Oklahoma State Basketball: Brad Underwood bails on Cowboys

Oklahoma State basketball made a strong hire last year with Brad Underwood but the head coach opted to take the Illinois job.

Last spring saw Oklahoma State basketball knock out its coaching search out of the park when they hired Brad Underwood from Stephen F. Austin. Underwood proceeded to put OSU back in the NCAA Tournament after winning 10 of 11 games to close out the regular season. The Cowboys nearly took our Michigan in the first round, but ultimately fell in the final seconds. Given the team’s trajectory, it came as a surprise when Illinois announced it had sniped away the rising coach.

Related Story: Ranking the five teams that have the best chance to win

This looks like a coup for the Illini, but also like Underwood was maybe a bit inflated with himself in the contract talks. Yes, AD Mike Holder made some comments regarding the program’s place in the Big 12 and potential value. That shouldn’t really bother a head coach who still doesn’t have a wealth of “big league” experience, though. Underwood has made the NCAA Tournament all four years as a top guy, but three of those came out of a weak Southland Conference and OSU needed a miraculous winning streak to get a bid. Neither situation spoke about long-term success at a former Big 12 power. Holder likely felt there wasn’t enough of a track record for a big raise.

That brings us to what Illinois is giving Underwood. His new contract now makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in the nation.

The new Illini head coach is now third in the Big Ten in salary after Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and John Beilein of Michigan. He has sextupled his originally SFA salary from around $300,000 to nearly $3 million after only four seasons. OSU definitely undervalued Underwood at one million annually, but they made what they felt was a better financial decision. Illinois now has a huge contract on its hands and a ton of pressure to win now.

Next: Ranking the Sweet 16 squads

Both sides are at fault here. Oklahoma State didn’t respect its coach and basketball program in contract negotiations, but Underwood looks like a money grabber only after a paycheck. I think he also comes off as thin-skinned regarding where OSU’s hoops are right now. The Cowboys could have paid more to maintain their momentum, but Underwood definitely abandoned the Cowboys. Maybe the school’s next coach will have more loyalty.