March 27, 2025 • 28 mins
The Hoosiers hired Darien DeVries to lead IU into the future, and his arrival gives Indiana basketball the opportunity at a fresh start as it navigates a new reality in the college basketball landscape.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi, you doing everybody, I'm Ken Bike offf and welcome
to the Peegs Podcast. Indiana has themselves a brand new
head coach and that's West Virginia's Darren DeVries. And now
you might be asking yourself, Ken, that happened a week ago, Dude,
why haven't we heard from you since when Mike Woodson
was hired. I didn't weigh in on things right away,
(00:33):
and I've always been very happy that I handled it
that way. It gave me an opportunity to I was
underwhelmed by the Mike Woodson hired at the time, to
the point that I went back a few weeks a
couple months ago now just to make sure that I
remembered feeling the way that I did when Woodson was hired.
(00:57):
And it was again a thing where I didn't say
it go, you know, hurry up and record something right
away in an instant reaction hot take all that. Everybody
does that, and that's perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with that.
I don't need to be a voice in the cacophony
of hot takes. When you're talking about something this big,
(01:20):
there is instant analysis from Trevor and Jared and Rabbie
on the Peaks dot com website, and it is good
to get that perspective. We are now, you know, more
than a week out from the announcement of the hire,
(01:42):
and I've had an opportunity to really take my time
look at Darren Debrees's background, how his teams play, a
kind of hear what he had to say in the
press conference, everything that goes along with hiring of a
new head coach, and I think that perspective is important
(02:07):
in these situations. We've already seen some fallout from players
entering the transfer portal, things of that nature, and that
none of that was unexpected. You know the results, and
you know the people who have jumped into the portal
fully expected that to happen, to expect more to actually
jump in as well. But let's break down this for
(02:30):
a couple of different things. First and foremost, my reaction
to him being hired a considered reaction to it. And
it is this that Do I think IU went into
this thing as this is our top guy to get No,
(02:50):
I don't. I don't believe that for a second. Was
he somebody who was filed away as a possible candidate
along there? Yeah? Yeah, I absolutely believe that was the case.
There is a two part equation when it comes to
hiring a head coach. One has to do is with
(03:14):
who do you want to hire? The other is will
he come here? Obviously, Indiana, the job Dusty May has
done at Michigan. May's background, all of that made that
one a natural dues. He didn't want to come here.
I want to stay at Michigan. Nothing wrong with that,
(03:37):
Nothing wrong with that at all. You have other people
that maybe they would like to come here, but they
shouldn't be here or have baggage when it comes here,
people like Chris Beard. That was never gonna happen. Too
much baggage there, so that wasn't gonna happen. Brad Stevens,
(04:02):
a guy Indiana would love to have here, not gonna happen.
Didn't happen. There's nothing wrong with that. You go out
and you try to find the best hire that you can,
but that hire has to say yes. It is a
two way street. I also don't feel that Indiana settled
(04:22):
for Darren Devrees. I don't believe that that's the case either.
I do think that they were very considered in what
they were doing and wanted a style, a certain kind
of coach who had a certain background, who was also
willing to say yes, you wouldn't no matter what you ask.
(04:46):
If they say no, they say no, they say yes, great,
let's work something out. And I thought the Divies hire
was really really interesting, if unexpected on my end, because
of the fact that you know, here's a guy who
is checks all the boxes. I mean, he's younger than
(05:11):
sixty years old, certainly not in his mid sixties like
Mike Woodson. Uh. He's a guy who has been successful
at every stop. He has a ton of experience, both
as an assistant coach and as a head coach. He
has a track record of finding immediate success when he
(05:33):
takes over and building programs that maybe haven't been in
good shape. And it's safe to call Indiana that Hoosiers
haven't been in bad shape. They've just been mediocre. IU
basketball is a proud program. It's the history, it's the tradition,
(05:58):
it's the fan expectation, and those expectations aren't of mediocre basketball.
And that's what we've been subject to, mediocre basketball. So
it's not a full rebuild that we're talking about. Well,
we are talking about a program that needs to be
(06:21):
consistent in getting to the NCAA tournament. Not sweating on
selection Sunday, but getting to the NCAA tournament. Now, if
you look at what Darren Devrees did it West Virginia year,
not at West Virginia, at Drake, his previous stop before
West Virginia. Year over year over year, this was a
(06:42):
program from a mid major conference that went to the
NCAA tournament, that was wildly successful during the regular season
and put itself in a position to get to the tournament,
and it did at a higher rate than it had
in its history, really and so going to West Virginia
(07:02):
then and in one year had a team that went
from nine wins to nineteen. Didn't make the NCAA Tournament
this year, but that may actually end up being a
positive for IU. They were able to get Debrees maybe
a little bit sooner than they might have had he
gone to the tournament and maybe made the second weekend.
