For the first time in 15 years, a true coaching search begins for one of Iowa athletics’ four major sports. But the “search” to replace Fran McCaffery as men’s basketball coach might not have to be a long one.
Beth Goetz’s first phone call should go (and likely already has gone) to old Butler friend Brad Stevens, the Boston Celtics general manager, just to make sure he doesn’t want to return to college coaching for a boss he greatly respects. Her second call should go to the camp of West Virginia coach Darian DeVries, who checks every box that Iowa should desire as its next basketball coach.
Whether DeVries actually takes the job is another question. We’ll get to that later.
But if Goetz could deliver DeVries, it would be a home-run hire for Iowa’s second-year athletics director. The reasons are numerous.
DeVries has outstanding results in the head chair
When DeVries left Drake in the spring of 2024 to take the West Virginia job, he did so having recorded five of the Bulldogs’ 10 seasons of 20-plus wins in program history. In six years leading the Bulldogs, DeVries posted a 150-55 record and reached three NCAA Tournaments – and won a first-round game over Wichita State in 2021. Though his 2023 and 2024 teams at Drake came up just short in first-round NCAA matchups – to Miami as a No. 12 seed and to Washington State as a No. 10 seed – he had the Bulldogs consistently going toe-to-toe with much bigger programs.
If there was any question about how DeVries would fare at the power-conference level, what he’s done in Year 1 at West Virginia has been described by Morgantown media as an overachieving success. DeVries arrived to extremely low expectations (after a 9-23 season stemming from the fallout of Bob Huggins’ unceremonious exit) and exactly one returning player on the West Virginia roster.
But DeVries was able to land a top transfer in guard Javon Small from Oklahoma State. Then he did something Huggins never did – win at Kansas, in his first try, no less. West Virginia also beat Gonzaga and Iowa State (then ranked No. 2) along the way to a 19-12 regular-season record. West Virginia is solidly in the NCAA Tournament, projected as a No. 10 seed.
The guy can flat-out coach, and he’s proven that wherever he has been – from 17 years as an assistant at Creighton (under Dana Altman and Greg McDermott) to Drake to West Virginia.
“I don’t think we overachieved,” DeVries said recently of his first season. “Our goal the whole time was to maximize what we thought we could do and try to do that every day.”
DeVries is a Midwest (Iowa) guy, and Iowa is a dream destination
Plugged-in sources within the coaching community say that DeVries has two dream jobs – Creighton and Iowa. He and wife Ashley have one son, Tucker, and a daughter, Tatum, who is a high school sophomore. They’ve known the Midwest all their lives. Bringing the DeVries family home would be a natural fit for both parties.
Even though he’s been coaching for a long time, DeVries only turns 50 on April 7. That’s the same age as Goetz. The thinking for Goetz would be to never need to hire another men’s basketball coach again. Success-willing, of course, the potential is there for a long-term partnership.
DeVries is an Iowan, through and through. His still uses a cellphone with the area code 515. DeVries led Aplington-Parkersburg to two state championships in high school and played his college ball at Northern Iowa. His brother, Jared, was a star football player at the University of Iowa – and remains the Hawkeyes’ all-time sacks leader.
To hire an Iowan would draw an instant connection with Hawkeye fans who are looking for a reason to come back to men’s basketball.
DeVries would generate much-needed fan enthusiasm
Though McCaffery departs as Iowa’s all-time winningest coach, his teams’ lack of defense and postseason success became a source of frustration and eventually apathy for many fans.
But have a conversation with almost any Hawkeye fan today about who would get them excited about watching men’s basketball again, and DeVries inevitably is the first name to emerge.
It’s not about playing style for Iowa fans. It’s about finding ways to be successful when it matters most. Going back to his introductory press conference at West Virginia, DeVries made a statement that should resonate with Iowa fans.
