Darian DeVries didn’t just have to rebuild an entire roster in his first six weeks on the job.
He had to start over with most of his coaching staff too.
If he needs a minute to exhale, that seems like it would be well deserved right about now.
We’ll have to wait until next March for real answers, but as far as DeVries’ new staff goes, it looks on paper like he has assembled a solid staff with plenty of recruiting success and winning experience.
Let’s start with this: All four of DeVries’ assistants announced so far were assistant coaches on other high major staffs this past season. There were no gambles, and no projections. DeVries is getting veterans with experience at the highest level to add to his own seven-year, 71.3% winning percentage as a Division I head coach.
The headliner of DeVries’ staff appears to be his latest addition, former Tennessee assistant Rod Clark. Vols head coach Rick Barnes acknowledged the loss last night at a public appearance.
“Rod was great. We’ll miss Rod,” he said.
All Clark has done is successfully recruit arguably the best offensive weapon from the transfer portal each of the last two years in Dalton Knecht and Chaz Lanier. Those are just two of several recruitments he’s been involved with over four years in Knoxville. He’s young, energetic, and well like by the players and staff.
With coaching experience in Kansas City, Chicago, Tennessee and elsewhere, Clark gives IU a lot of key recruiting connections.
And although he’s just 32, 2025-26 will be Clark’s seventh as a Division I assistant, and fifth at the high major level. All six teams he’s been a part of posted winning records, and his last two Tennessee teams made the Elite Eight.
Obviously any Indiana head coach is going to want in-state connections, and it would be difficult to find a relatively young assistant with better Indiana ties than Drew Adams.
A Bloomington native, Adams’ father is one of founders of the Indiana Elite AAU program, a key producer of local high school talent. In recent years the IU staff missed on Indiana Elite players like Braylon Mullins (UConn), Malachi Moreno (Kentucky), and Flory Bidunga (Kansas). Indiana Elite has pulled high school players from Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and beyond, and Adams should give IU connections throughout the Midwest.
Adams is also a very experienced assistant coach. 2025-26 will be his 14th season as a Division I college assistant coach His tenure as an assistant has included 10 winning seasons, eight 20-win seasons, and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Kenny Johnson has 11 years of total experience as an assistant coach, including six at the high major level.
He has worked under coaches like Rick Pitino and Ed Cooley.
He’s been to an Elite Eight and two Sweet 16s, and was part of a conference title with both Indiana and Louisville.
Johnson brings East Coast connectivity to the staff from a recruiting standpoint, and should be able to have IU involved with top prospects up-and-down the seaboard.
The young gun with an assistant title on DeVries’ staff is Nick Norton, who held the same role at West Virginia a year ago and came over from Drake where he played and served on the staff under DeVries.
In five years as a college player and another four as a member of college staffs, Norton has never been part of a season where the team finished with a losing record. And six of those years his teams won 20 or more games.
Norton doesn’t have an extensive resume as a recruiter, but he can learn under DeVries, Clark, Adams and Johnson.
And don’t forget about Mike Bargen, who has extensive head-coaching experience, 25 years of overall college staff experience, and was an assistant at Bradley for back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Championships in 2019 and 2020. Bargen is thought to be an X’s and O’s guru, and he’s expected to be DeVries’ top bench coach, perhaps serving in an offensive coordinator type of role like he held at Bradley. The Braves were a national top-50 three-point shooting team in four of the last seven years, and a national top-150 offense in all of the last six years.
“I just feel blessed to have had him by my side the last 10 years,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said when the news of Bargen’s departure surfaced.
For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Find us on Facebook and Instagram
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
