18 years learning under Dana Altman and Greg McDermott. Drake offered him his first opportunity to become a head coach in 2018. All he did was win. The Bulldogs were an unstoppable force in the MVC with DeVries as head coach.

  • 2018-19: 24-10
  • 2019-20: 20-14
  • 2020-21: 26-5
  • 2021-22: 25-11
  • 2022-23: 27-8
  • 2023-24: 28-7

West Virginia, one year after the ouster of Bob Huggins, decided not to move forward with interim head coach Josh Eilert. It hired DeVries on March 24, 2024 but he did not even last one full year.

Darian DeVries led the Mountaineers to a 19-13 record during his lone season at the helm even though his son and best player, Tucker DeVries, missed the majority of the year with what was ruled as a “upper body injury.” The medical staff shut him down in early December.

Tucker did everything he could to get back on the court this season, but unfortunately it has been determined by all parties involved that surgery is necessary. He will be out of action for approximately three months.

— Darian DeVries

Tucker has plans to return for a fifth year of eligibility in 2025. It seemed like things were headed in the right direction. There was some momentum building in Morgantown even though West Virginia was left out of the NCAA Tournament.

And then it all came crashing down on Tuesday.

DeVries, who was initially rumored to have interest in the Iowa job, was hired to replace Mike Woodson in Bloomington. West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker did not receive an opportunity to counter. He told the head coach that “within reason, we will do what it takes to keep you here and keep building on this program.” It didn’t matter.

Darian DeVries is the new head coach at Indiana. Tucker entered the transfer portal and will soon join him.

His former players voiced their displeasure with him and his son in a scathing rant on social media. The fans are even more upset. They believe that he already had one foot out the door for a few weeks, if not months. I must admit that the optics are not great.

This is where we put on our tinfoil hats. (Even though this theory is not that far fetched!)

It was announced on Feb. 8 that Mike Woodson was not going to return to Indiana. Mountaineers fans believe DeVries received his contract offer from Indiana around that same time. In fact, it sounded like the head coach openly confirmed that he worked to get a deal done with the Hoosiers during the season.

To go even one step further, a burner account associated with Indiana “broke” the news on March 12. It said that DeVries had a deal in place for “almost a month.”

The same burner account said on March 15 that “Coach is already getting after the portal.” That was three days before the hire became official.

To go one step further, both Indiana and West Virginia played in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament at the end of November. They did not play against each other but both programs were in the Bahamas at the same time. Tucker DeVries played his last game on Dec. 6.

Fans in Morgantown are convinced that the Hoosiers discussed its soon-to-be job opening with Darian DeVries while at the Battle 4 Atlantis. They think that Tucker’s injury was exaggerated so that he could guarantee a return to college basketball in 2025 with his dad at Indiana.

I highly doubt that a head coach told his son not to play the majority of the season so that he could play another year at a different school at which he did not have a formal contract but stranger things have happened. At the very least, it does seem like the DeVries family knew it was leaving West Virginia for at least four weeks. Did that have an impact on the conference tournament loss to Colorado that kept the Mountaineers out of the postseason? I find it hard to see the situation any other way.