Who will replace Dana Ford as Missouri State basketball coach? Start with these 11 candidates.

Missouri State is looking for its next men's basketball coach after the departure of Dana Ford following the 2023-24 season.

The school parted ways with Ford on Sunday, following a 17-16 season, a ninth-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference and a quarterfinal exit in its tournament.

Here are some candidates for the position. Note that some of these names have already been suggested to us along with ones that we figure might make some sense.

More: Missouri State basketball fires Dana Ford after six years

Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State

McCollum's name has been circulating a little more around vacant positions already and his jump to Division I seems to be a "when" and not "if."

The Northwest Missouri State head coach has had the Bearcats as an elite program since he took over as head coach prior to 2009-10. Entering the year, he had a 365-86 record and he's been named the NABC's Division II National Coach of the Year five times, the most in division history.

The Bearcats have won four national championships with McCollum, including a threepeat from 2019-22 making Northwest the first Division II men's program to win three in a row.

“He really, really understands culture and what goes into winning from a people standpoint,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said in McCollum's profile on Northwest's website. “Then he’s a great coach on both ends of the floor. And like the way that they play, you can tell he teaches guys and helps guys grow in how to play as opposed to little parts of the offense or parts of the defense. He teaches them to understand how to put it all together.”

A connection to note with McCollum is the relationship he has with Missouri State Provost John Jasinski, who recently lost out on being named the school's president in favor of Richard "Biff" Williams. It's unclear how that decision will impact McCollum's candidacy and Jasinski's future at the school.

Rodney Perry, Kansas State assistant

A graduate and former player at Missouri State, Perry has been climbing the coaching ranks since 1994.

Perry is currently in his second season at Kansas State under Jerome Tang, after serving as the head coach at Link Academy in Branson, which he took to the national championship in the program's inaugural year. On his Link team were a pair of McDonald's All-Americans and a Jordan Brand Classic All-America selection.

A noted recruiter, Perry has also been touted for his hand in developing well-known NBA standouts Trae Young, Michael Porter Jr., Christian Braun, Shake Milton and Ochai Agbaji.

Stops along the way have included head coaching jobs at Purdy High and Miller High, assistant jobs at Southwest Baptist, Duquesne, Western Illinois and Kansas City, and he was an associate head coach at Oral Roberts. He's also the co-founder and has served as head coach of MOKAN Elite, one of the best summer teams in the country.

Through his AAU and Link Academy days, Perry has relationships with players on the Bears' current roster including Alston Mason, Damien Mayo Jr., N.J. Benson and Tyler Bey.

Perry played at Missouri State from 1991-93, when he helped the Bears to a pair of postseason tournaments, including the 1992 NCAA Tournament under the legendary Charlie Spoonhour.

Cuonzo Martin, free agent

Could Missouri State move forward by going back to a familiar face? The beloved former Bears coach from 2008-11 is available after taking two years off following his firing from Mizzou following the 2021-22 season.

Other stops since he led Missouri State to the Missouri Valley Conference title in 2011 include Tennessee and California.

Martin coached at Missouri State after eight seasons on the Purdue staff and replaced Barry Hinson. In his three seasons, he took the Bears from 11-20 and 10th place in the league to 26-9 and an NIT bid.

At Tennessee, Martin won 19 or more games in each of his three seasons, including 24 wins and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2014. Following the year, he turned down an extension and accepted the head coaching position in California.

At Cal, his team was led by current Boston Celtics all-star Jaylen Brown and made the NCAA Tournament in his second year and an NIT appearance in their third. Martin was then hired at Mizzou.

With the Tigers, Martin spent five seasons featuring a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. He was fired after the 2021-22 season with a 12-21 record.

Drew Richards, UNC Pembroke

Another former Missouri State player who has gone on to have coaching success, Richards is building a resume that will land him bigger jobs in the near future.

The Rogersville native, who started 69 games for the Bears during a career that went from 2004-08, has been the head coach at UNC Pembroke for the last four seasons. His first year was cut short due to the pandemic but he's won more than 20 games and earned NCAA Division II Tournament invites in every full season he's been the head coach.

That also includes the one year he spent as the head coach at Division II Lander, his first head coaching gig, which ended with him leading his team to a conference tournament title and a trip to the big dance. He was hired by UNC Pembroke, where he previously spent 2014-19 as its associate head coach with four NCAA Tournament trips, the following year.

Other stops for Richards included being an assistant at Missouri State-West Plains and as a coach with Springfield's Missouri Flight AAU program.

Bruce Weber, free agent

A head coach with Valley connections, Weber has been a well-respected basketball mind over several decades.

A two-time MVC regular-season champion at Southern Illinois, Weber has been out of coaching since being let go at Kansas State following the 2021-22 season. He was the head coach of the Salukis from 1998-2003 before he was hired as the head coach at Illinois.

At SIU, his teams finished with winning records each year, including a 28-8 finish in 2002 and a 24-7 finish in 2003. In 2002, the Salukis qualified for the Sweet 16.

At Illinois, he led the Fighting Illini to a Sweet 16 in his first year before going 37-2 and finishing as the national runners-up in 2005. In his nine seasons in Champaign, Illinois went to the NCAA Tournament six times.

