Todd’s Take: Conspiracy Theories About New Indiana Coach Darian DeVries Are Silly

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – I was in the newspaper business for a long time. When someone proffered a conspiracy theory with no evidence to back it up, the prevailing notion was to avoid giving it oxygen.

That gatekeeper role was vital (and irritated those who wanted to advance conspiracy theories), and that mood still prevails in the traditional media.

Don’t give it oxygen.

The problem with that mindset is that traditional media outlets no longer provide all of the air in the room. Those with a conspiratorial bent just turn to social media to amplify their theories – and there’s very few out there who can challenge them on the factual nature of what they’re proposing or whether the theory makes any sense.

Journalists are trained to be skeptical and ask questions like that. Most others are not. Which is fine, but without someone to challenge the facts behind theories, it can lead to erroneous assumptions becoming conventional wisdom. Because something gets repeated enough for people to believe it’s true.

Take any number of rumors around the Indiana basketball team during the season. Things that might have an element of truth, but not the total truth, were repeated ad nauseam on message boards and fan groups. After a while, those who don’t have any desire to seek out the truth eventually believe the conspiracy theory is the truth.

Why do I bring all of this up? After Darian DeVries was hired as Indiana’s 31st men’s basketball coach last week, it was a disappointment for the West Virginia fans he was leaving behind.

That’s putting it mildly. Already stung by a NCAA Tournament snub – a selection committee judgment Mountaineers fans have every right to feel aggrieved about – losing a promising coach, and likely, some of the players who helped West Virginia win 19 games, is a bitter pill to swallow.

West Virginia men’s basketball is just the latest example of a program plundered by the new ways of college athletics. Mid-major programs go through it regularly now with their rosters and best coaches. It stinks, and hopefully, the rules the House settlement endeavors to set up will at least tamp down the predatory nature of some of it.

Having said that, fans also tend to lash out when things don’t go their way, and some West Virginia fans were no different in that respect.

Here is where we get into conspiracy theory territory. My instinct would normally be to not give it oxygen. But that doesn’t work anymore. Some of these baseless theories need to be challenged,

The one that has floated around the most is that DeVries was negotiating with Indiana during the season. And due to that, he held his son, Tucker DeVries, out of games after he hurt his shoulder to protect his year of eligibility.

There’s a lot of nonsense to sift through, but let’s start with one fact everyone should know.

Coaches have agents. When a coaching search begins, the party from the university – be it the athletic director or someone with similar power – usually contacts the agent to sniff out interest.

Is it done with knowledge of the coach? Certainly, but it’s a regular practice. No university in the land sits on their thumbs until the season is over to suss out interest from coaches. And every athletic director I’ve ever worked with at every level of Division I always has a short list of coaches to seek out just in case.

Do West Virginia fans think their athletic department is waiting around for coaches to finish up before they seek replacements? I would hope not.

That’s how the business works. Coaching searches often go on with a current coach in place and often seek out coaches that are working in current jobs. Quite frankly, that’s how the world works. It’s how most people get a new job. There’s nothing nefarious about it.

If you believe in the conspiracy theory, then you have to believe that Indiana was in on DeVries from an early stage – and I find that assumption to be dubious.

DeVries is a very good hire, but I would be very surprised if he was first on Indiana’s list. Some media outlets – Hoosiers On SI included – wrote about DeVries as an attractive possibility, but even up to the eve of the announcement that DeVries was coming to Bloomington, most eyes were focused on other candidates. At various stages, Dusty May, T.J. Otzelberger, Brad Brownell, Chris Beard, Ben McCollum and others had more noise around them for the Indiana job than DeVries

There was no guarantee DeVries was going to get this job. It’s rare that any coach has a guarantee to get a job. Things can happen in the interview process or during a background check that can scupper even some of the most qualified or desirable candidates.

There is also circumstantial evidence to suggest Indiana was looking at multiple candidates – as Indiana or any other school should. It’s likely no accident, for example, that Michigan felt motivated to re-negotiate May’s contract in February.

So to then believe that DeVries held out his son Tucker with the idea of saving him for another job becomes pretty ludicrous.

For one thing? Missing the NCAA Tournament is not a boon for DeVries or his son. Say West Virginia did make the tournament and made a run to the second weekend of the tournament.

You don’t think that would be more valuable to DeVries as a coaching commodity – to Indiana or anyone else – than not making the tournament at all? Being able to perform in that spotlight is also valuable to DeVries as a player, if he was healthy.

As for sitting him out, if Darian DeVries never leaves West Virginia, then sitting Tucker DeVries out – something not proven to be true in the first place – would benefit West Virginia. If Darian DeVries stays, then Tucker DeVries is suiting up for the Mountaineers in 2025-26.

Even if Tucker DeVries could have come back from his injury, I would be shocked if West Virginia fans would have wanted him back late in the season so as not to burn the injury waiver he’s likely to easily qualify for. The only thing that changed was Darian DeVries coming to Indiana. Two and two don’t equal four here.

So to say he was held out to benefit another program makes no sense when there was no guarantee Darian DeVries was headed to another program in the first place.

I’m sure West Virginia fans who want to believe a conspiracy was in place will challenge my skepticism. Conspiracy theories have power in the first place, because it’s something you want to believe.

Wanting to believe something is different than something being true. The conspiracy theories about Darian and Tucker DeVries are silly. Sour grapes shrouded in a “truth” that provides comfort to the offended party, but has little basis in reality.