BORDEN — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti got in some good natured ribbing at the expense of the school’s new basketball coach Darian DeVries on Thursday night when the coaches visited Huber’s Orchard & Winery for the athletic department’s annual booster event.
Before a Q&A session in front of a sold-out crowd, Cignetti joked with reporters about having a limited budget in the spring transfer portal window thanks to all the available scholarships DeVries had to fill.
The Hoosiers signed three players — defensive ends Stephen Daley (Kent State) along with Kellan Wyatt (Maryland) and wide receiver Jonathan Brady (Cal) — in May.
“I’d like to have signed a few more, but when they hired Darian and he lost his whole roster, money got a little tight cause he had to put his team together and I felt the pinch,” Cignetti said with a smile.
Cignetti could relate to DeVries predicament having tackled his own “crisis roster situation” at the start of his tenure 18 months ago.
The two haven’t spent a whole lot of time together — they’ve appeared at a handful of IU-related functions — but Cignetti has noticed DeVries’ methodical approach over the last two months.
DeVries brought a blueprint to Bloomington that worked at his previous stops at Drake and West Virginia. He stressed the importance of not taking any ‘shortcuts’ while building a staff featuring only one assistant (Nick Norton) from his stint at WVU and signing double-digit transfers.
“He’s a man of action, he doesn’t say a lot,” Cignetti said. “He’s got a plan, he’ll get it done. He’s going to do real well here. I think just give him time, this stuff takes time sometimes. You are going to see results.”
The coaches were all smiles as they greeted a long line of fans looking for autographs after their Q&A sessions with longtime IU announcer Don Fischer.
“It’s nice to be able to get out and go meet some people, be able to kind of share, just on a more personal level, to meet as many fans and donors and things that we’re excited to become a part of,” DeVries said of his inaugural appearance at the event. “This is going to be a great event for us tonight, in a lot of different ways, to get out and meet so many people.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Why IU football coach Curt Cignetti envisions bright future for Darian DeVries in Bloomington