(07:26):
Bottom line is the Hoosiers had their man in place
before the transfer portal opened. This gives the program an
opportunity to have a clean start, and I think that
that's really really important given what we've had over the past.
(07:48):
For the eight years. You look at at the twenty
first history, twenty first century history of Indiana head coaches,
and you had some odd hires along the way. Not odd,
I don't know that's too strong a word, but you know,
(08:13):
Mike Davis is hired from an interim role that he
wasn't really ready for, but he was kind of there
and had to pick up the pieces and was rewarded
for it and went to a title game. He had
the most success of any coach in the twenty first century.
For IU, Calvin Sampson should have worked. If he could
(08:33):
have kept his nose clean, Indiana, I truly believe would
have a championship banner and a six to one hanging
right now. Exits and o's Sampson's a good coach, didn't
stick by the rules, and the program kind of rotted
on the inside. It's completely torn down. Tom Crean takes over,
(08:55):
has to deal with that full rebuild that took that
made three years of real bad basketball team, played hard,
didn't always win. Then you had his run that had
some success, had some ups and downs along the way.
Creams it was time for a change. When he was
(09:17):
let go and Archie Miller comes on Archie is somebody
I've heard a lot of people say, well, Indiana Devrez
is exactly like Archie Miller was. No, he wasn't, because
Miller did not have that experience of building and maintaining
a program that had been struggling. Miller was an assistant
(09:41):
coach and I wrote about this on peaks dot com
if you want to read fourteen hundred words on it.
He picked up where Dayton had left off and kept
that thing going and then came to IU and despite
having plenty of talent at his disposal, simply couldn't win it.
Now that he's going to Rhode Island, he's having you know,
(10:01):
even more problems there because the talent isn't there. It's
not working. Doesn't mean he's gonna get fired for Rhode
Island because Rhode Island doesn't really have the resources to
pay the buy out and all that, and that's not
a great situation to be in. But Miller was let
go from IU rightfully so, and Mike Woodson was hired.
(10:22):
That is a very baffling hire. Will will continue to
be too old, no coaching experience, and it didn't work.
It was media a mediocrity for four solid years and
a coach who acted like he had a couple of
banners underneath his belt, you know, announces a resignation, says
(10:47):
he'll address it at the proper time, and still hasn't.
And I knew when that an announcement happened that would
never be addressed because he didn't think he should have
been fired. So you know what he leaves, and that's
water under the bridge. Now it's gone. Mike Woodson isn't
isn't a I use coach anymore, not a concern. Now
you have Darren Davrees and where is he going to go?
(11:13):
It is apples and oranges in that football and basketball
are different. But obviously we have the success of Kurt Signetti,
who made a lot of people go, who is that?
Who's this guy? He hasn't won at this level. That's
(11:33):
kind of where DeVries is. It's apples and oranges because again,
both of them have a background of being successful and
doing all of that. The year at West Virginia is
interesting because West Virginia was able to add ten more
wins this year than they had last year, but they
had some injuries along the way. They had some very
good wins along the way. They were a little inconsistent
(11:56):
following those injuries. But it's clear from the press coosference
and from the past results that Darren de Brees has
a process and a vision of how he likes to
run a program that is he has complete confidence in
and he's going to continue to roll with it. And
(12:17):
I think that that's really an important part of what
the Hoosiers are about to experience. Mike Woodson had to
be hired with training wheels. Bad Mota was there, Dane
Feiffe was there. Hey, Mike, this is how you run
a college program because he'd never done it before. Darren
(12:37):
de Brees isn't isn't coming in with training wheels. He's
coming in with his plan and that plan obviously now
will include restocking the roster with guys from the transfer portal. Again,
nothing wrong with this at all. This is something that
is going to happen. This this don't don't get your
(13:00):
you know, all upset and set your hair on fire
over it. This is college basketball now. It's a year
to year thing, and until systemic changes are made, it's
going to remain this way. Nil resources are going to
play a huge role in everything that you have. But
I think Devrees might have a better idea of how
(13:23):
to work with this than Mike Woodson did. Woodson coming
from an NBA background, there is part of me that
was like, well, what he is coming from that NBA background.
He knows how to quickly and integrate free agents into
a system, so you know this might be able to work.
