After Mark Coyle and the Gophers moved on from first-time women’s basketball coach Lindsay Whalen in spring 2023, the U’s athletic director hired an experienced replacement with proven success at underdog programs within the sport’s lower levels.

The successor, Dawn Plitzuweit, had won at the Division II, mid-major and Power Four levels before producing her second straight 20-win season at Minnesota this year.

A winning background is what also led to the Gophers hiring of P.J. Fleck as head football coach and Bob Motzko as men’s hockey coach during Coyle’s tenure. Coyle will be looking for a similar resume in his next men’s basketball coach after he fired Ben Johnson, another first-time head coach, after his fourth season on Thursday morning.

“I always say winners win,” Coyle said in an interview midday Thursday with the Pioneer Press. “… Our job is how can we find individuals who are around programs that have won and they’ve won consistently? If it’s a head coach, awesome. If it’s an assistant coach, awesome. We can work our way through that. But I think it’s key for us is to try to find somebody who’s won consistently over a period of time.”

Coyle said in news release the U “will immediately begin a nationwide search” for Johnson’s replacement. In the past, Coyle has prided himself on having folders of candidates for each coaching job, and as a member of the NCAA men’s tournament selection committee, he wants to have his school included in those annual discussions.

Coyle is mindful of the urgency needed to make a quick hire with the NCAA transfer portal opening March 24, while also being respectful that current coaches might still be navigating their current team’s postseason play.

“We’ll try to be very efficient, be very methodical,” Coyle said Thursday. “But again, I want to be respectful of where they’re at. I think it’s only fair to them and to their student-athletes and what they’re trying to do. But again, our goal is to be efficient and find the best candidate that can lead Minnesota to consistent winning the Big Ten Conference.”

Here are a few potential candidates that fit within that possible mold for the Gophers’ new vacancy:

Niko Medved: Colorado State

The University of Minnesota alum and Roseville native has taken the Rams to two NCAA tournaments (2022 and 2024) and has produced another 20-plus win season this year. Known for his offenses, the 51-year-old turned around Furman over four years through 2016-17 and was at Drake for one season.

Ben McCollum: Drake

One of the hottest up-and-coming names in the coaching ranks. The native of Storm Lake, Iowa, had enormous success at Division II Northwest Missouri State (394-81) over 15 seasons, with four national championships. The 43-year-old is 30-3 this year at Drake, which has won the Missouri Valley regular season and conference tournament championships. He will be highly sought after.

Johnny Tauer: St. Thomas

Just down the road in St. Paul, Tauer was a huge success in Division III and has led the transition to DI over the past four seasons. The Cretin-Derham Hall graduate, now 52, took the Tommies to the Summit League championship game last week before falling to Omaha. His team won 24 games this year but is not eligible for the NCAA tournament.

Will Wade: McNeese State

The 42-year-old has won at LSU, VCU, Chattanooga and now McNeese State. He was canned after breaking NCAA recruiting rules in Baton Rouge, La., but has made the most of his second chance with consecutive Southland Conference regular-season titles. Wade is much more high-profile than other candidates, and his checkered history will likely be avoided by Coyle.

Craig Smith: South Dakota, Utah St., Utah

The Stephen, Minn., native turned around South Dakota (2014-18) and had huge success at Utah State (2018-21), including two NCAA tournament appearances for the Mountain West school. Mentioned in the U’s last coaching search, he was hired at Utah, where he had three years of consistent improvement in the Pac-12, but it fell off this year in the Big XII and was fired in late February. The lack of a buyout hurdle for Smith could make the 52-year-old appealing to Coyle.

Ross Hodge: North Texas

The second-year head coach from Dallas has improved the Mean Green year-over-year, including a win over Minnesota at Williams Arena in November. At 44, the former North Texas assistant has the lightest head-coaching resume of any college candidates in this bunch.

Eric Olen: California-San Diego

Similar to Tauer, Olen has built up UCSD, taken them to Division I and might make the NCAA tournament in the school’s first season of eligibility this month. The 44-year-old is in his 12th season with the Tritons, the current Big West regular-season champions. His work in California is making national headlines.

Sean Sweeney: Dallas Mavericks

One of the brightest defensive minds in the NBA, Sweeney helped lift the Mavericks to last year’s NBA Final. An NBA assistant coach for the past decade after beginning his career at a variety of colleges, could the Cretin-Derham Hall and St. Thomas alum be lured back to the college game by a chance to return home?