The success of a college basketball coach is measured in numerous ways. The obvious, of course, is the winning percentage a coach obtains at his current school or over his career. Along with that comes postseason success and for a select few the ultimate prize - a national championship. Then there are the personal achievements of the players over the years, whether that be on or off the court. But an overlooked success occurs when a coach’s assistant gets his first head coaching job. And when those new head men enjoy success themselves, a coach may look upon that as one of his most satisfying achievements.

That is certainly a spot head coach, Greg McDermott of Creighton, finds himself in. When Coach Mac came to Creighton eleven years ago, two of his assistants who helped him build success in Omaha were Darian DeVries and Steve Lutz. After the tremendous contributions to the Bluejay teams of that era, it was not a surprise that members of Coach McDermott’s staff were courted by schools looking for a new head coach.

The first to receive a new job as head man was DeVries. On March 29th, 2018, ‘D-Rock’ a nickname that has always stuck among Jays fans, became the head coach of the Drake Bulldogs. It certainly looked like the right fit. “Those 20 years at Creighton I was always enjoying the moment,” DeVries said. “It had to be a special opportunity for me to leave Creighton. Some opportunities presented themselves but there was only one job that for me that made a lot of sense. Drake was a place that has a lot of similarities to Omaha and Creighton. Obviously growing up in Iowa and having a lot of family and friends there it felt like it was something where we could do something special and get something started. So it made a lot of sense to me and my family.”

The 24-10 record compiled in his first season at the helm of the Drake program was nothing short of remarkable. Putting a coaching staff together in a short amount of time, assembling a roster short on experience all the while promoting your program to the media and getting the fanbase on board is no small task. To not only win but take the team to the postseason is an unbelievable accomplishment. In season two DeVries guided his team to a 20-14 mark. He followed that up with one of the great seasons in Drake history. The 2020-21 team finished the year with a 26-5 record and a second-place finish in the Valley and a runner-up finish in the MVC tourney. They seized an at large bid into the NCAA tournament and knocked off former Valley foe Wichita State 53-52 in the play-in round. Even though in their next game the team fell to USC, coach DeVries took the program to another step and pushed the program into the national spotlight.

The Drake Bulldogs have not won as many games as they would like in the 2021-22 season. A lot of that has to do with the challenging schedule they have played. In the non-conference portion of the slate Drake has taken on Richmond, Belmont, Alabama, and Clemson. A game against highly regarded St. Louis is still on the schedule. “I was actually surprised that we were able to get these types of games coming off the NCAA tournament,” DeVries said. “The good part is other schools were looking for games too, so we were able to put together a competitive schedule that really challenged us, and it gets us ready for a tough conference schedule.”

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Steve Lutz took a slightly different path to his first head coaching gig. After seven successful seasons as an assistant at Creighton Coach Lutz took an assistant’s position at Purdue. After four terrific years at Purdue where the Boilers went to the big dance every year, the opportunity came to be the head man at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The job made a lot of sense. Lutz, a Texas native, knew the college basketball landscape in that part of Texas and was familiar with the Southland Conference.

Coach Lutz accepted the head coaching position at TAMCC on April 6th, 2021. In a similar situation to when DeVries began at Drake, Lutz had to hire his coaching staff and restock his roster in a short amount of time. The first task was to hire a staff. When asked what he looked for in a staff Lutz replied, “I’ve always believed in making your staff mirror your roster. What I mean by that is you’ve got to have people on the staff that when the players look at them, they see a little bit of themselves. By in large the Southland Conference is a lot of transfers and JUCO players. Each one of the staff I hired either coached in JUCO or spent a lot of time recruiting in the JUCO ranks. I just thought that was important. And of course, I just wanted good people and guys you want to be around on a day-to-day basis.”

A new head coach must look back on his observations of past head coaches he has worked for to establish his identity, all the while looking at different processes and styles and meshing them into his own. His most recent job at Purdue made an impression on him. “Coach Painter is very even keel, just like Coach McDermott,” coach Lutz said. “And just like Coach Mac, he taught me to treat people the right way. One difference was coach Painter is process orientated so we did not make a lot of adjustments. He also encouraged his staff to debate different ways to do things. Coach Painter always told us he did not care whose idea it was if it helped Purdue win. My experiences there just reinforced things that I thought to be true.”

