West Virginia fans all are angry, in what started as a rough week getting left out of NCAA tournament after going 19-13 head coach Darian DeVries' decision to leave for Indiana was the icing on the cake to take WVU fans over the top.
DeVries replaced Bob Huggins and interim head coach Josh Eilert, after going 9-23 last season. DeVries was hired as the longterm answer to their recent slump when they hired him from Drake but after one lone season Darian DeVries is no longer in Morgantown, leaving WVU for Bloomington.
West Virginia alum Pat McAfee gave his reaction to DeVries leaving for Indiana during his show this week on ESPN.
“I’m going to say this: (DeVries) is maybe public enemy No. 1 right now in West Virginia,” McAfee said during Wednesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. “(North Carolina AD) Bubba Cunningham kind of got dropped down a bit. DeVries is now public enemy No. 1. That’s going to happen This guy became the head coach at West Virginia less than a year ago, I met him at ()’s press conference. He’s a cool dude. He was a good conversation. Thought he was going to do some special things at West Virginia.
“With that being said, this guy is a really good ball coach, which is why everybody in West Virginia is so mad,” McAfee continued. “The West Virginia basketball situation has been a revolving door. So to even be in a position to potentially get screwed as the biggest snub in the history of the tournament, I think West Virginia people were like, ‘this is going in the right direction with the right guy.’
“So the reason they hate him so bad is because of how good of a coach he is. And the more you think about it, especially with his boy coming down here (to Indiana), still has a year of eligibility, didn’t play a lot this year, people are talking a lot about that. … You think about the way he coaches, the way he operates, the way he talks, I think Indiana fans are really going to like this guy.”
Darian DeVries is public enemy number one in West Virginia right now..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 19, 2025
He's a really good basketball coach which is why EVERYBODY in West Virginia is so mad #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/6tbiybTs7t
Darian DeVries arrived at West Virginia and provided an immediate spark in his first season, we are all excited to see what he does in his first season at Indiana in the near future as he puts his staff and roster together over the spring and summer.