Darian DeVries
Drake basketball coach Darian DeVries added another accomplishment to his first season at Drake Thursday afternoon when he was named the Missouri Valley Conference Henry Iba Coach of the Year.
DeVries was announced as the winner of the prestigious award during the MVC’s annual Coach of the Year luncheon in St. Louis, Mo.
The honor caps a tremendous regular season in which DeVries took the reins of a Drake program that was slated to return just two letterwinners from a season ago with no incoming recruits.
Faced with the challenge of assembling a roster in mere weeks, DeVries and staff quickly put together one of the best teams in Drake history to claim the program’s eighth Valley title, first since 2008 and second since 1971.
The Bulldogs’ 23 wins are the third-most in program history and the team’s 12 Valley wins are the fourth most ever by a Drake team. His debut season is the second most successful by a first-year head coach at Drake behind only Keno Davis’ 28 wins in 2008. His 23 wins are also the most by a rookie head coach in the nation this season and the second most by a coach in his first season at a school.