OSU Basketball Coaching Staff

Last Game

North Texas

Loss 59-65

Mar 21, 2023

2023 NIT

Next Game

TBA

To Be Announced

Mike Boynton Jr.

Head Coach

“Let’s Work!”

More than just a cliché team slogan, this defense-first, blue collar mentality is the foundation for Mike Boynton’s program at Oklahoma State, and it has ushered in the New Era of Cowboy basketball.

In four seasons at the helm Boynton has compiled a 72-58 record while leading the Cowboys to 17 wins over ranked opponents, including 10 victories over top-10 squads. He also hauled in back-to-back top-25 recruiting classes, mentored eight All-Big 12 Conference selections and 11 Academic All-Big 12 team honorees.

It's no wonder that Seth Davis and The Athletic placed Boynton highly on their list of the "Top-40 Under 40" in college basketball, or that he was a finalist for the Jim Phelan Coach of the Year or the Skip Prosser Man of the Year awards in 2021.

The fruit of Boynton’s tireless work ethic is most evident on the recruiting trail. In the last two offseasons, the Cowboys have brought in seven 4-star recruits and the highest-ranked signee in school history, Cade Cunningham, the consensus No. 1 player in the country who won the High School Naismith Trophy. Those two recruiting classes laid the foundation for Oklahoma State’s 2020-21 season, which kicked the OSU program into high gear.

Cunningham, the first Associated Press First Team All-American in program history, was just the third player to ever win the Big 12 Player and Freshman of the Year awards in the same season. He was named the Wayman Tisdale Award recipient as the nation's top freshman, and was also a finalist for the Naismith Trophy, the Wooden Award and the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year awards.

With Cunningham under Boynton’s tutelage, the Cowboys took down a school-record nine ranked teams (9-5 overall), including a magical run in February and March that included six ranked victories in a 19 day stretch that is the second shortest span for six ranked wins in the AP Poll era (1948-49).

In 2021, the Cowboys advanced to the finals of the Big 12 Championship, earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and ended the year ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press top-25 – all firsts since 2005. Oklahoma State’s first-round win in the NCAA Tournament was its first since 2009.

Despite the shortened COVID-19 season, Oklahoma State won 21 games in 2020-21, which was OSU’s second 20-win season under Boynton. However, it was hardly his first taste of success as a head coach.

In 2019-20, do-it-all guard Isaac Likekele burst onto the scene and joined senior captain Cameron McGriff on the All-Big 12 Conference team. They helped the Cowboys win eight of their last 11 games contests to finish with a six-win improvement over the previous year. In fact, only five Power Conference teams ended the season with a longer win streak than OSU’s four-game run against Big 12 competition.

Boynton’s first season at the helm set the bar high. The 2017-18 Cowboys tied the school record with 15 home wins, advanced to the third round of the NIT and posted four victories over Elite Eight squads. In all, OSU notched 21 wins and became the first team since 2001 to sweep a regular-season series with Kansas.

In 2018-19, the trio of Lindy Waters III, McGriff and Thomas Dziagwa stepped into the leadership role as captains, and the first two earned All-Big 12 Conference recognition. The trio helped the Cowboys lead the Big 12 in 3-point shooting with a clip of 8.7 makes per game at 37.2 percent – both league highs.

Boynton’s knack for skill development has been on full display since his arrival in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Avery Anderson III arrived on the scene in 2020-21 and tripled his scoring output from the previous year, and earned All-Big 12 Championship team honors after helping lead the Cowboys to the conference title game. The sophomore posted three 20-plus point scoring performances over the last six contests, and averaged 19.2 points on 52.6 percent shooting over that stretch.

Jeffrey Carroll became one of the most improved players in the country by increasing his scoring average by 9.3 points per game, which was the second largest scoring jump in program history only to Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. Under Boynton, Carroll and his frontcourt teammate, Mitchell Solomon, would earn All-Big 12 honors following the 2017-18 season.

Boynton’s first signee as the head coach at OSU, Yor Anei, arrived in Stillwater as a raw, unheralded freshman. But by the end of his first year, Anei tied the program record for blocked shots in a single season with 85 and he ranked fourth nationally with a block percentage of 13.7.

As an assistant coach in 2016-17, he aided in the day-to-day training of All-American Jawun Evans, who led the Cowboys to the NCAA Tournament, as well as the program’s all-time 3-point king, Phil Forte III.

Academics are at the heart of Boynton’s philosophy. In four years, Boynton has 11 Academic All-Big 12 selections, including a school-record five honorees in 2021; Avery Anderson III, Kalib Boone, Keylan Boone, Isaac Likekele and Dee Mitchell.

The Cowboys had three Academic All-Big 12 picks in 2020 – at that time, the most by an OSU team since 2014 – and earned the coveted National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award after recording the second-highest team GPA in school history. Cowboy graduates Trey Reeves and Thomas Dziagwa were two of just seven Big 12 basketball players to earn a spot on the 2019-20 NABC Honors Court.

Perhaps no Cowboy has ever left Stillwater with more academic accolades than Reeves, who was one of just 16 members of his OSU graduating class to earn Outstanding Senior honors. The three time Academic All-Big 12 selection was named the recipient of the prestigious Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship, and earned the 2019 Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award - the Big 12's highest academic honor.

