LOS ANGELES — Seven years ago, Mick Cronin was Darian DeVries. A coach with success at the mid-major level, tasked with restoring a Blue Blood program.
Cronin spent 14 seasons at pre-Big 12 Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances before coming to UCLA. DeVries took Drake University to the NCAA Tournament three times over a six-year stint, spent one season at West Virginia, and is now at Indiana, feeling the pressure of Bob Knight’s shadow.
So does Cronin have any advice that can help DeVries handle a greater spotlight, heightened expectations, and the transition into a major conference?
“He doesn’t need my advice,” Cronin said Friday. “He’s a hell of a coach. It’s just that the players are better.”
DeVries has seemingly adjusted smoothly. Despite Indiana returning zero scholarship players in his first season, the Hoosiers are 14-7 overall, 5-5 in the Big Ten, and 1-0 against their in-state rival, No. 12 Purdue. He quickly revamped the roster and is coaching the Hoosiers in his vision.
There’s a similar challenge for another head coach who will be at Pauley Pavilion for an introduction to fans on Saturday when UCLA (15-6, 7-3) hosts Indiana. Bruins football coach Bob Chesney is making the leap from the Sun Belt Conference’s James Madison to UCLA.
Cronin said he’s only exchanged texts with Chesney since his arrival in Westwood. He has a similar message for Chesney as the one to DeVries.
“Get players, man.”
Chesney has done so, earning the commitment of more than 40 transfers in less than a month.
It’s understandable that Cronin has minimal advice for his new peers. The landscape in power conferences has drastically changed since he made the leap. In fact, he inherited a roster highlighted by Jules Bernard, David Singleton and Chris Smith. Incoming freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. had already signed a letter of intent with UCLA.
Those luxuries don’t exist for DeVries or Chesney. The same can be said for other first-year Big Ten coaches – Ben McCollum at Iowa, Buzz Williams at Maryland and Niko Medved at Minnesota.
Each had to overhaul their roster. They brought players from their former schools or added talent through the transfer portal; and implemented their coaching style into a new conference.
For example, six players followed McCollum from Drake to Iowa. The Hawkeyes play with his patented slow-paced, defense-first style. It’s essentially the same Bulldogs team, which went 31-4 in 2024-25, but in a new conference.
“We continue to trust our guys from Drake,” McCollum said during his introductory press conference in March 2025. “We took people that we thought could really help build and sustain a culture so that we can continue success into the future.”
Chesney has taken a similar approach in terms of team building, convincing 10 players from JMU’s 2025 team, which went 12-2 and qualified for the College Football Playoff, to join him at UCLA.
“If I come [to UCLA] and run the exact JMU program, I don’t know if it’s fully successful,” Chesney said during his introductory press conference on Dec. 9. “I know that there’s things and elements about it that we need to run, but at the same point in time, there’s a lot of other things that we have to adapt to fit our new moment in time that we are and who we want to become.”
When transitioning to the Big Ten, it’s not as simple as: rinse, repeat with the same formula that worked in the mid-major ranks. But Chesney has a basis of continuity, a handful of proven winners with the players who went from JMU to UCLA. That’s his core, which he’s building around to be immediately competitive in the Big Ten.
Devries, on the other hand, took his son, Tucker, with him to Indiana, and rejoined with Conor Enright, his point guard at Drake for two seasons. Other than that, he revamped the roster, and familiarized the personnel with his playstyle.
“I think it’s critical in how we want to play because in the ideal world on a missed shot, turnovers, we would like to score in those first 12 seconds,” DeVries said last March about his image for Indiana. “We feel like the best way to score is on a broken floor before the defense is set, so that’s our main priority from an offensive standpoint.”
It’s the direct antithesis of Iowa’s lulling style. Each has had success in a small sample size.
Whether it’s on the football or basketball side, there’s an influx of nuance in the Big Ten, much of which derives from the mid-major level. There are incoming coaches, their styles, and their players – increasing the level of competition and innovation in the conference.
“The Big Ten is such a hard playing league,” Cronin said.
The schemes and skills have expanded from the days when every Big Ten basketball game was a grinder. Cronin’s Bruins must prepare for a newfangled approach with each opponent.
When it comes to DeVries’ Hoosiers on Saturday:
“They’re a great shooting team,” Cronin said. “They have three of the best shooters in the country, not [just] the Big Ten. … They’re smart. They pass the ball, put you in a lot of tough situations to defend their shooters.”
A team looking to shoot in the first 12 seconds of the shot clock, as DeVries put it, isn’t reminiscent of past Indiana teams.
In this era, inheriting players and a culture is a rarity. Cronin was once in the shoes of coaches like Chesney, McCollum, Medved, Williams and DeVries. The jobs are the same. The expectations couldn’t be more different. In this era, those coaches areexpected to teach their style to new players, or acclimate mid-major talent to the Big Ten, instantly.
“It takes time to build a team into who you want them to be,” Cronin said. “It’s taken [the Hoosiers] a while to become what [DeVries] wants them to become, and he’s done a great job there. They’re a vastly improved team from the beginning of the season.”
INDIANA (14-7, 5-5 Big Ten) AT UCLA (15-6, 7-3)
When: Saturday, 2 p.m.
Where: Pauley Pavilion
TV/Radio: Peacock, NBC Sports Network/790 AM