File – Lenbaker, West Virginia athletic director, W.Va. June 26, 2023. Answer questions at a press conference (AP Photo/Kathleen Batten, File).
Morgantown – WVU athletic director Len Baker can theorize that he lost men’s basketball coach Daryan DeBrees to Indiana after a season due to tradition and national recognition.
Indiana has five national championship banners hanging in the assembly hall, so there may be some truth to some extent.
“Maybe you’re the head coach of Indiana. This is a dream job for everyone, but especially for those who grew up in the Midwest, you’re watching old Big 8 and Big 10 basketball.” DeBrees said at his introduction press conference. “My chances to lead one of the biggest brands in college basketball were something I couldn’t have passed away.”
The central part of the problem lies in the checkbook. This was the unfortunate story Baker had to tell the West Virginia media on Wednesday hours after Devry was featured in Indiana.
“From a resource perspective, we are ready to stretch what we have, but there are certainly people in college track and field who have more money.” Baker said.
Indiana’s financial resources – much of that was obtained through a Big 10 television contract that pays each member school $800-10 million a year, but was able to offer Devry a reported six-year contract of over $30 million to the school.
WVU’s contract with Devries, which was worth $15 million over five years.
“Do you think that was the factor?” Baker said. “To be honest, yes.”
Baker said he tried to negotiate some better financial terms with Devry long before anyone in the state considered the possibility that Indiana would chase him.
“I first spoke to his agent in early February to make sure they knew they wanted to reward his success.” Baker said. “I’ve sat with him several times over the last few weeks talking about his contract and his compensation and what we can do there.
“We talked about revenue sharing and what we could do without opportunities. I think we had a really good shared vision of what we needed to continue building our program.”
Its shared vision collapsed after Devries accepted Hoosier’s offer Tuesday afternoon, with Baker doing his third search during the three seasons of the WVU Men’s Program.
“It was peace that I was offensive to keep him.” Baker said. “In the end, I realize that it’s not my decision. He can make it. We really hope for him.”
In an additional effort to keep DeBreeze up, Baker said WVU wanted to make a counter offer, but the school was not given the chance.
“I made it clear to him that we would like an opportunity to counter if there was an offer from Indiana.” Baker said. “The way it was unfolding just didn’t get that chance. I made it clear that, within the scope of the reason, I would keep him here and do whatever it takes to continue building this program.”
In his mind, Baker believed WVU’s limited budget (compared to Big Ten School and SEC schools) could compete with the money Indiana was throwing at Debbie.
“I think we could compete.” Baker said. “In the last few weeks, there have been a lot of donors who have been very interested in keeping Darian and continuing to build on what he is doing.
“Since Sunday (NCAA Tournament) Snub, we’ve been holding a double back and saying, “I want to do whatever it takes to build a roster and keep him.” I think we made a competitive counter offer.
The next move is again on Baker. He did not discuss the candidates on Wednesday other than essentially eliminating Bob Huggins’ return.
He didn’t give him a timeline, but there was a hint that this could be a quick process to introduce him to his next coach.
“We went through this process a year ago.” He said. “Some of these candidates are off the board, but there are probably some new candidates on the board, many of whom are already doing deep diving.”
Regarding what is being borne by WVU, Baker confirmed that the school receives acquisition checks, “Over $6 million” He said.
The final number will be approximately $6.15 million. This includes a refund for the travel expenses that Devry paid for when he first came to Morgantown from Drake University last year. They will also refund WVU any money you paid to Drake to purchase Devries’ contract with the Bulldog.
“Riking up $6 million will help you make the transition to a new coach and support some other items.” Baker said.
Baker said the coaching search includes candidates with ties to WVU, but certainly not limited to those coaches.
“I know that every time I lose my coach in a year, I have a knee-hung response.” Baker said. “The human nature is to think we have to get people who are connected to this place.
I think my job is to go out and get the best coach possible. I want a coach that others long for and want to come later. An alternative is that no one wants your coach, and that’s not very good. ”
Notes
Baker confirmed that WVU has already lost one player to the transfer portal. That player is freshman Jonathan Powell, who averaged 8.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in his first season.
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