Darian DeVries announces hiring of Cavel Witter

Bryan Messerly, WVU Athletics

26 mins ago

WVU men’s basketball head coach Darian DeVries during his introductory press conference Thursday in Morgantown. (Photo: Ryan Decker)

West Virginia University men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries has named Cavel Witter as assistant coach/video and scouting coordinator for the Mountaineers.

Last season, Witter served as an assistant coach and chief of operations at Drake. He helped the Bulldogs to 28 victories and a berth to the NCAA Tournament following Drake winning the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

“We are excited to have Cavel join our staff,” DeVries said. “As a former player of mine at Creighton and as an assistant coach while at Drake, he brings a great understanding of how we do things on a daily basis. He’s got a really good feel for the game and is able to communicate that knowledge with the players.”

Witter joined the Drake staff following two seasons at Georgia Southern, where he served as a graduate manager.

Before Georgia Southern, he spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Lincoln University of Missouri, helping the program to 41 victories, including 18 in his first season, leading the team to a fourth-straight postseason appearance and a trip to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament.

A three-year letterwinner at Creighton from 2007-10 when DeVries was an assistant coach for the Bluejays, Witter holds the program record for consecutive free throws made with 32. He was named to the MVC All-Bench team in 2008 and in the 2008 regular-season finale, Witter scored 42 points in a double-overtime win over Bradley, setting a Quest Center Omaha arena record and ranking eighth in Creighton’s all-time record book. Witter played in 101 career games and helped the Bluejays to 67 victories and three consecutive postseason trips.

After graduating from Creighton in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in public relations, Witter played professionally in Portugal and Germany before competing in the G League for the Iowa Energy. He was named All-Bundesliga in 2013, a First Team All-Import selection in 2014 and Eurobasket.com All-German Team in 2015-16.