OSU Basketball: Coaching Candidates

Brad Underwood’s time at Oklahoma State was brief and whether or not Mike Holder is to blame for Underwood’s departure, he’s now charged with finding a new coach and stabilizing the program once again. Who’s on the list for the Cowboys this time?

Also, if you want a good laugh, go back and read the Brad Underwood graph on last year's coaching search piece.

3/21/2016 Related Story: OSU Coaching Candidates To Contemplate

Doug Gottlieb

Gottlieb might be the leading candidate after a hard push last year to get the job. It’d certainly be unusual, but not without precedent, for a Power Five school like OSU to hand over the basketball reins to someone without any coaching experience. Fred Hoiberg’s time at Iowa State is the template for Gottlieb supporters.

Gregg Marshall

Marshall’s the first name that pops up when there’s an opening and for good reason. He just finished his tenth season at Wichita State and has been to six NCAA tournaments and one Final Four in that span. The Shockers have kept him around by making him the ninth-highest paid coach in America at around $3.2 million a year. If Holder was reluctant to pay Underwood $3 million, would he shell out that amount or more for Marshall?

Tom Crean

Indiana fired Crean last week after a disappointing season with the Hoosiers. He was 165-133 at IU, won two Big Ten regular season titles and made four NCAA tournament appearances. He also brought in five top 25 recruiting classes. It took Crean four years before his first winning season at Indiana. His first three seasons he went 28-66 and 8-46 in Big Ten play.

Scott Sutton

Sutton is, of course, the son of legendary coach Eddie Sutton and brother to former head coach Sean Sutton. He’s the winningest coach in Oral Roberts history with 328 wins over 18 seasons but hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2008. The Golden Eagles have struggled mightily the past two seasons finishing seventh and ninth in the Summit League.

Chris Mack

Mack has led Xavier to seven NCAA tournament appearances in eight seasons and tied a school record a year ago with a 28-win season.  Last year the Musketeers signed him to a contract extension through 2021-22. Mack is a Xavier alum and was named National Coach of the Year in 2016.

Andy Enfield

Enfield blew up on the coaching scene in 2013 when he led Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet Sixteen. Since then he’s turned around USC getting the Trojans to the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons and winning a school-record 26 games this year. Enfield has been an NCAA record-holder for career free throw percentage (his 92.5 percent mark has since been broken), a shooting coach and assistant coach in the NBA and was an assistant for Leonard Hamilton at Florida State prior to becoming head coach at FGCU. The story goes that he met his wife-to-be, former model and Oklahoma native Amanda Marcum, because she needed a ride from New York City to Boston to watch OSU play in the 2003 NCAA tournament. Enfield took her to the game and the two were engaged six months later.

Archie Miller

Like Gregg Marshall, everyone has tried to pry Miller away from Dayton to no avail. The younger brother to Arizona coach Sean Miller, Archie led the Flyers to an Elite Eight appearance in 2014. He’s just 38, making him the youngest of this group of candidates, but he’s already coached in four NCAA Tournaments. He’s a North Carolina State alum and has been an assistant at Arizona State, Ohio State and Arizona so questions to whether he would stick around Stillwater may arise.