(13:43):
And he did have that background. But in college in
the NBA, you say, Okay, this is the guy, this
is what we do. Go do it. Not a lot
of teaching in the NBA, because if you don't know
what you're doing, I'm not going to teach got to
do it. I'll get somebody else in here could do
it now. Jeff rab John's has talked a lot about
(14:05):
that in a lot of different arenas. The teaching aspect
of it. Darren Devre spent seventeen years at Creighton learning
how to teach guys, spent six years at Drake learning
how to teach guys, one year at West Virginia learning
how to teach guys. And meanwhile, you are going to
(14:26):
be able to recognize the players that fit what you
want to do and maybe have the resources to add
a guide that fits what you do. But also has
this next level athleticism and that you could develop guys
along the way, and so that's going to be a
big part of what we're going to see here. I
(14:48):
have a optimistic view of what Indiana is doing. And
that's not because I'm optimistic by nature. Anybody who's ever
met me and heard me talk, we'll tell you optimism
doesn't drip off of me. I'm optimistic that this could work,
(15:09):
and that this will work because of the fact that
you do have Debreze's background in building programs and dealing
with these things along the way, and now you're giving
more resources to use than you've ever had before. And
(15:30):
you come in here with the passion, You come in
here with the drive. You don't come in with any
kind of sense of entitlement that you know you are
picking up a legacy. That's kind of the way Mike
Woodson approached it, and he had been a star here.
He was here to be the savior to return i
(15:51):
U basketball to a very high level. He didn't do it,
and now he's out. We think him for his for
his service. But Darren Devreese doesn't come in here with
that sense of I'm a savior he's there with the
job to do, and I feel like he is going to,
(16:12):
you know, based off past stops, all of his energy
is going to go into building this program and having
him play in a way that he enjoys and that
he likes to teach but also can adapt along the
way and how his teams are going to play because
(16:33):
he's done it before, and Creighton did it before, and
so you know, people ask me, do you think this
is a home run higher? That's what you always get asked,
a home run hired? You love the hire? Do you
love the hire? I'm optimistic about the hire. Where Indiana
basketball is a home run Higher is great to think about.
(16:59):
But this status of the program on a national level
is one more about resources and potential for the program
than where the program is. And I think that that
is incredibly important to remember. Texas Tech as a program
(17:19):
has been more successful in the twenty first century than Indiana,
especially when you talk about success in March. This is
an IU basketball program that's never won its conference's own
conference tournament. So while we have those banners up there
and they mean a lot to a lot of people
(17:43):
in twenty first century basketball, they are relatively meaningless, and
so what you're not what you're trying to do is
raise the status of a program that has a ton
of potential and it always has lottery picks come here,
(18:06):
all Americans play here. That's where we are. But now,
what are you gonna do with that? How are you
gonna mesh those that group together? Are you going to
put together a roster that can play together without you
(18:27):
having to lean on off the court promises that may
have been made in terms of playing time, in terms
of all of all of that flush at all. It
has to come down to building a roster that's gonna
play together. And you have more resources than virtually any
(18:48):
other program in the country to do so, because the
thirst for success for Indiana basketball is could could not
possibly be higher. This also gives this change which we've
known has been coming for a long time. And I
know it's not something that Mike Woodson is you know,
was excited about. It is a lot like Tom Allen
(19:13):
being let go from IU football and Kurt Signetti coming over.
I'm saying the results are going to be the same.
We'll see on that. But what it does is it'll
let you go into the twenty five to twenty six
season with hopes and dreams of what could be different.
It's a reset for expectations on the program. You're not
(19:38):
going to have a faction of people who are like, well,
Indiana won the game, but I'm not thrilled with that
because I really want to see a coaching change. I
don't think of whatever is going to happen is is sustainable.
That's what we've had this past year and it didn't
work out. Not surprisingly, it didn't work out out of
(20:02):
you know, player turnover also will allow new faces to
come in that might not have some of the baggage
that that some of the guys did this year. As well,
It's gonna be a lot of fresh faces, you know,
Mackenzie and Bacco has moved on. Malik renew Is in
(20:26):
the portal, Miles Rice in the portal, Cain and Carlisle
in the part in the portal. Gabe Cups is gone.
Not the Cups played much this year, but still new faces,
fresh start, and I think it's great for Indiana basketball.
I think that that's what needed to happen. That's what
needed to happen. You could say, hey, I want this
(20:47):
and wanted this coach and how you couldn't do it,
And you know, it's it's this, that and the other.
It's a clean start. It's a reset that India desperately needed,
and here we are. I was asked over Twitter earlier
this week if I was concerned about so many people
(21:11):
leaving the program and they're not being a flood of
guys coming in, and I'm not. That process just opened
on Monday. There's no rush to any of this, no
rush to and make sure that you got the guys
that you want. Doing it right, not quickly is what
(21:31):
is really important. So no, I'm not concerned. I'm also
not concerned with the number of people who left the program.
