Oregon State is in the market for a new football coach after Gary Andersen announced his resignation Monday. Andersen made the unusual choice to free Oregon State from a $12 million buyout and walk away on his own after a 1-5 start and a 7-23 record in three-and-a-half seasons. It doesn’t appear that there was any funny business going on here. Andersen left because he promised he’d leave if he couldn’t win.

Here are some potential candidates.

The name that keeps coming up from a few people with relevant knowledge:

• Alex Grinch, Washington State defensive coordinator. Grinch could emerge as a star name in this coaching carousel, even beyond OSU. His marauding defense is a big reason why the Cougars are 6-0. He’s been described to SB Nation as an elite defensive mind with the personality to do well as a head coach. If the Missouri job opens expect him to be a heavily talked about candidate for that too. Grinch is former coach Gary Pinkel’s nephew, and served as a GA in the early 2000s and a DB coach from 2012-2014.

And a few names that might make sense, we think:

• Kalani Sitake, BYU head coach. Sitake coaches at his alma mater, but there’s a reason he might want to go back to the place where he spent a season as assistant head coach: money. BYU doesn’t break the bank for coaches, though it’s a private school that can keep its finances more secretive than most teams. Oregon State would be in a place to double his salary, if not do better than that.
• Beau Baldwin, Cal OC. A former head coach, his Eastern Washington put up a lot of points, once upset a ranked Oregon State, and terrified several other Pac-12 teams.
• Scott Linehan, Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator. A native of the Pacific Northwest and a former coach at Washington, Linehan knows the culture. He also has a son who will still be playing somewhat nearby at Idaho.
• Jonathan Smith, Washington offensive coordinator. A former QB and graduate assistant at Oregon State, Smith has shown a penchant for ingenuity under Chris Petersen.
• Willie Fritz, Tulane head coach. Fritz — who’s won at Division II, the FCS, and Georgia Southern — is a contrarian in scheme and recruiting. Teams in the Pac-12 North run the air raid and various zone principles. Fritz would bring a shotgun-based option with a simple running game. Want some proof it can work? Ask Tulsa.
• Cory Hall, Oregon State interim head coach. Hall, a former NFL defensive back who joined Andersen’s staff as a Wisconsin assistant in 2014, has the remainder of the season to prove he’s worthy of the job full time.

Oregon State must interview at least one minority candidate, which could include Hall.

In 2009, the state passed its version of the NFL’s Rooney Rule, mandating (albeit without a penalty and little oversight) that public universities interview a minority candidate for openings like this one.

The bill’s co-sponsor, Suzanne Bonamici, is now in the U.S. House of Representatives, but SB Nation reported last week that she’s continuing a push for hiring diversity within the NCAA:

“When I saw what happened in Oregon, I mean, we have African-American coaches now at University of Oregon, Western, and Portland State. That’s tremendous progress in a state like Oregon,” she said.

“What we found with the bill in Oregon and the intent, of course, of the Rooney Rule is you get someone in to interview,” Bonamici continued. “It doesn’t say you have to hire them. But getting people in and helping get that connection has resulted in positive change in Oregon and can result in positive change across the country. So, when players of color are on their team they can see they have a coach of color. That really makes a difference.”

Oregon State is going with a search firm to find Andersen’s replacement, per athletic director Scott Barnes. There’s an out in the language of the legislation that allows schools wiggle room if “the institution was unable to identify a qualified minority applicant who was willing to interview for the position,” but that might not be a plausible excuse, depending on how this season ends up for Hall.

The reason the list of candidates is unlikely to include huge names: This is a really hard job.

Andersen’s apparent generosity could mean Oregon State has the money to be aggressive in its pursuit of his replacement. But his departure raises a point: Oregon State’s such a hard place to thrive that Andersen thought it was worth $12 million to get out.

1. Oregon State isn’t a big-budget athletic department.

In 2015-16, the Beavers were 52nd nationally in athletic revenue, according to USA Today. That’s second-lowest in the Pac-12, ahead of Washington State, and near the bottom of the power conferences.

Oregon State recently got a $42 million football facility renovation. But facility renovations are more about keeping up than getting ahead. The Beavers don’t have as much money to give to coaches, invest in recruiting, or otherwise spend on program-building as most top-tier teams do.

2. Oregon State isn’t Oregon.

The Ducks are Nike’s flagship school, and they built a reputation for being dynamic and fun during their rise under Chip Kelly. Some of that shine has come off in the last few years, but Oregon’s always going to outrecruit Oregon State.

3. There’s not much elite talent nearby, and finding it is hard.

The state produces two or three blue-chip recruits per year, making it an average to slightly below-average state for elite talent. Even if you could build a Pac-12 contender solely by recruiting the best players from the Pacific Northwest, Oregon would do it before Oregon State could.

The Beavers have loaded their roster with Californians (27 this year), and they’ve got a steady mix of non-star players from Arizona, Washington, and Texas.

So where’s Oregon State getting top talent? From nowhere. The Beavers have three four-stars and one five-star on their roster this year. That five-star is running back Thomas Tyner, who transferred from Oregon years after a medical retirement. OSU would almost never get a player like Tyner out of high school.

4. Even if everything breaks right, it’s a difficult division.

The Pac-12 North has one burgeoning national power (Washington), two frequently elite programs (Stanford, Oregon), one rising team that’s No. 8 in the country (Washington State), and Oregon State and Cal. It’s not difficult to imagine any of those first four winning the division. But Oregon State? That’s a lot to overcome.

5. It’s possible to win at OSU. It’s been a while, though.

Dennis Erickson and Mike Riley combined for eight eight-win seasons at OSU this millennium, including an 11-1 season and five bowl wins in six years at one point. But the Beavers have been to only two bowls since 2009.