Remaking Bulldog Basketball – 1 on 1 With DeVries

DeVries Remaking the Bulldogs

(St. Louis, MO) – The fourth Drake coach in three years, Darian DeVries is remaking Bulldog basketball. The long time Creighton assistant coach has energetically jumped into the latest Drake reboot with a passion. How this version of Bulldog basketball turns out is still to be seen, but Drake won’t fail due to lack of effort.

DeVries, who pursued the Drake coaching position several times (see DeVries – ‘All In’ @ Drake) finally landed his desired position. As a former Northern Iowa Panther, DeVries knows the potential of a Valley team in the State of Iowa. He says signing with Drake felt like a good fit.

 

 

After playing and coaching in the MVC DeVries is thrilled to be back in the second oldest conference in America. Noting Loyola’s recent run, DeVries says some program always steps forward to carry the Valley banner on to the national stage.

 

 

Building the Staff

DeVries believes the key to remaking Bulldog basketball is building a great coaching staff. His selections of Matt Woodley, Marty Richter and Larry Blunt show the potential of such a coaching consortium. The first-year head coach hired three men with head coaching experience and men that know how to recruit a wide array of players and regions.

 

 

His first hire was Woodley, an Iowa native and former Drake basketball player, who finished his playing career as the program leader in steals. While Woodley has coached all over the nation and in the NBA G-League, he and DeVries have maintained a strong friendship. Woodley coached in the Big 10, Pac-10, Sun Belt Conference and was a head coach for the Memphis Grizzlies’ team in the G-League and at Division 2 Truman State University.

Both as a player and a coach Woodley has displayed great passion and worth ethic. His brother Andy played at Northern Iowa.

 

 

Former Florida Southwestern State College head coach Marty Richter has been added to the staff. Three of his players also signed with Drake. Richter was a former assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast and built a record of 56-10 during his two seasons leading the FSSC program.

Part of remaking Bulldog basketball was then recruiting three of Richter’s former players. D.J. Wilkins and twins Tremell  and Anthony Murphy. DeVries says reconnecting with Waterloo native Richter was one of the first things he did after being hired at Drake.

Seven of Richter’s Buccaneers signed with Division 1 programs.

 

 

JucoRecruiting.com rates Tremell Murphy 20th in this year’s junior college player rankings

DeVries says recruiting ability was a key component in assembling his current staff. The Iowa native says while recruiting the nearby region is important, his staff will have to recruit from other regions to find players to fit needs.

 

 

When I asked DeVries what makes him tick, he told me that coaching is all about competition. In remaking Bulldog basketball he hopes to help his players learn how to compete, succeed and overcome obstacles.

 

 

What’s In Part Two?

In the second part of our exclusive interview with the new Drake head coach, we’ll find out what he thinks about his new players, the style that he hopes to employ and how he has built his first roster.

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