Oklahoma State Can't Ignore Unintended Consequences of Success
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Oklahoma State is getting exactly what it wants from Steve Lutz, but there are no guarantees in this era of college sports.
Over the first eight games of the season, OSU has secured eight wins, marking its longest winning streak in nearly two decades and its first eight-game streak of scoring at least 85 points in program history. Through this first month of the 2025-26 season, there hasn’t been too much for Cowboy fans to complain about, given that the team has overcome just about any adversity thrown its way.
While there are still some doubts about how the Pokes will fare when conference play comes around and what the long-term future of the program could look like with how portal-dependent this roster is, fans can simply enjoy the ride this season. Although the Cowboys are on a great trajectory in just Lutz’s second season at the helm, things could come crashing down just as quickly as they’ve been built up.
Of course, the most troubling potential problem for OSU is that it’s far from being one of the top jobs in the college basketball landscape. While Mike Boynton poured everything he had into the program for seven seasons, Lutz is only in year two, and it’s impossible to say how long he might stay in Stillwater.
Sure, it’d be ideal for the Pokes to keep Lutz around for the long haul and let him be the next face of OSU basketball on the sidelines, finally giving the program its long-awaited successor to Eddie Sutton in that respect. On the other hand, Brad Underwood seemed to be building something special at OSU in 2016-17 before bolting for Illinois the second OSU lost its first NCAA Tournament game under his watch.
Considering Lutz’s immediate success at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Western Kentucky, plus him now being well on his way to reviving a dead OSU program, it’s hard to imagine many coaches who will be more sought after in the coming cycles at blue bloods.
If OSU can keep Lutz happy on the floor and in his bank account, it shouldn’t have much to worry about in that regard. And the school will surely be more than willing to hold up its end of that bargain if Lutz can continue delivering similar results to the start of this season.
Still, it’s hard to ignore the reality that Lutz will almost certainly be a hot name in any high-profile coaching search in 2026 and beyond.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.