It's not like this is a team that just went
thirty one and three. It's mediocre program. Mediocre team didn't
play well together all the time, had moments, but didn't
(21:52):
always play well together. So now, going forward, you could
rebuild this roster in your own image, turn things around
quicker than basically at almost any other time in college
basketball history. You saw all the new faces that you
had when it came to IU basketball this past year,
(22:16):
about so many new guys and getting them to play
together and all of that, And I know Mike Woodson
just opened the check book and said, hey, let's go.
But guys could could go ahead and look at the
way that they had played and some of the dynamics there.
There's always a lack of chemistry in a lot of
different ways. Darren Devrez has been successful. Is he does.
(22:42):
He have to sell himself for sure, for sure. But
one thing is certain, it's how you program has a
ton of potential to be successful. It has the resources
it needs to be successful, It has the fan support
it needs to be successful. And I know some people
complain about Indiana fans and they're you know, they hurt
(23:04):
the place. Their expectations are way too high and all
that I disagree completely. The expectations are to be consistently
competitive and win games and pull it out when it's late.
Doesn't have to happen every single time. That's not what
the expectations are. The expectations for IU basketball are to
(23:27):
be competitive and a real pain in the ass to
play every single time out. You have to finish those
but you can't stack back to back twenty five point losses,
one at home, one on the road, and then at
the end of the season argue, well we've been playing
really well over the past couple of weeks. We've gone
five and three, so we really should no. Come on, man,
(23:50):
if you want to get to the NCAA Tournament, you
got to take care of business and be competitive every
time out. There will always be a hiccup where you're like,
oh god, that was that was a stinker that happens.
You can't stack those year over year over year with
the kind of resources you have here. Darren Devreez's teams
have shown that they could beat very good teams. They've
(24:13):
had some inconsistency at West Virginia's past year in particular,
in which they had injuries and lack of a ball
handler later in the season really hurt. But building depth
with the resources Indiana University brings to bear from an
nil standpoint will make a huge difference. And I find
(24:33):
myself here in mid March as other teams get busy going,
you know, working in the NCAA Tournament, as the Sweet
sixteen goes on, what kind of world excuse me, Indiana
basketball can inhabit going forward? As we have power forward
(24:58):
teams in the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet sixteen, all
of them, can Indiana find a place there and the
answer is unequivocally yes. And a fresh start, a fresh attitude,
a completely fresh feeling in assembly hall, I think is
going to be critical and it's going to be what
(25:20):
Darren Devrez is going to be able to bring to
this program. Will it translate into wins and losses? Nobody
can look into the crystal ball and say that. What
they can say is past results suggest that it will.
(25:40):
You have to obviously do it on the court and
we'll see what the future holds. But I have every
reason to believe that based on those past results, there
is a process that Darren DeVries and his assistant coaches
follow that allow a program to be successful. And that's
where where we are. You could say it should have
been this guy, should have been that guy. It should
(26:00):
have been, It isn't. Darren Devrees is the guy that
is hired. He has a six year contract. He's going
to be here a little while. So given his past resume,
the fact that success has ported from school to school
(26:21):
in terms of turning things around, in terms of maintaining
success at one of the schools in a pretty tough environment,
being able with the resources at his disposal here at IU,
there's every reason to believe that he can continue to
take the next steps as a head coach. I think
it's really important. I think it's really important that that
(26:45):
background exists because it doesn't guarantee results, but it suggests
that the same results can be repeated and that he'll
be able to tap into the unlimited potential of Indiana basketball.
The resources that are at bear the fact there has
(27:05):
been national success in the past, getting farther into the
recent past now, but it suggests that a guy who
is confident, knows what he's doing, experienced at college basketball,
and knows how to build a roster and be successful
with it, can be very successful at IU. It's a
(27:28):
program with a ton of potential on tap, potential for
the last eight years. For sure. We'll see if it
actually translates to wins on the floor. Well, we worry
about that in the fall. We don't even know what
the roster is going to look at. We don't know
who the hell is going to be on the roster.
But as it stands right now in March late March,
(27:53):
Indiana basketball has reason for optimism with Darren Devrees at
the helm and his confidence and his vision are going
to be really really important for the direction of this program.
