MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There is nothing more unique than the father-son, coach-player relationship in college basketball.
 
In the 116 seasons West Virginia University has played the sport, just John and Patrick Beilein own that distinction here. The only other situation approaching it was Dyke Raese coaching his nephew Don during the 1942 season, which concluded in New York City by winning the National Invitation Tournament.
 
As an aside, Joedy Gardner would have probably coached his son, Joedy Jr., here too, but the elder Gardner was let go following the 1978 season, and they wound up together at Northern Arizona in the early 1980s.
 
John and Patrick Beilein shared two successful seasons in 2005-06 when the Mountaineers made back-to-back NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" appearances and in 2005 came within one possession in regulation of reaching the Final Four. Also, Patrick managed to score more than 1,000 points during his college career, so the duo enjoyed lots of personal and professional successes at West Virginia University.
 
But not all father-son tandems are alike, nor as successful.
 
Adolph Rupp Jr., known as Herky when he played for his famous father at Kentucky, scored just 11 points in two varsity seasons in 1959-60 and 1961-62. The elder Rupp once famously said of Herky, "If I think he can help us, he'll play, if not, not even his mother could persuade me to use him."
 
Allie McGuire had more success playing for his famous dad, Al McGuire, at Marquette, the guard performing on three NCAA Tournament teams in the early 1970s and leading the squad in assists all three seasons. However, it wasn't always smooth sailing for Allie.
 
"It was difficult for him, but not for me," the late McGuire admitted.
 
Perhaps the most famous father-son combo was Press and Pete Maravich at LSU in the late 1960s. Pete became NCAA basketball's all-time leading scorer, in part, because he played for his father. Press used Pete to get the LSU job, and once he got to Baton Rouge, his teams revolved around his son, according to Mark Kriegel in his book PISTOL: The Life of Pete Maravich.
 
Some of Pete's teammates became resentful of him because of this.
 
"Press came out one year and said that Pete was going to have to shoot 40 times for us to win," Ralph Jukkola, one of Maravich's LSU teammates, recalled last year for the website SportsCasting.com. "That was kind of a downer for us to hear. I think it may have burned some bridges. I didn't like it. It was almost like telling us we ain't worth a darn."
 
Maravich had St. Albans, West Virginia, native Les Robinson, who worked with Maravich at NC State, sit on the LSU bench and help keep track of Pete's assists and steals because Press thought his son was getting short-changed.
 
"They're screwing him everywhere he goes, Les," Maravich told him. Robinson thought Press loved his son too much.
 
Of course, none of that applied to the Darian and Tucker DeVries father-son relationship at Drake, and it won't apply this year when they become the second father-son duo in Mountaineer basketball history.
 
Darian saw first-hand how rewarding and joyful coaching your son can be when he was an assistant coach working for Greg McDermott at Creighton.
 
McDermott's son, Doug, was the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2011 and later became a three-time consensus All-American while helping the Bluejays reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
 
"I thought I learned a lot from Greg and Doug McDermott," West Virginia's first-year coach said Thursday afternoon. "Greg told Doug, 'When you go back to the locker room, it's okay to join in. I get it. You are not going to be happy with me every day as your coach, not just because I'm your dad. Put your two cents in, too, if you want to. You have to have that space.'
 
"I don't need to know everything that goes on in that locker room, and I intentionally don't ask for that reason because I don't need Tucker to tell me everything that's going on," DeVries continued. "That's their time to vent and share things, and they need to be able to do that."
 
For Tucker, being coach DeVries' son is the most common topic of conversation he has with people he's meeting here for the first time.
 
"I think we have both enjoyed it very much," he said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been a blast to be able to do it together, and obviously it has its challenges and its good days, but I think when we get older and look back on it, I think it will be really cool and really special."
 
Tucker said it's important to separate the father from the coach in their relationship.
 
"For the most part, we keep basketball at the gym and keep everything else away from the gym," he explained. "Certainly, there is crossover and after tough days you wait a little longer to call him, or if things are going well, maybe I'll go home for dinner."
 
"I noticed he loves to come home when he scores 30," his father joked. "'Hey, what are you doing tonight? You watched film yet?' That's the joy of being where we're at is being able to celebrate those moments together and being able to enjoy when you play well - and also on some bad days, too, we just have a great relationship in that regard. I'm sure he enjoys them a lot more after good days."
 
"There are some good days and bad days, for sure," Tucker adds.

But mostly, their days together have been good. 
 
The younger DeVries was the only player in college basketball last year to average at least 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and 1.5 steals per game and was a two-time MVC Player of the Year.
 
Drake won 27 games two seasons ago and 28 last year, reaching the NCAA Tournament both seasons. The Bulldogs' MVC record their final two years together there was an impressive 31-9.
 
"There are certainly moments that stick out for both, but I just try and keep focused on the good ones," Tucker explained. "Both years we won the conference tournament, it was kind of a sense of relief or being proud of each other, I'd say, because we saw how hard each other worked to get to where we are. When you win a conference tournament, it makes it all worth it and to do it together was pretty special."
 
"What I love about what Tucker brings to the game, especially when you have your dad coaching you, is it's still never about him," his father pointed out. "In the huddles, he's got a very good feel about the game. I rely on our players a lot for input because they're out there playing. 
 
"I'll ask them, 'What are you guys seeing?' He does a really good job of relaying what he's seeing on the floor and sometimes it's, 'Hey, let's get the ball inside to so-and-so,' or 'let's get a paint touch here.' I let our team have a voice in huddles for that reason," he added.
 
As a result, Tucker admits he's probably held to a little bit of a higher standard, which probably comes with the territory. 
 
What coach's son isn't?
 
"Yeah, at times, I think there are higher expectations and higher standards that are held," he said. "The outside is going to expect more, he's going to expect more, and there are constantly going to be eyes on you to make sure you are always doing the right thing."
 
That applies to mom, Ashley, as well.
 
"She wants him to make every shot and grab every rebound and never mess up on defense, that type of stuff, but she's great about it," dad said. "She does a really good job of trying to keep that balance of making sure she's still mom, and as a son, he's got a place that he can go talk to her about anything. It's not always just basketball either."
 
As far as relaying information back to the coaching staff, it's only human nature for Tucker's teammates to use him as a go-between. He has been able to manage that deftly through the years at Drake and now here at West Virginia. 
 
"They've tried to use him to get out of conditioning," the coach joked. "That's part of the uniqueness of it because they have somebody they can try and use, too."
 
One team request that Tucker couldn't successfully negotiate with his father, however, was getting out of running Law School Hill.
 
"Yeah, that one didn't work," dad laughed.

Tickets for the 2024-25 season remain on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.