Hawkeyes Lose Top Coaching Candidate to Indiana

It was the homecoming that Iowa men's basketball fans were waiting for. A native son returning to take over a struggling program. It turns out that there was a better job just to the east.

The Iowa men's basketball team lost one of the big names attached to its coaching vacancy yesterday when news broke that West Virginia coach Darian Devries was headed to Indiana to coach the Hoosiers. The Cedar Rapids Gazette points out that both the Mountaineers and the Hoosiers were left out of this year's NCAA Tournament. Now, Devries will head to Bloomington to lead Indiana.

Devries is described as a grinder. A coach who will do whatever it takes to win. The Gazette reports that he excelled at Drake posting a 150-55 record with the Bulldogs. He went 19-13 in his only season at West Virginia, narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament. He replaces Mike Woodson who was let go at Indiana last month. Devries will be officially introduced at a press conference this morning.

So where does that leave the Iowa Hawkeyes? Devries reportedly interviewed for the Iowa position, but Indiana has far deeper pockets and NIL money. A job in his home state clearly wasn't enough of a draw. Many Iowa fans will now point to current Drake coach Ben McCollum as their top guy. But the Bulldogs are still dancing. They play Missouri in the NCAA Tournament tomorrow. Perhaps Iowa AD Beth Goetz will pluck some unknown star to lead the Iowa program.

Hawkeye fans are hoping they didn't see a homerun hire get away.

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