I'm excited to see what's going to happen. I'm really
excited about it because I think that it's going to
be uh a ride, to say the least. I'm excited
(28:14):
for it and welcome to coach Debrez. What's all the
time we have on the Peaks podcast. I want to
thank you for listening, and I want to remind you
of visit peaks dot com for the very best in
IU football and basketball coverage. Are going to find anywhere
nobody covers who's're recruiting better than Jeff rab John's, Matt Weaver,
Trevor Andershoch and Jared Kelly. So come be a part
of a thriving and excited community at peaks dot com. Folks,
you are not going to be disappointed. Folks are out
(28:38):
of time. But for now and for Jeff, Matt, Trevor,
and Jared, I'm ken Bikoff saying thanks for listening. Everybody,
Hi, you doing everybody, I'm Ken Bike offf and welcome
to the Peegs Podcast. Indiana has themselves a brand new
head coach and that's West Virginia's Darren DeVries. And now
you might be asking yourself, Ken, that happened a week ago, Dude,
why haven't we heard from you since when Mike Woodson
was hired. I didn't weigh in on things right away,
(00:33):
and I've always been very happy that I handled it
that way. It gave me an opportunity to I was
underwhelmed by the Mike Woodson hired at the time, to
the point that I went back a few weeks a
couple months ago now just to make sure that I
remembered feeling the way that I did when Woodson was hired.
(00:57):
And it was again a thing where I didn't say
it go, you know, hurry up and record something right
away in an instant reaction hot take all that. Everybody
does that, and that's perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with that.
I don't need to be a voice in the cacophony
of hot takes. When you're talking about something this big,
(01:20):
there is instant analysis from Trevor and Jared and Rabbie
on the Peaks dot com website, and it is good
to get that perspective. We are now, you know, more
than a week out from the announcement of the hire,
(01:42):
and I've had an opportunity to really take my time
look at Darren Debrees's background, how his teams play, a
kind of hear what he had to say in the
press conference, everything that goes along with hiring of a
new head coach, and I think that perspective is important
(02:07):
in these situations. We've already seen some fallout from players
entering the transfer portal, things of that nature, and that
none of that was unexpected. You know the results, and
you know the people who have jumped into the portal
fully expected that to happen, to expect more to actually
jump in as well. But let's break down this for
(02:30):
a couple of different things. First and foremost, my reaction
to him being hired a considered reaction to it. And
it is this that Do I think IU went into
this thing as this is our top guy to get No,
(02:50):
I don't. I don't believe that for a second. Was
he somebody who was filed away as a possible candidate
along there? Yeah? Yeah, I absolutely believe that was the case.
There is a two part equation when it comes to
hiring a head coach. One has to do is with
(03:14):
who do you want to hire? The other is will
he come here? Obviously, Indiana, the job Dusty May has
done at Michigan. May's background, all of that made that
one a natural dues. He didn't want to come here.
I want to stay at Michigan. Nothing wrong with that,
(03:37):
Nothing wrong with that at all. You have other people
that maybe they would like to come here, but they
shouldn't be here or have baggage when it comes here,
people like Chris Beard. That was never gonna happen. Too
much baggage there, so that wasn't gonna happen. Brad Stevens,
(04:02):
a guy Indiana would love to have here, not gonna happen.
Didn't happen. There's nothing wrong with that. You go out
and you try to find the best hire that you can,
but that hire has to say yes. It is a
two way street. I also don't feel that Indiana settled
(04:22):
for Darren Devrees. I don't believe that that's the case either.
I do think that they were very considered in what
they were doing and wanted a style, a certain kind
of coach who had a certain background, who was also
willing to say yes, you wouldn't no matter what you ask.
(04:46):
If they say no, they say no, they say yes, great,
let's work something out. And I thought the Divies hire
was really really interesting, if unexpected on my end, because
of the fact that you know, here's a guy who
is checks all the boxes. I mean, he's younger than
(05:11):
sixty years old, certainly not in his mid sixties like
Mike Woodson. Uh. He's a guy who has been successful
at every stop. He has a ton of experience, both
as an assistant coach and as a head coach. He
has a track record of finding immediate success when he
(05:33):
takes over and building programs that maybe haven't been in
good shape. And it's safe to call Indiana that Hoosiers
haven't been in bad shape. They've just been mediocre. IU
basketball is a proud program. It's the history, it's the tradition,
(05:58):
it's the fan expectation, and those expectations aren't of mediocre basketball.
And that's what we've been subject to, mediocre basketball. So
it's not a full rebuild that we're talking about. Well,
we are talking about a program that needs to be
(06:21):
consistent in getting to the NCAA tournament. Not sweating on
selection Sunday, but getting to the NCAA tournament. Now, if
you look at what Darren Devrees did it West Virginia year,
not at West Virginia, at Drake, his previous stop before
West Virginia. Year over year over year, this was a
(06:42):
program from a mid major conference that went to the
NCAA tournament, that was wildly successful during the regular season
and put itself in a position to get to the tournament,
and it did at a higher rate than it had
in its history, really and so going to West Virginia
(07:02):
then and in one year had a team that went
from nine wins to nineteen. Didn't make the NCAA Tournament
this year, but that may actually end up being a
positive for IU. They were able to get Debrees maybe
a little bit sooner than they might have had he
gone to the tournament and maybe made the second weekend.
