Sources: Oklahoma St. targets Hilltoppers’ Lutz

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• Jeff Borzello ESPN Staff Author Basketball recruiting expert.
• Joined ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.Mar 28, 2024, 04:05 PM ET Western

Kentucky’s Steve Lutz has actually become the focus of Oklahoma State’s search for a new males’s basketball coach, sources told ESPN on Thursday.There is no offer completed, sources stated, but Lutz is the primary

candidate.Lutz is coming off his 3rd successive NCAA tournament appearance, leading the Hilltoppers to the Conference USA competition title in his first season. It was the program’s first NCAA competition appearance because 2013, and the Hilltoppers ’22 wins was their most since 2018. Editor’s Picks Before replacing Rick Stansbury at Western Kentucky last spring, Lutz was the head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders for two seasons– going to the NCAA tournament in both projects. The Islanders hadn’t been to the NCAA competition given that 2007, but Lutz led them to the Southland Conference competition title both seasons and to a regular-season champion in 2023.

Lutz was a longtime Department I assistant coach before being worked with at Corpus Christi, serving 4 seasons under Matt Painter at Purdue and 7 seasons under Greg McDermott at Creighton in addition to spending quality time on the personnels at SMU and Stephen F. Austin.Oklahoma State fired Mike Boynton previously this month after 7 seasons. The Cowboys made one NCAA competition look under Boynton and produced the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft in Cade Cunningham.