After a successful season that exceed expectations for West Virginia men's basketball, first-year head coach Darian DeVries was offered his "dream job" and left Morgantown to take over the same role at Indiana.
DeVries has already landed a Top 10 Transfer Portal Class according to 247Sports, with his son Tucker DeVries following him from West Virginia, as well as commitments from Davidson power forward Reed Bailey and his former player at Drake, Conor Enright.
But despite his highly-regarded reputation following his successful stints at Drake and West Virginia -- for example, his development of Javon Small into an NBA prospect and assistant coach Kory Barnett into a mid-major head coach, DeVries was unable to convince a former coaching colleague and one of the fastest-rising assistant coaches in the sport to join him in Bloomington.
According to Jeff Goodman of Field of 68, the DeVries "took a swing" at current Alabama assistant Preston Murphy, who coached with DeVries at Creighton under Head Coach Greg McDermott from 2015-2017. However, the report said Murphy has opted to remain in Tuscaloosa with the Crimson Tide.
Murphy has worked under Nate Oats at Alabama since 2023, helping play a role in leading Alabama to the 2024 Final Four and 2025 Elite Eight. Murphy is known as an elite recruiter, helping Alabama land the No. 2-ranked recruiting class and No. 7-ranked transfer portal class in 2024. Currently, 247Sports has the Tide ranked 12th nationally for their Class of 2025.
Goodman believes it makes sense that Murphy might decline the offer, as rumors suggest he's close to landing a head coaching job of his own in the coming years, and Alabama has advanced to the Sweet 16 or further each of the past three seasons. So despite his hopes, there will be no reunion for DeVries with this former colleague.
New Indiana coach Darian DeVries took a swing at Alabama assistant Preston Murphy, who he worked with at Creighton, source told @thefieldof68.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 11, 2025
But made sense that Murphy opted to stay in Tuscaloosa - Crimson Tide have been winning at such a high level in recent years and Murphy…