Column: Steve Lutz will need more support to rebuild Oklahoma State men's basketball

Apr. 5—Hiring Steve Lutz is the easiest step toward rebuilding Oklahoma State men's basketball, athletic director Chad Weiberg said.

"Now, the real work starts for him and for me and for all of us," Weiberg said. "We have to go about the business of making sure he's successful."

In the twilight of his tenure, former coach Mike Boynton had a visceral conversation with the media about the program's struggles. The discussion revolved around OSU being dead last in the Big 12 in NIL spending for men's basketball.

In the aftermath, the News Press ran a column that concluded Boynton's firing would do little to change the on-court success. That hypothesis will now be tested.

During Weiberg's first media availability since Boynton's comments were made, the News Press asked what he thought of them.

"I feel good about where we are with all of our sports here at OSU," Weiberg said. "You can't see NIL. You don't know what's going on there. It's not a transparent process at this point at any school in the country.

"But all you have to do is look around here, and you see real quickly how invested our fans are, our donors are, and I believe that will be the case for Cowboy Basketball and continue to be the case for all of our sports."

The head coaching position for OSU basketball was vacant for 18 days — longer than any other vacancies in the Power Five this coaching cycle. Many of the program's most desired candidates were quickly hired elsewhere, and CBS Sports' Matt Norlander reported that sources claimed the search was a "mess."

Weiberg laughed that notion off Thursday.

"I did not set a time frame one way or the other," he said. "My whole intent was to get the best basketball coach we could find. I didn't care about how long it took, how short it took or anything."

OSU President Dr. Kayse Shrum and Weiberg said Lutz is the best they could find.

"A coach that will ignite the Cowboy Nation and restore our program to national prominence," Shrum said. "I believe that's what we have in Coach Lutz."

There's no reason to doubt that. Lutz's introductory press conference was a home run for the university, and his resumé projects he will be a great fit in Stillwater.

Texas A&M Corpus-Christi was 44-73 in the four seasons prior to Lutz's two-year tenure, and he led them to a 47-13 overall record, two Southland Conference championships, two NCAA tournament appearances and the school's first tournament win.

In his only season at Western Kentucky, he went 22-12, won the Conference USA championship and took the Hilltoppers to their first NCAA tournament in a decade.

Now he will attempt to duplicate that in a conference that is largely considered to be the country's best in men's basketball.

"You can turn a program around quickly just because of all the freedom of movement and those kinds of things, and so it's good to know he's got experience doing that," Weiberg said.

For that reason, Cowboy fans should feel optimistic going into the 2024-25 season.

But as Boynton pointed out, a player's decision on where he wants to play college basketball at the highest level typically comes down to one thing: money.

Weiberg met with the Cowboy players as soon as he could after he fired Boynton, and he urged them not to enter the transfer portal right away.

"All I ask is for some patience and (don't) make a decision," Weiberg said. "Listen to everything that's out there, but wait for us to complete the picture for you. Once we make our decision, once you have the opportunity to meet him and start getting to know him, then you can make a fully-informed decision."

Brandon Garrison, Eric Dailey Jr., Javon Small and Quion Williams — all starters at various points in the season — didn't wait.

The News Press asked Lutz about his conversations with them.

"As long as they're open to coming back to Oklahoma State, and they're going to give me a chance to recruit them back, then we're gonna work together," Lutz said. "But if at some point they decide they want to go to another university, which a couple of them have, good luck to them."

None of the four have officially announced their commitment to another university.

Weiberg acknowledged NIL funding is pivotal to the success of all programs now, and said he talked about OSU's strategy with Lutz.

At a school such as Oklahoma State, strategy is key. Someone will have to foot a $9 million buyout, whether it be the athletic department directly or donors indirectly, because Boynton was fired before April 1.

The announcement of Lutz's hiring was notably made on April 1, but it seems the buyout played no factor in the timing. Weiberg said OSU will pay the full amount, subject to mitigation.

This is the same university that announced a $325 million athletic facilities plan, but has not announced any progress toward it because it needs heavy donor support. It's the same university, in fact, that is still paying off debt incurred from the "Raise the Roof" construction in 1999.

It's the same program that lost Brad Underwood because of a contract dispute.

All of that to say this: Steve Lutz can be the best OSU men's basketball coach since Eddie Sutton, but he may still find it difficult to meet the "lofty goals" he set forth at his introductory press conference: winning the Big 12, returning to the NCAA tournament and competing for national titles.

As Weiberg said, it'll take more than a great basketball coach.

Lutz said Gallagher-Iba Arena will have to be "the fiercest place in the Big 12 Conference to play."

"That does not start without the support of you guys (fans) and the support of our students, and so I challenge our students to be at every single game and be loud and be proud," he said. "We've got to band together moving forward, but I know we can do it."

Marcus Trevino is a sports reporter for the Stillwater News Press. He can be contacted at mtrevino@stwnewspress.com.