With only three returning players, the task of filling his roster was even more difficult with the circumstances of Covid-19. “It was wild,” Lutz said. “We were in the middle of Covid. I had not laid eyes on any of the players except for two. So, you are getting to know your staff, trusting them on their evaluations of the players, and then you are watching video on the players. But it is simply different from seeing them live. So, it was nerve-racking to say the least. But I feel confident we signed good people and they have turned out to be talented players, so it worked out.”

Worked out indeed. The Islanders are off to the best start in school history. The team plays an upbeat tempo and is averaging over 80 points a game. “I still think we will be an excellent three-point shooting team before the season is over,” Lutz said. “We make a bunch in practice. It just hasn’t translated to the games yet.”

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This season has brought a new dynamic to the coaching challenges for Coach DeVries. Tucker DeVries, son of Ashley and Darian, is a freshman on this year’s team. Tucker was a top 100 prospect coming out of Waukee, Iowa and had many offers. But as most expected, he chose to play for his dad at Drake. The relationship can be challenging but Coach DeVries had an up-close look at how a father-son relationship can work when he was an assistant at Creighton. Doug McDermott, who finished his career as one of the greatest scorers in NCAA history, played all four years at Creighton for his dad, Greg McDermott. It certainly was something that Coach DeVries leaned on in his relationship with Tucker. “Over the course of Doug’s four years with Mac, I got to see a lot of things,” coach DeVries said. “It was impressive to watch how they were able to handle it. Of course, when Doug is scoring 3000 points it makes everything go pretty smoothly.”

But how has it gone so far for Tucker and Darian? “It’s been really fun. The day to day is something I did not even know I would appreciate as much as I have,” coach DeVries said. “Everything from meals to pre-practice to post-practice has been really great. But in the games and practice it has been easy because I just coach. If he does something good or bad it just comes out.”

Tucker is having fun too. “Well, when we win it is a lot of fun,” Tucker said with a smile. “But I have enjoyed the entire process. I know I want to win these games for not only myself but for him. He has done a decent job of making it just as normal as possible. It would be easy for him to flip the switch and be mad at me more than the rest of them or be happier for me than the rest of them, but he’s done really good at treating me like anyone else.” And even at a youthful age it is not lost on Tucker how the father-son relationship of the McDermott’s helped their process too. “It definitely helps with him coaching with Mac through that time when Doug was there and knowing how to handle everything,” Tucker said.

Coach McDermott had another role in the dynamic between Darian and Tucker. With Tucker ranked as one of the top players in the country, Creighton recruited Tucker just like several other schools did. But all along it was clear that Tucker wanted to play for his dad. And coach Mac gave Tucker some advice. “I’ve known Tucker since he was seven years old and I watched him grow up,” coach Mac said. “I understood that Tucker wanted to play for his dad, and I tried to help prep Tucker about the positives and negatives of that and at the same time answer Darian’s questions. It is not as easy as people think. There can be challenges and there were especially early in Doug’s career. But the positives far outweighed the negatives. The memories were special and those were precious times and I think when ‘D-Rock’ looks back on it, I think he will feel the same.”

Of course, there is a third person very much involved in this father-son/coach-player relationship. And that of course is wife and mother, Ashley DeVries. Both Tucker and Darian know that the stress level during games has been cranked up a notch this season for Ashley. “It’s probably different for Ashley and she would admit to that,” Coach DeVries said when describing what she goes through during the game. “I’ve heard she is more nervous in the stands than before.” Ashley totally agrees. “I’m much more nervous this year than in past years. I guess I’m nervous for the both of them hoping it all goes well.”

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Creighton fans remember Darian DeVries as a passionate, fiery assistant coach. He was especially animated when the Jays were on the defensive end. “Coach DeVries has always been one of the most competitive people you will ever meet,” Coach Lutz said. “But off the court, he is just a normal guy and a great husband and father. But it’s hard to match his competitiveness and fire.”

