Pacers GM Chad Buchanan On New IU Coach Darian DeVries
The Indiana Hoosier’s have a new head coach, and you can already count one prominent Indiana basketball mind as a fan.
That mind is Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan, a fellow Iowan who, along with Caitlin Clark, Tyrese Haliburton, and now DeVries, are part of an influx of basketball talent from the Hawkeye State. Buchanan has known DeVries for a long time, and on the Wednesday edition of The Ride With JMV, he gave his thoughts on the Hoosier’s new head man.
“I’ve known Darian for, gosh, for a really long time. I remember him as a player at Northern Iowa, and then I coached against him for one year when I was an assistant at Drake and he was at Creighton. As a player he was a very heady, tough-minded point guard. You could see future coach written all over as you watched him, and scouted him, and played against him. He comes from an athletic family, a great family; I think the world of Darian and I knew at some point he was going to find a big-time job, not that West Virginia isn’t, but obviously Indiana is one of the blue bloods of college basketball. I have the utmost respect for Darian, [and] I think he’s going to do a terrific job down there in Bloomington.”
Chad also spoke about the type of team DeVries oversaw in his time as the head coach at Drake University.
“He delivered with terrific teams every season he was there. His teams played both sides of the ball, they were very disciplined, and it generated a lot of excitement around that program that still carried through with the new coach they have now.”
Listen to Chad Buchanan, Greg Lansing and more give their thoughts on new IU coach Darian DeVries down below, and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!