Darian DeVries

Bring the DeVries family back to Iowa.

Darian DeVries has been mentioned as a possible successor to Iowa men’s basketball’s Fran McCaffery for some time now, despite him being an active coach. He currently coaches at West Virginia, where his son, Tucker plays.

Darian was born and raised in Aplington, Iowa, where he became a prominent player in the area while playing at Aplington-Parkersburg High School in the mid-1990s. He then continued his playing career at Northern Iowa, followed by a graduate manager position with Creighton’s men’s basketball program, a Nebraska-based school.

He worked his way up to an assistant coaching position in 2001 after three seasons in his hired role. And after 17 years with the program, Darian accepted his first head coaching gig with Drake men’s basketball in March 2018, allowing him to return to his beloved home state.

In his first season there, the Drake Bulldogs recorded their sixth 20-win season in program history. To make matters more impressive, Darian led the team with the second-fewest returning letter winners in the nation that year.

Darian held six more successful seasons with the Bulldogs — including being named a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year and the program’s first NCAA tournament bid in 50 years — before being hired by the Mountaineers in March 2024.

Calls for McCaffery’s exit have been gaining steam in recent weeks, and for good reason. The roster can be competitive in the Big Ten, though it’s been a big disappointment as the team possesses a 15-14 overall record and a 6-12 conference record, all while owning statistically the worst defense of all 18 Big Ten teams.

And while he’s only been at West Virginia for one season thus far, a return to Iowa can’t be overlooked. The Hawkeyes have a solid core to build with: Josh Dix, Owen Freeman, Brock Harding, Seydou Traore, Cooper Koch, among others. Not to mention four-star prospect Joshua Lewis coming in next year.

Darian’s older brother, Jared, is a former University of Iowa All-American defensive end, adding a personal attachment to the university. Now, it’s Darian DeVries’ time to join the Black and Gold.

Fran McCaffery

 This has happened before. Consecutive seasons without an NCAA Tournament berth. A 19-win campaign followed by one that hovers around .500. A restless fan base demands a coaching change. After the 2017-18 season, Iowa men’s basketball head coach Fran McCaffery was cast in doubt. His Hawkeyes won just four Big Ten games, a paltry number not seen since McCaffery’s first year at the helm and the dreaded days with Todd Lickliter in charge.

This year’s Iowa team is marginally better record-wise but has eerie similarities. Blowout losses on the road balanced by heartbreakers at home, creating a conundrum in evaluating how good the Hawkeyes really were. The 2017-18 squad featured up-and-coming underclassmen such as Tyler Cook, Luka Garza, Jordan Bohannon, and Connor McCaffery. This year’s team features potential in Brock Harding, Owen Freeman, and Seydou Traore, but the serious hype surrounds incoming four-star recruit Joshua Lewis.

Lewis, joined by three-stars Badara Diakite and Dezmon Briscoe, form one of Fran McCaffery’s better recruiting classes. A coach who’s on his way out the door wouldn’t have stockpiled such talent. Fran McCaffery said he has no intention of moving on, and while athletic director Beth Goetz can change that reality, it would be wise to consider the repercussions.

Decommitments, transfers, a hodge-podge of newcomers under a fresh head coach. Success won’t be immediate once Fran McCaffery leaves. The head coach’s best days could still be waiting. Following that ugly 2017-18 season, qualified for four of the next five NCAA Tournaments, advancing to the second round in two of them. A Sweet 16 appearance remains to be seen, and its absence is a glaring point of criticism of Fran McCaffery, but a trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament isn’t hopeless. A new head coach could still accomplish the feat, but it would entail a lot more roadblocks to get there. As Michigan State’s Tom Izzo put it, Fran McCaffery is “one of the good guys.” Let him leave on his own terms.