MORGANTOWN — WVU men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries is a wanted man, and the question becomes whether the opportunity to go home would be enough to lure him away from Morgantown after just one season?
The University of Iowa fired head coach Fran McCaffery on Friday, after 15 seasons and seven trips to the NCAA tournament.
McCaffrey is the school’s all-time wins leader with a 297-207 record, but the Hawkeyes slipped to 17-16 this season after losing to Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday night.
McCaffrey was ejected in the second half of that game after getting whistled for two technical fouls for arguing with referees.
A report from Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, as well as published reports coming out of the state of Iowa, list DeVries as the Hawkeyes’ top target.
In his one season at WVU, DeVries led the Mountaineers to wins against Gonzaga, Kansas, Iowa State and Arizona and has the team in position to make the NCAA tournament on Sunday with a 19-13 record.
But DeVries also has strong ties with the state of Iowa. He was born in Aplington, Iowa, about 90 minutes from the Hawkeyes’ campus and he played collegiately at Northern Iowa.
His younger brother, Jared, also played football for the Hawkeyes from 1995-1998, before playing 12 seasons for the Detroit Lions in the NFL.
Before coming to WVU, DeVries spent six seasons as the head coach at Drake, located in Des Moines, Iowa.
He signed a five-year deal with the Mountaineers in 2024 worth $15 million, with a contract option to automatically add a sixth year if WVU were to finish in the top six of the Big 12 standings in either of his first two seasons.
The Mountaineers finished in a tie for seventh this season.
DeVries will earn $2.8 million for this season and would make $2.9 million next season at WVU. His buyout clause in his contract requires him to pay 37.5% of his remaining unpaid total compensation if he were to leave prior to April 30, 2028.
With four years remaining, DeVries would owe in the neighborhood of $4.6 million to WVU if he left after this season.
During McCaffery’s 15 seasons at Iowa, he led Iowa to seven NCAA tournament appearances, advancing to the second round four times, but never reached the Sweet 16.
Iowa has had four players selected in the NBA draft since 2021, including first-rounders Keegan Murray and Kris Murray in back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023. In that group is also Luka Garza, the two-time first-team All-American and 2021 Wooden Award winner.
Since going to four straight NCAA tournaments from 2019-23, however, Iowa has struggled the past two seasons. The Hawkeyes missed the NCAA tournament last season, finishing 19-15 overall and 10-10 in league play.
Prior to taking over in Iowa City in 2010, McCaffery was the head coach at Siena for five seasons, going to three straight NCAA tournaments to finish his tenure there. He also went to one NCAA tournament apiece as the head coach at UNC Greensboro and Lehigh, and spent time as an assistant coach at Notre Dame, Lehigh and Penn.
— Staff and Associated Press reports
