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MORGANTOWN -- If, as they say, patience, then new West Virginia basketball coach Darian DeVries may be the most virtuous man you come across in your life.
As he continues to prepare himself for his first season as a Power 4 basketball coach, you have to appreciate the route he took to the top.
His chase of fulfillment is not unlike that of Kevin Costner's "Field of Dreams" ability to listen to that voice within him which kept repeating "Build it and they will come."
Asked the other day how he had the patience to serve 20 years as an assistant coach at Creighton, then six stunningly successful seasons as a head coach at a Drake program that he built despite many questioning his sanity in undertaking the challenge, he offered up this response.
"During my 20 years at Creighton, early on there weren't many opportunities. But later there were some," he admitted.
But he wasn't seeking instant gratification. Like "Field of Dreams", which just happened to be situated in Iowa, as is Drake, this isn't a basketball story just as "Field of Dreams" wasn't a baseball story.
It is an allegory of man's search for inner peace, not only for himself but his family.
"My whole thing was if I ever decided to leave (my job) my family would be happy, I would be happy and it would be the right fit," he said. "If you take the wrong job, not only are you and your family not happy, but it just becomes a square peg in the round hole kind of thing. You can't make it fit."
Twenty years of waiting until Drake came along.
"When I first had the coaching opportunity to come up with Drake, I thought that was a tremendous opportunity for myself and my family," he recalled. "Other people didn't understand why I wanted it because Drake hadn't had much success at the time. But I knew the place, the people and the support around it would be there if you ever could get it going."
When Wren Baker came knocking on his door looking for a successor to Bob Huggins, he had the same feeling.
And, in many ways, the situation was similar. The program was in shambles, it had come off the most losses in its history, and he was replacing not only a Hall of Fame coach but a legend at the school in the city of his birth.
But, at WVU, he saw beyond that.
"West Virginia was the same way. I felt I could have an impact on the program. I liked everything about the program, where it could potentially go," he said.
It took vision and belief, maybe even voices floating through the air, to look beyond the recent wreckage.
"I think there's a great tradition here," he said. "I don't always think because a program has a down year here or there, it changes what they are. It's part of athletics sometimes where you will have spots where things don't go right.
"I felt the tradition here, the fan support. The resources and commitment level is all in place. That hasn't changed. (The fans) showed that by showing up even when they weren't winning. It didn't change the way people felt about the program and wanted to support it.
"I think that says more about the program than supporting it when it is winning. If you still show in a season where things aren't going well, that says a lot about a fan base."
Surely, there were those close to him who tried to talk him out of taking the job"
"I think everybody has opinions," he answered. "There are opinions you value and believe are valid. Any time you take a job like this, it's good to ask other people their thoughts? But deep down you have to know what's best for you.
"As you gather information and opinions on the town, the community, the basketball program, you factor all of it but it comes down to what your gut tells you about the situation."
His gut was screaming at him that this was the time to act. Clear away the corn stalks and lay out his future.
"I don't know, I felt I had to do it now at all. I just felt it was the right fit at the right time." he said. "I could have stayed at Drake for as long as they would have had me. I loved my time there. They were very supportive.
"I'm not one of those guys who is just chasing the next biggest thing by any means. That stuff is not that important to me, to be honest."
In fact, DeVries had just signed a contract extension at Drake, which complicated the decision.
But in the end, he knew it was more than just a job offer.
"When this opportunity came about, the more I looked at it I felt it was right to do this," he said.