STILLWATER — Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg had to make one of the most difficult decisions he has faced, parting ways with men’s basketball coach Mike Boynton on Thursday. In doing so, Weiberg chose to absorb the roughly $9.1 million buyout of the final four years of Boynton’s contract.

Now, Weiberg faces the most important hire he’s had to make since stepping into his role in July 2021.

Finding Boynton’s successor will be challenging, but despite a 12-20 season, Oklahoma State remains a strong brand in the college basketball landscape. Because of Boynton’s buyout, this is a costly move for the athletic department, so making the right hire is imperative.

Here’s a look at 20 potential candidates Weiberg could consider:

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10 traditional targets

Considering the situation, Weiberg’s most obvious list of candidates will consist of proven head coaches at the mid-major level. Here are some of the top names he could target:

Dusty May, Florida Atlantic

May might be the hottest commodity on the coaching market for power programs who are shopping. He took FAU to the Final Four last year, followed it up with 24 wins this season and, despite a big new contract, is already attracting attention. If Weiberg is interested, he’ll need to get in line.

Paul Mills, Wichita State

A longtime assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor, Mills had success at Oral Roberts before jumping to Wichita State last year. He’s in the first year of a five-year contract that pays him $1.7 million per year. He took ORU to the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed, and won 30 games there in his final season.

Mike Morrell, UNC Asheville

The 41-year-old spent four years as an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth and four more at Texas before taking the UNC Asheville job in 2018. The Bulldogs won four games in his first season, but 27 last year and have already surpassed the 20-win mark again this year.

Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon

The Drew family can coach. Bryce’s brother, Scott, has been a long-term success at Baylor, following in the footsteps of their father, Homer, who was a legend at Valparaiso. Bryce has been the head coach at Valpo, Vanderbilt and now, Grand Canyon, where he has won 91 games in four seasons and made two straight NCAA Tournaments, including this year. And he's capable of making magic happen in Oklahoma. You might remember his famous buzzer-beater to upset Ole Miss at hte NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City.

Danny Sprinkle, Utah State

After taking his alma mater, Montana State, to two straight NCAA Tournaments, Sprinkle moved to Utah State this season, leading the Aggies to a 26-5 record so far. A 49-year-old native of Pullman, Washington, his career has been spent in the western part of the country, but perhaps a Big 12 job could pull him to Middle America.

Bucky McMillan, Samford

Only 40 years old with just four years of college experience, McMillan is on the coaching fast track. He was coaching high school ball until Samford snagged him in 2020. The team went 6-13 in his first year, then won 21 games each of the next two years. Samford is currently 29-5 and has already secured its NCAA Tournament spot.

Darian DeVries, Drake

A longtime Creighton assistant, DeVries took over at Drake in 2018 and hasn’t finished with fewer than 20 wins in any season. He is set to make his third NCAA Tournament appearance in the last four years with a 28-6 record this season.

K.T. Turner, UT Arlington

If you made a list of coaches who have been on staff at Redlands Community College in El Reno and the University of Kentucky, Turner might be it. The 45-year-old native of Manhattan, Kansas, played college ball at Oklahoma City University and began his coaching journey at the junior-college level. He worked his way up to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 2011. Since then, he has been an assistant at Wichita State, SMU, Texas, OU and Kentucky. Now in his first year at UT Arlington, he has raised the Mavericks’ win total from 11 to 18.

Darrell Walker, Little Rock

An Eddie Sutton disciple of yesteryear, Walker played for Sutton at Arkansas in the early 1980s before a 10-year NBA career. Most of his coaching experience has been in the NBA as well, including head jobs with the Raptors and Wizards. He took over the program at Clark Atlanta, an HBCU, where he worked for two years before landing at Little Rock in 2018. This season, Little Rock went 20-12 and lost in the finals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

Richard Pitino, New Mexico

The son of legend Rick Pitino, Richard has been a head coach at Florida International, Minnesota and New Mexico over the last 12 years, earning Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year honors at Minnesota in 2017. New Mexico has won 22 and 23 games the past two seasons and is currently a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament.

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10 outside the box ideas

Want to avoid promoting someone from the mid-major level? Here are some less conventional names Weiberg could look at:

Bill Self, Kansas

You at least gotta call, right?

Doug Gottlieb, Fox Sports Radio

The former Cowboy point guard campaigned for the job the last time around, and it doesn’t seem like his passion for OSU basketball has changed. After his playing career, he went straight into radio, so he hasn’t coached at any significant level, though he provided his services in a consultant role from afar for Boynton this season.

Stephen Graham, Denver Nuggets player development coach

The former Cowboy player who was part of Sutton’s 2004 Final Four team, Graham spent eight years in the NBA before jumping into coaching. He joined the Nuggets staff in 2015.

Corey Williams, Auburn assistant

Another branch off the Eddie Sutton tree, Williams played for the Cowboys of the early 1990s before his NBA career. Now a 23-year coaching veteran, he has also spent time at Arkansas and Texas Tech, where he briefly served as interim head coach. And he was the head coach at Stetson from 2013-19.

Bruce Weber, retired

When Chad Weiberg made his first coaching hire after being promoted to AD at OSU two years ago, he found someone he had crossed paths with while at Kansas State — Jacie Hoyt, who he hired to coach Cowgirl basketball. Weiberg and Weber were at K-State at the same time as well. Perhaps Weber could be a stabilizing force for the Cowboys to get the program on a better foundation.

Royal Ivey, Houston Rockets assistant

Once a star at Texas before a 10-year NBA career, Ivey was in consideration for the Longhorns’ vacancy last year. A former player and coach with the Thunder, Ivey understands Big 12 basketball and would bring an NBA flavor to the program.

Jeremy Case, Kansas assistant

You could list a variety of young, well-respected assistants in this spot, though Case has some unique selling points. He played for Self at Kansas, and has been an assistant there since 2021. He has state ties, having graduated from McAlester High School, and his father, Win Case, played at OSU prior to his own successful coaching career.

Scott Sutton, Oklahoma State assistant

The possibility of reconnecting the program to Eddie Sutton is limited. More importantly, would Eddie’s son want the job? Maybe not. After his successful stint at Oral Roberts, he seemed to be content with his down-the-bench role at OSU.

Erik Pastrana, Georgia assistant

A talented recruiter with experience as an assistant at multiple major programs in power conferences during his career, Pastrana was well-liked during his time in Stillwater, where he was part of Boynton’s only NCAA Tournament appearance. But would his attachment to Boynton, who remains a close friend, eliminate him from consideration?

Will Wade, McNeese State

While he could qualify for the “traditional targets” group as a successful mid-major coach, Wade’s history at LSU lands him outside the box. He’s clearly a gifted coach, and he’s attainable, with a modest buyout at McNeese. But at LSU, he was found to have committed three Level I NCAA violations for a variety of infractions. For a program that is just now getting the last of its NCAA punishments in the rearview, do you want to take a chance on a past offender?

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball coaching candidates to replace Mike Boynton