Oklahoma State was once one of the winningest programs in the Big 12. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Eddie Sutton had the Cowboys appearing regularly in the NCAA Tournament and competing for conference titles.
During Sutton’s 16-year tenure, the Cowboys made 13 NCAA Tournaments, two Final Fours and never had a losing season. Since Sutton handed the program over to his son Sean Sutton in 2006, the Cowboys have cycled through four coaches and made just seven NCAA Tournaments.
Mike Boynton, who was dismissed on Thursday, made just one NCAA Tournament in seven seasons, dealing with an NCAA postseason ban and eventual apathy from fans and an apparent lack of Name, Image and Likeness funds. Boynton even went public with his gripes late this season.
This job may not be what it once was, but the program still has a proud history, one of the most famous arenas in the sport and the sustained success in football suggests that the NIL dollars are there if you win, even with the passing of legendary donor T. Boone Pickens.
The Big 12 is a Goliath of coaches — Kelvin Sampson, hilariously, said there are a lot of bulldogs in this league at Big 12 media day — and Oklahoma State needs to find its next Sutton, who had plenty of bulldog in him.
It is likely to look in the mid-major ranks for its next coach, where it found its one coaching success story since Sampson in Brad Underwood, who only spent one year in Stillwater before leaving for Illinois. It could likely be competing with West Virginia, who will likely be chasing after some of the same coaches on this list.
Call List (in alphabetical order)
Mark Byington, James Madison head coach: Byington has become a hot name this year after winning on opening night at Michigan State, starting the season 14-0 and winning the Sun Belt tournament. He grew up in Virginia and has spent his career in that part of the country. But recruiting anymore at the high-major level is hardly geographic, and Byington has done a masterful job putting together a roster at JMU, with a mix of transfers and homegrown talent.
Darian DeVries, Drake head coach: DeVries is an attractive coaching candidate not just for his abilities on the sideline but also his bloodline. With him would likely come his son Tucker DeVries, one of the best scoring wings in college basketball who has one season left of eligibility. The younger DeVries could possibly be the best player available in the transfer portal if his father were to leave Drake. As for DeVries, the coach, who has proven he can win even when his son isn’t on his team. DeVries, who was a longtime assistant under Greg McDermott at Creighton, has been a consistent winner in six seasons at Drake. The Bulldogs have finished worst than second only once in the Missouri Valley and are headed to their third NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons.
Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon head coach: Drew got his shot at a high-major job at Vanderbilt in 2016 and only lasted three seasons, getting fired after an 0-18 season in the SEC in 2019. That season was supposed to be a promising one, as Drew had landed five-star guard Darius Garland. But Garland played only five games that season. Looking back, however, Drew obviously had a good eye for talent, as he also recruited Saban Lee and Aaron Nesmith to Vandy, two current NBA players. Drew has resurrected his career at Grand Canyon, once again recruiting well and doing a good job of finding talent in the transfer portal like this season’s leading scorer Tyon Grant-Foster. He knows the Big 12 well because of his brother. He made the NCAA Tournament twice in his first three years at Grand Canyon and is the favorite this season out of the WAC after winning the regular season title.
Dustin Kearns, Appalachian State head coach: Kearns is winning in a spot where it’s hard to do so. The Mountaineers are 27-6 this season and won the Sun Belt regular-season title, and it’s the first 20-win season at the school since 2010 under Buzz Peterson. He also got to 20 wins in his second season at Presbyterian, the only season that school has had a winning season in its D1 history. Kearns also put himself on the national radar this season by knocking off Auburn in the nonconference. He had one of the best defenses at the mid-major level this year, ranking sixth in effective field-goal percentage defense. Lately, great defensive coaches have won in the Big 12, so that’s working in his favor. Kearns has a good pedigree, working twice under Mike Young at Wofford. He hasn’t been at the high-major level since 2003-04 when he spent one season at Tennessee after graduating from Clemson, where he was a student assistant.
