Oklahoma State basketball coach big board: Who tops latest list of coaching candidates?
Editor's note: Candidates will be added and removed from the board. Danny Sprinkle (Washington), Mark Byington (Vanderbilt) and Pat Kelsey (Louisville) were on the list before taking/being connected with other jobs. Samford's Bucky McMillan was removed after signing a contract extension.
The candidate pool is shrinking as Oklahoma State enters Day 12 of its search for a men’s basketball coach.
Two names who made our list of 20 candidates are off the board: Dusty May and Darian DeVries.
May, the former Florida Atlantic coach, was a long-shot candidate. It seemed like May would get a better job than OSU, and he found one with Michigan. May signed a five-year deal that will pay him $3.75 million annually.
DeVries left Drake for West Virginia. Great get for the Mountaineers. West Virginia is an ever so slightly better job than OSU, according to my rankings. DeVries signed a five-year deal, the terms of which have not been reported.
Of course OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg has his own list of candidates. You would think May and DeVries were on it, but who knows.
Both would’ve been at or near the top of my big board, which I decided to make.
This is a list of whom I’d call, within reason, as fantasy AD, and not what I think Weiberg’s list looks like.
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1. Kellen Sampson, Houston assistant
The worst he can say is no.
Kellen Sampson* is the head coach in waiting at Houston, and at $550,000 he’s one of the highest-paid assistants in the country.
How long will he have to wait, though? His dad doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Kelvin, 68, is at the peak of his head coaching career.
Kellen Sampson played in and has now coached in the Big 12. Do I care or should OSU fans care that Kellen was a Sooner? No and no.
*I know I said the Cowboys should hire a coach who wants to run, and Kellen, I assume, would adopt his dad’s grind-it-out style. Shrugs.
2. Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon
No. 12 seed Grand Canyon upset No. 5 seed St. Mary’s in the first round of the tournament. It was GCU’s first NCAA Tournament win in program history. It was the school’s third tournament appearance in the last four seasons under Drew.
Drew has had excellent success at mid-majors Grand Canyon and Valparaiso, his alma mater for which he hit The Shot at the Myriad. Drew didn’t win in his three seasons at Vanderbilt, but few have.
Drew knows what Big 12 life is like from his brother, Scott.
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3. Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida
South Florida had three sellouts this season at its 10,000-seat arena. If you can do that at South Florida, you can do it in Stillwater.
Abdur-Rahim, the brother of former NBA forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, is one of the hottest names on the coaching carousel.
His first head coaching job was at Kennesaw State. The Owls went 1-28 in 2019-20, Abdur-Rahim’s first season. The Owls then won five, 13 and 26 games in the next three seasons.
South Florida went 25-8 (16-2 AAC) this season in Year 1 under Abdur-Rahim.
4. KT Turner, Texas-Arlington
Turner played at Oklahoma City University and was an assistant coach for one season each at OU and Texas and seven at SMU, where he recruited Owasso’s Shake Milton.
Turner knows the area and is considered an elite recruiter.
This was Turner’s first season as a head coach. He led UT-Arlington to its first 20-win season in six years.
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5. Bruce Weber, available
Weber wouldn’t be a sexy hire, but the guy can coach.
He took Southern Illinois to a Sweet 16. Took Illinois to the NCAA Tournament title game. Took Kansas State to an Elite Eight.
Weber missed the tournament in his last three seasons at K-State, which led to his dismissal. But he took the Wildcats to five tournaments in 10 seasons. OSU would sign up for that.
Weber is 67. Like Lon Kruger did at OU, Weber could stabilize things in Stillwater.
6. Josh Schertz, Indiana State
It was reported a week ago that Schertz was in touch with Saint Louis about the Billikens’ job. Could OSU sweep in?
Schertz and Indiana State are amid an NIT run. The Sycamores went from 11 to 23 to 30 wins in Schertz’s first three seasons.
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7. Niko Medved, Colorado State
Medved has led Colorado State to the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three seasons. The Minnesota native previously held head coaching jobs at Furman and Drake.
Under Medved, the Rams ranked top-50 in both offense and defense this season.
8. Steve Lutz, Western Kentucky
Lutz, in his first season, led the Hilltoppers to their first NCAA Tournament in 11 seasons. In two years at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Lutz led the Islanders to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
Three tournament appearances in three years as head coach is a good pace.
Lutz was a longtime assistant under Greg McDermott at Creighton and Matt Painter at Purdue.
9. Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State
McCollum has presided over a powerhouse at Division-II Northwest Missouri State.
In 15 seasons with the Maryville, Missouri, program, McCollum has won four national championships (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022). McCollum has a winning percentage north of .800.
It would be a big jump for McCollum, but OSU would be wise to think outside the box.
10. Royal Ivey, Houston Rockets
I doubt Ivey is on Weiberg's list, but Ivey would be on mine.
He played for the Thunder and was an assistant coach in OKC. He's currently on Ime Udoka's staff in Houston after assistant coaching stints in New York and Brooklyn.
Ivey played at Texas and knows Oklahoma well. He doesn't have head coaching experience — or college coaching experience — but he was a candidate at Texas when that job came open.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball coach big board: Latest list of candidates
