Is Texas Men's Basketball Head Coach a better job than Indiana?

[Bevo92]

Seems like a crazy question on the surface and probably is a bit crazy even as I type this but it seems worth asking, given the past 20 years of results plus recent winds that seem to be blowing in Texas favor.  Prior to Texas joining SEC, the horns' new facilities and Indiana's continued decline the past 10 years, this wouldn't seem to even be a question worth asking.  For the longterm history of both programs, it's no question Indiana has been basketball royalty and has one of the Top 10 most impressive basketball legacies with 5 NCAA Championships, the most recent being back in 1987 (third national title under Coach Bobbie Knight).   But that was Indiana's last NCAA championship, nearly four decades ago.   

I bring up the question because it seemed a bit underwhelming to see Indiana hire Darian DeVries as their next head coach.  Seems like a bit of a letdown hire compared to the idea of hiring Scott Drew away from Baylor when comparing both pedigrees or other potential candidates who were rumored for the job.  In his 6 years at Drake, DeVries did nothing overly impressive, making the NCAA Tournament 3 out of his last 4 years only to lose each time in the first weekend then missing the tournament in year 1 at WVU with a pretty average team.   https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2025/03/18/darian-devries-indiana-basketball-west-virginia/82527944007/#

When it comes to the Indiana Hoosiers,  I became a big fan of Bobby Knight and Indiana basketball in 1987 after reading Feinstein's "Season on the Brink" my freshman year in college......Steve Alford, Darryl Thomas, Brian Sloan, Keith Smart, etc.  Back then, it was awesome to watch Big 10 basketball overall.  When players stayed for 3-4 years with the same team, the teams and the star players were so freaking dominant......Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State, etc.... Rumeal Robinson, Steve Smith, Calbert Cheaney, Kendall Gill, Steve Scheffler, Glenn Robinson, Keith Smart, Gary Grant, Chris Webber, Glen Rice, the list goes on.     

Now, fast forward to the past decade.  Hard to believe that Indiana has MISSED the NCAA Tournament in 7 of the past 9 Years and they haven't made it past the Sweet 16 in nearly a quarter century since 2001/2002 season when they went to the NCAA Finals and lost. 

By comparison,  Texas has made it the NCAA Tournament each year over the past 5 years.  In the past 2+ decades, the Horns have have made it six times to the Sweet 16, four times to the Great 8 and one final 4 appearance (since 2001).  The Horns certainly aren't an elite basketball destination (yet) but neither is Indiana.   

All of this leads to the original question... Is Texas a better men's basketball coaching job than Indiana in 2025?   Has Texas decided it's ready to pay for a big-time coach?  DeVries was making $3M per year at WVU, similar to what Rodney Terry currently makes.  Under his new contract, Indiana has committed to pay DeVries $5M per year for the next 6 years ($30M commitment).  That's a big pay bump for sure but it's not money that will hire an elite coach in 2025.  Not only is Indiana stepping up in its annual commitment but it's also paying approx. $5m in buyout to WVU.    

Will the Horns and Rodney Terry go on a run in the NCAA Tournament against Xavier, Illinois and potentially Kentucky for a sweet 16 spot?  Would love to see it happen but hard to imagine a 3-game run against that level of competition given what's happened all season long.  Will RT get another year or is it time for a change in HC?   We'll know in the next week as Gerry and Bobby have stated.  If RT is let go, the pool of available 'elite' candidates seems light this year.  Indiana just hired a coach with minimal proven NCAA Tourney success.  Florida State went to the NBA assistant pool in Luke Loucks.  Miami went to the NCAA assistant pool in Jai Lucas (congrats to another former Longhorn).    

Curious what others think.  Is Texas a better job than Indiana?  Will the Horns step up and pay more than $5m per year?  That would seem to be an obvious 'yes'.  That's how much they paid to Chris Beard annually so they clearly are willing to pay north of $5m for the right coach.  Will CDC look for a coach with significant track record as a HC in college or will he look for a coach with lots of future upside?  Maybe an assistant from the NBA like Royal Ivey.  Does Jay Wright come out of retirement for enough money?  Seems unlikely.  Grant McCasland plays an exciting brand of basketball at Texas Tech.  Wouldn't that be funny to see it happen again?

Hook em!

[bierce]

DeVries didn't get a head coaching job until his was in his 40s, but he did very well at Drake.  Drake hadn't been in the NCAA tournament or even a MVC contender since 2008 when he took over in 2018-19, and he became its fourth coach in 4 years at that point.  Medved finally got Drake into a winning record in conference, but nearly the entire roster disappeared with him.  So three NCAA tournament appearances in his last 4 years and 4 straight second place finishes in conference was really good job.

And he had WVU playing at a very high level this year before Tucker was lost for the season.  It's not exactly like the state of West Virginia is awash in money to purchase basketball players, but he did well in raiding Okie State for Small and Illinois for Sencire Harris and Amani Hansberry and getting that group to the brink of a NCAA tournament bid.  They f'd up against Colorado, but Colorado had gotten its act together and was 4-4 over its previous 8 games. 

I'm just surprised WVU lost him this quickly.  Probably indicative of the level of expected NIL support. 