But as a head coach his demeanor has tempered. Has he been calm with the officials too? “I’m probably too nice,” DeVries said. “I’ve yet to have a technical as a head coach. Part of it is I have known a lot of these officials for a long time. Some of them were even working when I played. So, I have a really good working relationship with those guys and have great respect for them.”

Coach Lutz had plenty of fire himself. But he too has taken a calmer demeanor on the sidelines as head coach. “I’m pretty calm on the sidelines,” coach Lutz said. “No technical yet. I had one in a scrimmage earlier this year. That was just to fire my team up. But it didn’t work.”

Recently, in another strange twist of fate, both coaches brought their teams back to Omaha. In the span of three days, they both played the Omaha Mavericks. Both came away with victories. They were able to catch up with friends and many Jays fans who showed up at both games. “Excited to be back in Omaha,” coach DeVries said. “Lot of friends here. I was super excited to come back to town. I do not get to come back that often and was great to see all these friends in one place. Even if I did not get to talk to all of them, it was great to see them in the stands.”

Coach Lutz had a large contingent of fans at his game as well. “It’s impressive to see all those fans here,” coach Lutz said. “I’m going to get a chance to spend some time with a bunch of those people that were here.”

Speaking of Omaha, there was an interested spectator at both games. Greg McDermott, head coach of Creighton, was there to see his former assistants. He too noticed the large number of fans from Omaha who came to the games. “Often times assistant coaches are out recruiting, game planning, and working with the players. They have young families so an easy thing to do is forget about the community and not get to know our boosters,” Coach McDermott said. “Both guys did a terrific job getting to know people and develop relationships. And that was evident when they played here in Omaha. There was a big following behind their bench of Omaha people that they developed relationships with during their time here.”

It was certainly not lost on the two coaches the impact Coach McDermott had on them. “I think Coach Mac just does an excellent job of keeping even keel,” Coach DeVries said. “Whether its wins or losses, whether its young guys or older guys, he does a great job with relationships. And, how he relates with people outside the program and within the community. That’s the one thing I tried to take from him and take with me to Drake.”

Coach Lutz echoed a similar thought. “He taught me the way to treat people right,” Coach Lutz said. “Mac and I are different personalities. But just always being genuine and treating people the right way. Whether you win or lose or whether you get the player in recruiting or not. But I also learned to listen to people on the staff. We had a lot of great minds on the staff at Creighton. Obviously, Darian has done great at Drake, but I remember talking to Darian and listening to what he thinks about basketball. The same game is seen differently by a lot of different people so your way might not always be right.”

As part of the process to prepare them to be head coaches, Greg McDermott looked for ways to get them ready. “You try to put them in situations where they are going to learn everything,” Coach McDermott said. “Like when we go recruiting in Texas for five days, we have a budget. As a head coach you are responsible for that. When you are an assistant, you are just trying to do your job, so you are not concerned with that. So, there is non-basketball side that is important that they learn. It is important that they learn how to manage a program and managing the people that are a part of it. As an assistant you get wrapped up in your own responsibilities and you do not necessarily manage those people. That’s a big part in moving over to that head chair and obviously both guys have the attributes to be great head coaches.”

Coach McDermott enjoyed watching his former assistants’ teams play. He did not focus on the plays on the court as much as the sidelines. “I watched the coaches as much as I watched the game just to watch their mannerisms and the way they react. It brought back a lot of memories,” McDermott said. “I’ve seen those faces in practice and when they were on the bench with me. For someone who has been in this as long as I have, it's enjoyable for me to watch them lead their programs. It’s a lot of fun and they deserve it because they put a lot of work in at Creighton.”

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It is a big change moving from an assistant coach to a head coach. But have both men changed because of their new job titles? Well, it depends on who you ask. “He hasn’t changed one bit over the four years,” Ashley DeVries said. “Now he has changed from when he was an assistant. Mostly just because the two position have different responsibilities.” Darian DeVries disagreed, “I haven’t really changed much. What I didn’t realize the first year was how everything falls on your plate as a head coach. From what time you leave, to when you eat, to when you are leaving. Now all that has become more routine. Once you manage your time and feel comfortable with delegation, that part of the job gets a lot easier.”