(07:26):
Bottom line is the Hoosiers had their man in place
before the transfer portal opened. This gives the program an
opportunity to have a clean start, and I think that
that's really really important given what we've had over the past.
(07:48):
For the eight years. You look at at the twenty
first history, twenty first century history of Indiana head coaches,
and you had some odd hires along the way. Not odd,
I don't know that's too strong a word, but you know,
(08:13):
Mike Davis is hired from an interim role that he
wasn't really ready for, but he was kind of there
and had to pick up the pieces and was rewarded
for it and went to a title game. He had
the most success of any coach in the twenty first century.
For IU, Calvin Sampson should have worked. If he could
(08:33):
have kept his nose clean, Indiana, I truly believe would
have a championship banner and a six to one hanging
right now. Exits and o's Sampson's a good coach, didn't
stick by the rules, and the program kind of rotted
on the inside. It's completely torn down. Tom Crean takes over,
(08:55):
has to deal with that full rebuild that took that
made three years of real bad basketball team, played hard,
didn't always win. Then you had his run that had
some success, had some ups and downs along the way.
Creams it was time for a change. When he was
(09:17):
let go and Archie Miller comes on Archie is somebody
I've heard a lot of people say, well, Indiana Devrez
is exactly like Archie Miller was. No, he wasn't, because
Miller did not have that experience of building and maintaining
a program that had been struggling. Miller was an assistant
(09:41):
coach and I wrote about this on peaks dot com
if you want to read fourteen hundred words on it.
He picked up where Dayton had left off and kept
that thing going and then came to IU and despite
having plenty of talent at his disposal, simply couldn't win it.
Now that he's going to Rhode Island, he's having you know,
(10:01):
even more problems there because the talent isn't there. It's
not working. Doesn't mean he's gonna get fired for Rhode
Island because Rhode Island doesn't really have the resources to
pay the buy out and all that, and that's not
a great situation to be in. But Miller was let
go from IU rightfully so, and Mike Woodson was hired.
(10:22):
That is a very baffling hire. Will will continue to
be too old, no coaching experience, and it didn't work.
It was media a mediocrity for four solid years and
a coach who acted like he had a couple of
banners underneath his belt, you know, announces a resignation, says
(10:47):
he'll address it at the proper time, and still hasn't.
And I knew when that an announcement happened that would
never be addressed because he didn't think he should have
been fired. So you know what he leaves, and that's
water under the bridge. Now it's gone. Mike Woodson isn't
isn't a I use coach anymore, not a concern. Now
you have Darren Davrees and where is he going to go?
(11:13):
It is apples and oranges in that football and basketball
are different. But obviously we have the success of Kurt Signetti,
who made a lot of people go, who is that?
Who's this guy? He hasn't won at this level. That's
(11:33):
kind of where DeVries is. It's apples and oranges because again,
both of them have a background of being successful and
doing all of that. The year at West Virginia is
interesting because West Virginia was able to add ten more
wins this year than they had last year, but they
had some injuries along the way. They had some very
good wins along the way. They were a little inconsistent
(11:56):
following those injuries. But it's clear from the press coosference
and from the past results that Darren de Brees has
a process and a vision of how he likes to
run a program that is he has complete confidence in
and he's going to continue to roll with it. And
(12:17):
I think that that's really an important part of what
the Hoosiers are about to experience. Mike Woodson had to
be hired with training wheels. Bad Mota was there, Dane
Feiffe was there. Hey, Mike, this is how you run
a college program because he'd never done it before. Darren
(12:37):
de Brees isn't isn't coming in with training wheels. He's
coming in with his plan and that plan obviously now
will include restocking the roster with guys from the transfer portal. Again,
nothing wrong with this at all. This is something that
is going to happen. This this don't don't get your
(13:00):
you know, all upset and set your hair on fire
over it. This is college basketball now. It's a year
to year thing, and until systemic changes are made, it's
going to remain this way. Nil resources are going to
play a huge role in everything that you have. But
I think Devrees might have a better idea of how
(13:23):
to work with this than Mike Woodson did. Woodson coming
from an NBA background, there is part of me that
was like, well, what he is coming from that NBA background.
He knows how to quickly and integrate free agents into
a system, so you know this might be able to work.
