Battle of the Brand-New Bench Bosses: DeVries vs. the First-Year Frenzy
Indiana’s 2024–25 season ended in all-too-familiar disappointment when Darian DeVries failed to guide the Hoosiers into the NCAA Tournament, joining the ranks of other first-year coaches across the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, SEC and Big East. After a respectable 18–14 overall record and ninth-place Big Ten finish, DeVries opted out of any lesser postseason invitations. To gauge his performance, analysts compared his background (187–82 career record, three NCAA Round of 64 appearances), recruiting haul (10 transfers ranked 10th, one freshman class at 118th) and key metrics (NET rank 41, KenPom 46, offensive efficiency 42, defensive 65) against 14 rookie peers. Some names on the list include ACC hotshot Ryan Odom (29–5 record, NET 12), Miami first-timer Jai Lucas (25–8, NET 32), and seasoned veteran Sean Miller in Texas (18–14, NET 42). Each coach’s journey—ranging from D-II dominators to NBA assistants—paints a varied picture of early hurdles and triumphs in college hoops’ elite conferences.
Welcome to “Big Ten Bingo,” where Indiana fans mark off yet another tournament bust and scratch their heads over hiring someone whose greatest success was at a school whose name sounds like a sandwich. DeVries strolled in with a sparkling .695 career winning percentage—only to discover that Hoosier Nation expects miracles, not moral victories. Meanwhile, on the national stage, other newcomers are racking up wins, landing top recruits and convincing their ADs they didn’t accidentally hire the water polo coach. DeVries’s transfer class ranking of 10th sounds solid until you realize that’s like celebrating being the 10th-best karaoke singer at a recital. Sure, he can recruit and stats say he’s not awful, but in Bloomington, “not awful” translates to an existential crisis. Fans, take heart: next season will surely be the breakthrough—because if history teaches us anything, it’s that miracles happen every decade or so.
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