After he was fired following the 2011-12 season at Illinois, Weber was hired at Kansas State and led the Wildcats to five NCAA Tournament appearances in 10 years — including an Elite Eight run in 2018.

Gregg Marshall, free agent

One of the most despised names among Missouri State fandom is available and would be extremely eye-popping if the Bears were to pursue him, but that might be unlikely because of how he departed his previous job.

Marshall, the former Wichita State coach, is available after resigning in 2020. Multiple verbal and physical abuse allegations spanned several years. He denied the allegations and is being paid a settlement of around $7.75 million.

There is no denying Marshall's abilities as a coach and how he ruled the Valley for the majority of his coaching career. He's a three-time MVC Coach of the Year and led the Shockers to five regular-season titles and two MVC tournament titles. The Shockers made seven NCAA Tournaments from 2011-18, including a Final Four in 2013 and a Sweet 16 in 2015. During the 2013-14 season, the Shockers were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation while carrying a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

This would be a pretty controversial hire and might not sit well with many. But there will probably be a day he's back on the sideline somewhere.

Steve Alford, Nevada

In his fifth year at Nevada, Alford is leading the Wolf Pack to their most successful season since he arrived. But could the thought of settling down in Springfield be appealing to the man who led the Bears to their last NCAA Tournament in 1999 and one of the greatest runs in the school's history with a Sweet 16 appearance that same year?

The Alford dream could be intriguing for the 59-year-old head coach who has stops at Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA and Nevada since his four seasons with the Bears. He's been to 13 total NCAA Tournaments since MSU hired him out of Manchester in 1995, including four at UCLA, three at New Mexico, three at Iowa and one at Nevada.

Where the dream falls apart could be with the 10-year contract he signed in 2019 that guarantees him $11.6 million over the term. Of course, MSU can't come anywhere close to that.

Although it's unlikely, the thought of getting Alford to a school he continues to love would be a nice throwback for many who dream about the good ol' days. Perhaps it would give him an opportunity to hire his son, NCCAA Huntington head coach Kory Alford, an opportunity to be an assistant and possible coach in waiting after a few years.

But that's a dream for another day. He's being paid too much right now, he's still young enough to have another decade-plus of coaching in him and he's got a good situation going on at Nevada.

Mark Turgeon, Free agent

Fine, Marshall might not be your cup of tea, but maybe this former Wichita State head coach is.

Turgeon, who preceded Marshall at WSU from 2000-07, is a free agent after he and Maryland split ways after a 5-3 start to the 2021-22 season. Since Wichita State, he's been the head coach at Texas A&M and Maryland.

At Wichita State, Turgeon went 128-90 in seven seasons, which included a Sweet 16 appearance in 2005-06. The Shockers were regular season champs and he was named the league's coach of the year that season.

At Texas A&M, he led the Aggies to four NCAA Tournament appearances and won 24 or more games in each of his four years while the school was still a member of the Big 12. Maryland hired him away after the 2010-11 season.

At Maryland, he had some success as the school made the move from the ACC to the Big Ten. The Terrapins made the NCAA Tournament in five of his 11 years, including his last full season.

The 59-year-old spent this season not coaching but spending time as a TV analyst. He publicly said he was "burnt out" and wanted a year off to pursue different things while noting that he'd be content with not coaching and the career he's had.

Kermit Davis, free agent

Davis is available after being fired at Ole Miss after a 10-18 season in 2023.

The 64-year-old has been at it for a while with head coaching stints at Idaho, Texas A&M, Chipola junior college, another stint at Idaho, Middle Tennessee and Ole Miss.

Davis led Ole Miss to an NCAA Tournament in his first year and led Middle Tennessee to a pair of NCAA Tournaments in 2016 and 2017 with a 332-188 record at the Conference USA school.

Davis has taken a year off from coaching but has said that he'd return to the sideline if the right situation presents itself.

Corey Gipson, Austin Peay

Is there any chance Missouri State will look at a former assistant under the previous two regimes? The program's associate head coach had a ton of success in his first season at Northwestern State after he spent seven seasons on the Bears' staff.

Gipson had the Demons as a 20-win team for the first time since 2012-13 while finding success in the Southland Conference. He's done so with a handful of players who departed Missouri State after the 2021-22 season.

His first year at Austin Peay, his alma mater, resulted in a 19-15 record after his team lost the ASUN championship game at Stetson for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. He brought the bulk of his Northwestern State roster with him and led the Governors to wins over Valley teams Murray State and Southern Illinois.

Gipson was a well-respected figure at Missouri State and responsible for bringing some of the best players of the last few years into the program. However, going back to a coach who has been on the two previous coaching staffs seems unlikely. A bigger swing will likely be taken.

Blake Ahearn, Memphis Grizzlies assistant

Another former Bear that some will clamor for will be Ahearn, a current Memphis Grizzlies assistant who has some head coaching experience — but not at the college level.

Ahearn has been an assistant with the Grizzlies since 2020 after spending 2017-20 as the head coach of the G League Austin Spurs. That followed singles season as the head coach of St. Louis high schools De Smet and Clayton.

Ahearn's credentials would be attractive to NBA franchises as he works his way up the ranks. He doesn't have college coaching experience and it would be a bit of a gamble to go that way, no matter how nice the story would be.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Dana Ford: Candidates to replace Missouri State men's basketball coach