Darian DeVries Touts Indiana's New Strength Coach: 'Knows How to Build Basketball Players'

For as much as Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries is trying to implement his identity on the court into his first Hoosier squad, Ryan Horn is doing the same in Indiana's weight room.

Horn, the Hoosiers' head strength and conditioning coach, is responsible for building workout programs that maximize Indiana's on-court fitness. His task? Preparing a 13-man roster with no Big Ten experience into a unit that not only survives, but thrives, in perhaps college basketball's most physical conference.

It's a crucial job, but DeVries trusts Horn, who's given him no reason to feel otherwise. DeVries first hired Horn in 2023 to be the strength coach at Drake, and when DeVries left for West Virginia the following year, he brought Horn with him.

History repeated itself this spring in Bloomington. DeVries and Horn are now entering their third year together, all at different schools. Through their journey, DeVries has watched Horn inherit a new crop of players and mold them into the figures DeVries wants in his players.

DeVries expects the same at Indiana — and he's already seen Horn's work pay dividends.

"What I love about Coach Horn, he relates well with the guys," DeVries said Wednesday/ "He's another guy that brings great energy and enthusiasm. He's a huge extension of our coaching staff. And he spends a lot of time with our guys, and our guys respect him and they trust him, so they want to work for him.

"I think that's what makes him one of the best out there."

Horn, 41, played three seasons of college football — one at East Stroudsburg and two as a walk-on at James Madison — in the mid-2000s but has experience as a strength coach in a bevy of sports, from basketball and baseball to golf and field hockey.

Indiana is Horn's ninth college employer in less than two decades. Before joining DeVries at Drake, Horn made stops at Robert Morris, Liberty, VCU, Tulsa, Wake Forest and Wichita State. He also spent two years in the private sector from 2020-22.

Full of experience from different schools, sports and eras, Horn has an innate understanding of how best to tailor athletes' bodies to their respective sport.

Under Horn's guidance, Indiana won't aspire to make bodybuilders.

"He knows how to build basketball players," DeVries said. "And that's what I really enjoy is, he understands we want them very functional. We want to train them in a way that allows them to be out on the floor, feeling good, feeling like they can move and function."

The chemistry between DeVries and Horn allows them to work as a synchronized duo, maximizing the time each coach gets with the Hoosiers' new-look roster.

"We have a great working relationship of when I need to back off or when he needs to back off because he understands what we just did on the floor the day before," DeVries said. "I love the way we're able to work together in that regard."

DeVries is surrounded by new faces in a town he's still learning. He's trying to bring his style to a program needing life. He has a dash of familiarity in assistant coach Nick Norton and a pair of players in his son, Tucker, and guard Conor Enright, who aid in instilling DeVries' culture and standard.

But perhaps no piece is more important to translating DeVries' past success to the pinnacle of college basketball than Horn, who's crafting the bodies underneath the jerseys — and so far, so good, says DeVries.