Coach Lutz has similar challenges in his first year. “It’s been fairly easy about knowing what I wanted to do on the court,” coach Lutz said. “The hardest part has been the fund raising and managing my time. Media and speaking engagements take up some time so time management is a struggle.”

DeVries and Lutz know each other well. Working under Greg McDermott, they helped Creighton to 166 victories in the seven years they were together. The two keep in touch. In fact, before his recent game with Omaha, Coach Lutz reached out to Coach DeVries for some scouting advice. “Yeah, I spoke to him. I watched their game and tried to steal a couple of things that were successful for them. And those worked for us in the game,” Coach Lutz said.

Both coaches fondly remember each other and their time in Omaha. “He's a great guy. He’s a lot of fun and fun to be around,” Coach DeVries said. “He is detail oriented and organized. And he’s doing a tremendous job there as I knew he would.” Coach Lutz remembers discussing the finer points of basketball with DeVries. “He was always ready to talk basketball and we would banter back and forth about different ways to do things. He is set in his ways about how things should be done on the court, but his ideas are always very sound and well thought out which is probably why he is such a good basketball coach,” Lutz said.

The meeting of the two assistants in Omaha gave coach McDermott time to reflect on their time on the Creighton staff. He remembers hiring Steve Lutz and the circumstances around it. “He was the first guy I ever hired that I didn’t know before I hired him,” McDermott said. “He blew me away in the interview process with his passion for the game and his work ethic and it turned out I was right with what I saw.”

From a strategy perspective Lutz and DeVries always impressed. “They both had a good view of the game on both ends of the floor," McDermott said. “While they had ideas of their own, they were open enough to learn as they watched opponents and saw some things they might put into their philosophy as they became a head coach.”

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Before last year’s NCAA tournament, DeVries signed an eight-year extension to remain the Bulldog's basketball coach through the 2028-29 season. While it does not guarantee 'D-Rock' will remain at Drake for the eight years, it does give the coach some security. Does he see a move to a power conference school in his future? “I just signed an eight-year deal,” DeVries said. “I love where we're at and I love what we are doing. And that’s our focus right now, just continue to have fun with it.”

So, it sounds like Coach DeVries has settled in and has a comfort about being a head coach. Well maybe. But his drive and fire always keep him on edge. “I’m probably wired differently than a lot of people,” ‘D-Rock’ said. “I always feel like the underdog. I never want to get too comfortable or too relaxed where I am with things. I always want to continue to push the envelope. For me, I think every game day has felt the same as a head coach as when I was an assistant. Those competitive juices get the better of me for every game and every practice. I love the competitive side of it.”

For Coach Lutz the new job has brought about some perks. First, of course, is living and working in Corpus Christi. “It’s awesome,” Lutz said about living in Corpus Christi. “I’m able to walk along the seawall in downtown just outside our arena and it's 82 degrees. So that part is great. It is different. There is no changing of the seasons. But I’m sure in January and February I will really enjoy that.” He is also now close to family in San Antonio and can visit his mother on a regular basis. “Somedays on my drive into the office, I’m driving along the ocean and I kind of pinch myself. I’m extremely blessed to be in the position I’m in.”

Both DeVries and Lutz have founded their programs on what Coach McDermott instilled in them, that is treating people right. Coach Lutz summed it up best. “Basketball is awesome, and it has been great to me and my family. But at the end of the day, you still have to be a good person. And that’s more important than how many games you win.”

In the end Coach McDermott may be the biggest winner in the successes of Lutz and DeVries. The accomplishments of the two is quite special to Mac. “It’s a great sense of pride for me,” Mac said. “I would like to think that their experience at Creighton helped prepare them for what’s happening now and there are great things ahead for both of the guys.”

Coach McDermott then summed it up like this. “I couldn’t be happier for both of them. They have both done a great job in a brief period of time and I can’t say I’m surprised.” They are both going to win a lot and do so the right way.”

Three coaches. All successful. And all three firmly based on the principle of treating people right.