Oklahoma State’s coaching search is making some progress.
In a recent article, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello gave insight into the Cowboys’ look for a new head coach. After firing Mike Boynton last week, athletic director Chad Weiberg is set to make his first big hire.
Borzello named six potential candidates and noted that OSU is looking to hire an up-and-coming coach from a smaller school rather than giving another chance to a coach with power conference experience.
Aside from Utah State’s Danny Sprinkle and Washington State’s Kyle Smith, who Borzello anticipates to land elsewhere, OSU has been more closely linked to four other coaches.
Here’s a look at the resumes of those candidates:
Steve Lutz - Western Kentucky (69-34 career record)
In his first season with the Hilltoppers, Lutz helped them win the Conference USA Tournament and reach the NCAA Tournament as a 15-seed. Including his two previous seasons at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Lutz has made the NCAA Tournament every season he has served as head coach.
Most notably, Lutz orchestrated one of the most significant turnarounds in recent memory. In his first season at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, he led the Islanders to a 23-12 record after finishing 5-19 the season before.
Niko Medved - Colorado State (196-162)
With 11 seasons of head coaching experience, Medved has had recent success at Colorado State. The Rams have made the NCAA Tournament in two of the past three seasons.
Including an appearance as a 10 seed this season, the Rams were ranked as high as No. 13 in the regular season. Including stops at Furman and Drake, Medved’s teams had improved records in each of his first nine seasons.
Darian DeVries - Drake (150-54)
DeVries has spent the past six seasons as Drake’s head coach and led the team to the NCAA Tournaments in 2021, 2023, and 2024. The Bulldogs have had 20-win seasons every year under DeVries after posting only five before his arrival.
DeVries took the Drake job after spending nearly two decades as an assistant with Creighton.
Ben McCollum - Northwest Missouri State (365-86)
Although most of OSU’s other candidates have led their teams to the NCAA Tournament in D1 this season, McCollum has been the leader of one of the most successful D2 programs.
Under McCollum, the Bearcats have won four national championships since 2017 and posted a tournament record of 30-6 in his tenure. McCollum has also earned nine MIAA Coach of the Year honors while earning a plethora of national Coach of the Year honors.
It is possible that OSU will choose one of these guys or go in another direction entirely, but the program has an abundance of good options to bring to Gallagher-Iba Arena.
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