Notable Quotes from WVU HC Darian DeVries’ Introduction

WVU HC Darian DeVries was introduced as the next men’s basketball head coach on Thursday morning. Here are the notable quotes from DeVries as he begins a new era of Mountaineer basketball.

“I understand the responsibility of being the men’s basketball coach here at West Virginia. We will do everything we can to make you proud. We’re going to do it with integrity, we’re going to do it the right way, we’re going to work hard.”

“My son Tucker, who will be joining us for his senior year. It’s always nice when you get your first recruit. I had to work hard this morning to get that done.”

“This was a family decision. It was an easy decision because of everybody here, in the community here. In the less than 24 hours that we’ve been here, it shines through what this community is all about.”

“To have that kind of success, you have to have terrific coaches and players that have paved the way: coach [Gale] Catlett, coach [John] Beilein and coach [Bob] Huggins, just incredible what they’ve done here and the success they’ve had. Players such as Jerry West, ‘Hot Rod’ Hundley, Rod Thorn. This program knows winning.”

“We hope to have a staff in place as soon as possible so we can continue getting out on the road during an important recruiting period.”

“We will have a locker room full of winners. When they leave here, we don’t want him leaving here just as good basketball players but as great men.”

“I have a great understanding of the [Big 12].”

“I’ll get the opportunity to meet with the individuals on the roster right now and get a feel for their plans and our plans. Excited to do that.”

“There’s no question that in order to be successful in the Big 12, you have to be able to defend, rebound, have physicality, have toughness. We will recruit to that and coach to that.”

“We want players that want to be at West Virginia. We want players that want to be here because they want to be what we have here: this fanbase, this community, this school. They want to be a part of our program and embrace that.”

“From a portal and high school perspective, we will do a combination of both. The portal is incredibly important but we’re also not losing sight of building within. Find very talented high school players that want to be here, fit this and then retain them.”

“I got a chance to reach out to all three of [former WVU head coaches]. Got a couple on the phone, exchanged some text messages. Excited to get their input on the program and the success they’ve had here.”