(13:43):
And he did have that background. But in college in
the NBA, you say, Okay, this is the guy, this
is what we do. Go do it. Not a lot
of teaching in the NBA, because if you don't know
what you're doing, I'm not going to teach got to
do it. I'll get somebody else in here could do
it now. Jeff rab John's has talked a lot about
(14:05):
that in a lot of different arenas. The teaching aspect
of it. Darren Devre spent seventeen years at Creighton learning
how to teach guys, spent six years at Drake learning
how to teach guys, one year at West Virginia learning
how to teach guys. And meanwhile, you are going to
(14:26):
be able to recognize the players that fit what you
want to do and maybe have the resources to add
a guide that fits what you do. But also has
this next level athleticism and that you could develop guys
along the way, and so that's going to be a
big part of what we're going to see here. I
(14:48):
have a optimistic view of what Indiana is doing. And
that's not because I'm optimistic by nature. Anybody who's ever
met me and heard me talk, we'll tell you optimism
doesn't drip off of me. I'm optimistic that this could work,
(15:09):
and that this will work because of the fact that
you do have Debreze's background in building programs and dealing
with these things along the way, and now you're giving
more resources to use than you've ever had before. And
(15:30):
you come in here with the passion, You come in
here with the drive. You don't come in with any
kind of sense of entitlement that you know you are
picking up a legacy. That's kind of the way Mike
Woodson approached it, and he had been a star here.
He was here to be the savior to return i
(15:51):
U basketball to a very high level. He didn't do it,
and now he's out. We think him for his for
his service. But Darren Devreese doesn't come in here with
that sense of I'm a savior he's there with the
job to do, and I feel like he is going to,
(16:12):
you know, based off past stops, all of his energy
is going to go into building this program and having
him play in a way that he enjoys and that
he likes to teach but also can adapt along the
way and how his teams are going to play because
(16:33):
he's done it before, and Creighton did it before, and
so you know, people ask me, do you think this
is a home run higher? That's what you always get asked,
a home run hired? You love the hire? Do you
love the hire? I'm optimistic about the hire. Where Indiana
basketball is a home run Higher is great to think about.
(16:59):
But this status of the program on a national level
is one more about resources and potential for the program
than where the program is. And I think that that
is incredibly important to remember. Texas Tech as a program
(17:19):
has been more successful in the twenty first century than Indiana,
especially when you talk about success in March. This is
an IU basketball program that's never won its conference's own
conference tournament. So while we have those banners up there
and they mean a lot to a lot of people
(17:43):
in twenty first century basketball, they are relatively meaningless, and
so what you're not what you're trying to do is
raise the status of a program that has a ton
of potential and it always has lottery picks come here,
(18:06):
all Americans play here. That's where we are. But now,
what are you gonna do with that? How are you
gonna mesh those that group together? Are you going to
put together a roster that can play together without you
(18:27):
having to lean on off the court promises that may
have been made in terms of playing time, in terms
of all of all of that flush at all. It
has to come down to building a roster that's gonna
play together. And you have more resources than virtually any
(18:48):
other program in the country to do so, because the
thirst for success for Indiana basketball is could could not
possibly be higher. This also gives this change which we've
known has been coming for a long time. And I
know it's not something that Mike Woodson is you know,
was excited about. It is a lot like Tom Allen
(19:13):
being let go from IU football and Kurt Signetti coming over.
I'm saying the results are going to be the same.
We'll see on that. But what it does is it'll
let you go into the twenty five to twenty six
season with hopes and dreams of what could be different.
It's a reset for expectations on the program. You're not
(19:38):
going to have a faction of people who are like, well,
Indiana won the game, but I'm not thrilled with that
because I really want to see a coaching change. I
don't think of whatever is going to happen is is sustainable.
That's what we've had this past year and it didn't
work out. Not surprisingly, it didn't work out out of
(20:02):
you know, player turnover also will allow new faces to
come in that might not have some of the baggage
that that some of the guys did this year. As well,
It's gonna be a lot of fresh faces, you know,
Mackenzie and Bacco has moved on. Malik renew Is in
(20:26):
the portal, Miles Rice in the portal, Cain and Carlisle
in the part in the portal. Gabe Cups is gone.
Not the Cups played much this year, but still new faces,
fresh start, and I think it's great for Indiana basketball.
I think that that's what needed to happen. That's what
needed to happen. You could say, hey, I want this
(20:47):
and wanted this coach and how you couldn't do it,
And you know, it's it's this, that and the other.
It's a clean start. It's a reset that India desperately needed,
and here we are. I was asked over Twitter earlier
this week if I was concerned about so many people
(21:11):
leaving the program and they're not being a flood of
guys coming in, and I'm not. That process just opened
on Monday. There's no rush to any of this, no
rush to and make sure that you got the guys
that you want. Doing it right, not quickly is what
(21:31):
is really important. So no, I'm not concerned. I'm also
not concerned with the number of people who left the program.