Pat Kelsey, Charleston head coach: Kelsey’s teams play fast and shoot a lot of 3s and win. The former Xavier point guard has been one of the hottest names from the mid-major ranks in recent years, after a successful nine-year run at Winthrop and then instant success at Charleston, where the Cougars have won back-to-back CAA titles. Kelsey is a high-energy coach and he hasn’t had a losing season since his first as a head coach.
Andy Kennedy, UAB head coach: The Cowboys need to upgrade their talent, and Kennedy has always been able to identify and recruit talent. The former Cincinnati and Ole Miss coach has always had respectable teams. The knock on Kennedy is that his teams are usually just missing out on the NCAA Tournament. He made two NCAA Tournaments in 12 seasons at Ole Miss and has made one tourney in four years at UAB. He has been a resounding success, however, at UAB. The Blazers are 98-36 in his four years at the school and finished in the top four of their league each year.
Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State head coach: McCollum is one of the most successful coaches in college basketball, no matter the level. He won four Division II national championships from 2017 to 2022, and he had the favorite in the 2019-20 season, which was canceled because of COVID-19. McCollum is a brilliant offensive mind, who some successful top D1 coaches — Shaka Smart, Grant McCasland and Dusty May, to name a few — have consulted and studied. He has spent his entire career in the Midwest and has an excellent eye for talent and ability to develop players. This might seem like a reach, but McCollum is highly respected in coaching circles and his success at the D2 level is unrivaled.
Niko Medved, Colorado State head coach: The Minnesota native is the one coach on this list who might be hesitant to jump at a high-major opportunity if he doesn’t feel it is the right one. He loves living in Fort Collins, and the Mountain West has established itself as the best league outside of the high-majors. Medved, who started his head coaching career at Furman and then had a one-year stint at Drake before taking CSU over in 2018, runs an offense that is unique to him. At the high-major level, it’s most reminiscent of John Beilein’s two-guard offense. The Rams are expected to make their second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons.
Josh Schertz, Indiana State head coach: Schertz has quickly built a winner at Indiana State, a place where it’s been historically been tough to win and in one of the toughest mid-major conferences in the country. He runs a modern offense that hunts 3s and layups. The Sycamores rank first in college basketball in effective field-goal percentage and ranked fourth last season. Schertz spent the previous 13 years at Lincoln Memorial, a Division II school that hadn’t experienced success at the D2 level, and Schertz won 83 percent of his games. His teams are fun to watch, and it’s possible he could bring his five starters with him from Indiana State, who all have eligibility. He also has some history with Oklahoma State; he was a student assistant at Florida Atlantic when FAU upset the Cowboys at Gallagher-Iba Arena in 1998, ending an 80-game winning streak for OSU against non-conference teams at home.
Russell Turner, UC Irvine head coach: Turner has been one of the most consistent winners out West, where he has spent the majority of his coaching career. He has won seven Big West titles in 14 seasons at UC Irvine and made two NCAA Tournaments, including a run to the second round in 2019 when the Anteaters knocked off Big 12 co-champs K-State. Turner’s teams excel on the defensive end, also ranking near the top of the country in field-goal percentage defense. Offensively, his teams don’t shoot a lot of 3s and usually play through the post. He has never been in the Midwest, playing Division III basketball at Hampden-Sydney in Virginia and then starting his coaching career there before eventually getting an assistant job at Wake Forest and then jumping to Stanford in 2000. He’s been on the West Coast since, including a stint as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors.
And the hire is …
It’s probably going to depend on what happens at other spots. Schertz, who is on the shortlist at Louisville, would make a lot of sense because he could bring talent with him and probably make the Cowboys an NCAA Tournament team in his first season. DeVries could also fall in that boat. Whichever of those two is available and willing seems like the smart play here.
(Photo of Darian DeVries: Jeff Curry / USA Today)