“From a philosophy standpoint, how do you win games?” DeVries said. “You have to take care of the ball, you have to defensive rebound, you have to guard. Those three things, that’s winning. If you can do those three areas well, you have a chance to win every single night.”
The risk-reward of paying DeVries would be a no-brainer for Iowa
Yes, the cost for Goetz and Iowa athletics to make such a move would be significant. On top of the approximate $4.26 million buyout (paid over three years) for McCaffery, Iowa would need to write a whopping check to West Virginia – of roughly $4.66 million, if the hire was made on April 1 – to pay the buyout for DeVries to leave Morgantown after one year. Goetz did catch a break in that West Virginia tied for seventh in the Big 12 this year; a top-six finish would’ve extended his contract automatically and upped the buyout to nearly $5.9 million.
Thus, the total buyout cost for Iowa here would be around $9 million. Obviously, that’s a ton of money but big-picture still represents only 5% of Iowa athletics’ annual revenue. But the cost of empty seats is something that Goetz couldn’t afford to swallow. Iowa finished the 2024-25 season with an average home attendance of 9,161 fans per regular-season game – the lowest-recorded average in at least 60 years. Ticket scans (actual fans in seats) were much lower, at 5,172 per game, according to a public-records request by the Des Moines Register – or 34.5% of Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s capacity of 14,998 for basketball.
Additionally, DeVries was set to make $2.9 million next season at West Virginia; McCaffery was set to make $3.5 million in 2025-26. It shouldn’t break the bank long-term for Goetz to make sure she locks up the best guy for the job. She could offer DeVries a 25% raise (a shade over $3.6 million a year) and still pretty much pay what Iowa would’ve paid McCaffery next season anyway.
Many bonus perks, including (probably) a Year 1 ringer to get things started
What made DeVries’ successful first season at West Virginia more remarkable was he did most of it without his son, Tucker, playing. The former Waukee High School and two-time Missouri Valley Conference player of the year at Drake was limited to eight games for the Mountaineers before having season-ending shoulder surgery. Tucker DeVries meets the requirements for a medical-hardship waiver, so he still (presumably) has a sixth-year senior season available.
What a starting point that would be to begin shaping Iowa’s 2025-26 roster. DeVries also played with Pryce Sandfort, who enjoyed a strong sophomore season for Iowa, on Waukee’s 2021 state championship team (along with Payton).
This is an important time period for Goetz. With McCaffery’s removal, a 30-day transfer-portal window opens for all Iowa players. Any kind of positive roster momentum for the Hawkeyes might increase the chances to retain other talent, including Josh Dix and Owen Freeman, though that’s more difficult to know.
Additionally, there would be a natural marriage with keeping current Iowa assistant Matt Gatens on staff – considering he was a key assistant for DeVries at Drake. That type of continuity would be yet another added bonus to a DeVries hire.
But would DeVries take the Iowa job?
That’s a fair question. DeVries is a naturally loyal person. After all, he stayed at Creighton for 20 years total (including three as a graduate manager). But he also has longed for a job in his home state, as evidenced by him applying three times for the Drake head-coaching job – getting turned down the first two times as the Bulldogs instead went with Mark Phelps and Ray Giacoletti. (Third time was a charm for DeVries and Drake.)
From Iowa’s perspective, DeVries may be the first choice but far from the only choice.
Goetz probably has done her homework already on some intriguing names like Northwestern’s Chris Collins (who has always held an affinity for Iowa dating to his time as a recruit), Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes (a Lone Tree native who has a positive and infectious personality), Mississippi State’s Chris Jans (an Iowan who played at Loras College) and Drake’s Ben McCollum (a former Division II sensation who has become a hot coaching name, including at Indiana, with a defensive-oriented style). Any of those would be excellent choices, too.
But first things first: Take a shot at DeVries.
It’ll be interesting to see if it gets to the point of an Iowa offer, if DeVries chooses to stay with the first power-conference school that hired him or if one of his two dream jobs draws him home.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 30 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