It's not like this is a team that just went
thirty one and three. It's mediocre program. Mediocre team didn't
play well together all the time, had moments, but didn't
(21:52):
always play well together. So now, going forward, you could
rebuild this roster in your own image, turn things around
quicker than basically at almost any other time in college
basketball history. You saw all the new faces that you
had when it came to IU basketball this past year,
(22:16):
about so many new guys and getting them to play
together and all of that, And I know Mike Woodson
just opened the check book and said, hey, let's go.
But guys could could go ahead and look at the
way that they had played and some of the dynamics there.
There's always a lack of chemistry in a lot of
different ways. Darren Devrez has been successful. Is he does.
(22:42):
He have to sell himself for sure, for sure. But
one thing is certain, it's how you program has a
ton of potential to be successful. It has the resources
it needs to be successful, It has the fan support
it needs to be successful. And I know some people
complain about Indiana fans and they're you know, they hurt
(23:04):
the place. Their expectations are way too high and all
that I disagree completely. The expectations are to be consistently
competitive and win games and pull it out when it's late.
Doesn't have to happen every single time. That's not what
the expectations are. The expectations for IU basketball are to
(23:27):
be competitive and a real pain in the ass to
play every single time out. You have to finish those
but you can't stack back to back twenty five point losses,
one at home, one on the road, and then at
the end of the season argue, well we've been playing
really well over the past couple of weeks. We've gone
five and three, so we really should no. Come on, man,
(23:50):
if you want to get to the NCAA Tournament, you
got to take care of business and be competitive every
time out. There will always be a hiccup where you're like,
oh god, that was that was a stinker that happens.
You can't stack those year over year over year with
the kind of resources you have here. Darren Devreez's teams
have shown that they could beat very good teams. They've
(24:13):
had some inconsistency at West Virginia's past year in particular,
in which they had injuries and lack of a ball
handler later in the season really hurt. But building depth
with the resources Indiana University brings to bear from an
nil standpoint will make a huge difference. And I find
(24:33):
myself here in mid March as other teams get busy going,
you know, working in the NCAA Tournament, as the Sweet
sixteen goes on, what kind of world excuse me, Indiana
basketball can inhabit going forward? As we have power forward
(24:58):
teams in the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet sixteen, all
of them, can Indiana find a place there and the
answer is unequivocally yes. And a fresh start, a fresh attitude,
a completely fresh feeling in assembly hall, I think is
going to be critical and it's going to be what
(25:20):
Darren Devrez is going to be able to bring to
this program. Will it translate into wins and losses? Nobody
can look into the crystal ball and say that. What
they can say is past results suggest that it will.
(25:40):
You have to obviously do it on the court and
we'll see what the future holds. But I have every
reason to believe that based on those past results, there
is a process that Darren DeVries and his assistant coaches
follow that allow a program to be successful. And that's
where where we are. You could say it should have
been this guy, should have been that guy. It should
(26:00):
have been, It isn't. Darren Devrees is the guy that
is hired. He has a six year contract. He's going
to be here a little while. So given his past resume,
the fact that success has ported from school to school
(26:21):
in terms of turning things around, in terms of maintaining
success at one of the schools in a pretty tough environment,
being able with the resources at his disposal here at IU,
there's every reason to believe that he can continue to
take the next steps as a head coach. I think
it's really important. I think it's really important that that
(26:45):
background exists because it doesn't guarantee results, but it suggests
that the same results can be repeated and that he'll
be able to tap into the unlimited potential of Indiana basketball.
The resources that are at bear the fact there has
(27:05):
been national success in the past, getting farther into the
recent past now, but it suggests that a guy who
is confident, knows what he's doing, experienced at college basketball,
and knows how to build a roster and be successful
with it, can be very successful at IU. It's a
(27:28):
program with a ton of potential on tap, potential for
the last eight years. For sure. We'll see if it
actually translates to wins on the floor. Well, we worry
about that in the fall. We don't even know what
the roster is going to look at. We don't know
who the hell is going to be on the roster.
But as it stands right now in March late March,
(27:53):
Indiana basketball has reason for optimism with Darren Devrees at
the helm and his confidence and his vision are going
to be really really important for the direction of this program.
I'm excited to see what's going to happen. I'm really
excited about it because I think that it's going to
be uh a ride, to say the least. I'm excited
(28:14):
for it and welcome to coach Debrez. What's all the
time we have on the Peaks podcast. I want to
thank you for listening, and I want to remind you
of visit peaks dot com for the very best in
IU football and basketball coverage. Are going to find anywhere
nobody covers who's're recruiting better than Jeff rab John's, Matt Weaver,
Trevor Andershoch and Jared Kelly. So come be a part
of a thriving and excited community at peaks dot com. Folks,
you are not going to be disappointed. Folks are out
(28:38):
of time. But for now and for Jeff, Matt, Trevor,
and Jared, I'm ken Bikoff saying thanks for listening. Everybody,
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com