[harveycmd]

Indiana job isn't a top job. I'm thinking among college coaches it would be something like North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky and Kansas. In whatever order. But, who knows. Kobe scored 81 three weeks after Vince went off on USC. He was clearly the best in the world by a long shot. Media kept giving the MVP to Nash every year. 

[Hashtag]

Indiana basketball = Nebraska football

[qaertyisthatdude]

Indiana had a chance to return to prominence under Kelvin Sampson.  What he got canned for was legal a few years later.  If that doesn’t happen, I think IU would’ve won at least one more title and had several deep tourney runs to this day.  Tom Crean was a good coach, but his ceiling wasn’t as high as what IU fans had become accustomed to in Knight’s heyday, so he was let go.  I just don’t see them reaching those heights again.  Like Nebraska football and USC baseball, college athletics has evolved so much, and this once proud program did not evolve with it.

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

Indiana has national titles in hoops. It’s very difficult to say UT’s better by that standard.

Indiana care a whole lot more about basketball than Texas.

[CJ Vogel]

56 minutes ago, Hashtag said:

Indiana basketball = Nebraska football

Yep

[TexasMDcoach]

The answer is yes. 

[Austalgia]

No, Indiana cares more, and still has lore.  And Scott Drew isn’t going to leave Baylor for any job. Never was 

[Bevo92]

1 hour ago, CoachBobbyFinstock said:

Indiana has national titles in hoops. It’s very difficult to say UT’s better by that standard.

Indiana care a whole lot more about basketball than Texas.

Agree that Indiana fans care a whole lot more about basketball than Texas and also agree with @Hashtag that Indiana Basketball = Nebraska Football.  They've both been in a very long drought.  

All that said, if Texas makes the investment in our basketball program with elite coaching staff and top 10 level NIL investment to secure quality players, Longhorn Fans would get behind the team and we'd see a significant surge in fan support.  Looking forward to seeing how the next few weeks unfold.

Scenario 1:  Texas goes on a run and gets to Sweet 16.  Unlikely but we haven't seen the team at full health with Mark at PG for many games so will be interesting to see if this could happen.

Scenario 2: More likely, we lose tonight or against Illinois and RT moves on to USF or other similar program after CDC declares it's time to step up and make a big upgrade at HC.  

In either scenario, there's reason to be enjoy the moment.  

Hook em! 🧡 🐂 🤘🏼

 

[qaertyisthatdude]

2 minutes ago, Bevo92 said:

Agree that Indiana fans care a whole lot more about basketball than Texas and also agree with @Hashtag that Indiana Basketball = Nebraska Football.  They've both been in a very long drought.  

All that said, if Texas makes the investment in our basketball program with elite coaching staff and top 10 level NIL investment to secure quality players, Longhorn Fans would get behind the team and we'd see a significant surge in fan support.  Looking forward to seeing how the next few weeks unfold.

Scenario 1:  Texas goes on a run and gets to Sweet 16.  Unlikely but we haven't seen the team at full health with Mark at PG for many games so will be interesting to see if this could happen.

Scenario 2: More likely, we lose tonight or against Illinois and RT moves on to USF or other similar program after CDC declares it's time to step up and make a big upgrade at HC.  

In either scenario, there's reason to be enjoy the moment.  

Hook em! 🧡 🐂 🤘🏼

 

Regardless of whether RT saves his job in the next couple of weeks or not, whoever the HMBBC is next season must get more NIL support.  That way if RT or another HC comes in here and doesn't succeed, no one can use the lack of funds excuse.  It will be due to their own shortcomings as a HC.

[Gerry Hamilton]

If Indiana has the right coach, and they are a top 5-8 program in NIL ... they will be as competitive as any.

Great hoops fanbase in a terrific conference. 

[GoHorns1]

Nope

[Bevo92]

CDC is gonna make the Texas MBB job a premier place to coach with combination of total comp for coaching staff, facilities, additional resources, NIL commitment, creative in growing fan support.  

[goattalk100]

I think DeVries is a solid hire. Don’t know him from a personality perspective but so much of the top jobs can swallow up coaches by the pressure. We’ll have to see how he deals with that but winning cures all and he’s been a winning coach.

Florida might be the best team in the country this year and Golden wasn’t a huge hire. Best thing a program can do is hire a good coach and give him a fair and honest chance to build a winning program over a few years.

[horns96]

I'm old school AF, but the sun is quickly setting on niche programs in all sports resting on history.

[Bevo92]

After giving this more thought over past couple days, it seems clear the the answer is no, if solely looking at both schools history, fan support and living on the past success in Bobby Knight era.   Looking forward at facilities, resources, likely NIL and other benefits from being at flagship in Texas, brand exposure, SEC trajectory, ability to recruit and retain best players, anticipated broader fan support once team starts winning (see women’s team), I’d argue Texas is likely to be a better coaching job over the next 20 yrs.   
 

Hook em! 🧡🤘🏼🐂

Edited March 21 by Bevo92

[Nathan Larson]

Traditionally in hoops Indiana over Texas. That area is more basketball (think winter in doors in the north) on the other hand Texas is football by religion.