In Boynton’s first year, the Cowboys recorded a 3.01 team GPA in the spring of 2017 and placed a pair of student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 team.

Thought of as one of the nation’s up-and-coming coaches prior to being named the OSU head coach on March 24, 2017, Boynton helped engineer OSU’s run to the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17, was an architect of Stephen F. Austin’s success and helped revitalize the South Carolina program as both a player and assistant coach.

Before arriving in Stillwater, Boynton spent the previous three seasons at Stephen F. Austin, where he helped the Lumberjacks rack up a total of 89 wins, which are tied for the most by any coaching staff in its first three campaigns.

In 2015-16, Boynton helped the Lumberjacks win 28 games, including a first-round upset of No. 2 seed West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. The magical season capped off a run of success at SFA that included three straight Southland Conference titles, a 53-1 record in league play and three SLC Player of the Year awards.

Boynton went to SFA after spending four years as an assistant coach at South Carolina. While on staff in Columbia, Boynton helped lead the Gamecocks to three wins over national top-five opponents, including an upset of then-No. 1 Kentucky in 2009-10 and wins over then-No. 2 Michigan State and then-No. 2 Ohio State in 2010-11 while fielding one of the youngest teams in the country.

He also had a part in South Carolina landing one of its best recruiting classes in recent history in the summer of 2010, bringing in a class ranked No. 17 in the country according to Scout.com, No. 22 in the Rivals.com rankings and No. 25 class according to ESPN.com.

He served as the associate head coach for Wofford prior to joining the South Carolina staff for the 2008-09 season.

Boynton worked as an assistant at Coastal Carolina for two seasons prior to his stint at Wofford. In his two years at Coastal, the Chanticleers went 35-25 overall, including a 20-win season in 2005-06.

Boynton was a four-year letterwinner for the Gamecocks from 2001 to 2004. He played in 125 career games, which ranks fourth all-time. He also finished in the top ten in career three pointers made (129) and three pointers attempted (364). He ranks in the top 10 in single-season starts and minutes played and led the Gamecocks to the NCAA Tournament as a senior, starting 32 games and averaging 9.9 points and a team-high 3.5 assists per game.

He graduated from South Carolina with a degree in African-American studies in 2003. Boynton was also awarded the Southeastern Conference’s Community Service Post-Graduate Scholarship for his community service work.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Boynton attended Bishop Loughlin High School, where he earned first-team All-New York City honors after leading his team to a 24-4 mark and a berth in the city semifinals. He was inducted into the Bishop Loughlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame in the spring of 2011.

Terrence Rencher

Assistant Coach

The all-time leading scorer in Texas basketball history and a veteran of over 13 years of collegiate coaching, Terrence Rencher joined Mike Boynton’s staff as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State in April of 2021.

The former NBA guard was most recently on staff at Creighton where he helped the Bluejays win the Big East regular season title in 2020 and advance to the Sweet 16 in 2021. Creighton was 46-16 in Rencher’s two seasons in Omaha, and he helped groom All-Big East selections Ty-Shon Alexander, Marcus Zegarowski, Damien Jefferson and Denzel Mahoney.

A native of the Bronx, New York, Rencher was the 1991 Mr. Basketball in the state of New York, and went on to become the all-time leading scorer and steals leader for Texas with 2,306 points and 255 steals. Rencher also ranks sixth in assists in Longhorn history. He was named the 1992 Dick Vitale National Freshman of the Year and helped guide the Longhorns to a trio of NCAA Tournament appearances and conference championships.

“Coach Rencher has proven himself as an excellent teacher and developer, as well as a strong evaluator and recruiter,” Boynton said. “His experience as a player will serve as a great benefit to our program. Terrence has worked at all levels of college basketball and has found success in many different roles. His ability to connect with our players will be invaluable. I’m thankful to have him and his wife Faye, as well as their children joining our team.”

Prior to Creighton, Rencher spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of San Diego, and he also gained experience an assistant coach at New Mexico, Texas State, Tulsa and Sam Houston State.

“I’m extremely grateful and excited for the opportunity to join coach Boynton’s staff here at Oklahoma State,” Rencher said. “The way coach Boynton is moving the program forward, as well as his core values, align perfectly with my perspective. OSU has a rich history of success on the basketball court and the possibilities are limitless. My family and I are looking forward to getting connected to the Stillwater community. Go Pokes!”

Before his work at USD, he was on the staff at the University of New Mexico where he was an assistant coach for two seasons under Craig Neal. In each of those two seasons the Lobos won 17 overall games and 10 conference contests.

No stranger to Oklahoma, Rencher spent one season as an assistant at Tulsa as a member of Doug Wojcik’s staff in 2011-12. While at Tulsa, Rencher coached Jordan Clarkson who has averaged 14.7 points per game during his six-year NBA career.

Rencher got his first full-time coaching position at Texas State, where he had a pair of stings with the Bobcats. He first coached at Texas State from 2009-11 before rejoining as a member of Danny Kaspar's staff in 2013. The Bobcats were one of the Sun Belt's best defensive teams with Rencher on staff during the 2013-14 season.

Rencher spent the 2012-13 season as an assistant coach at Sam Houston State. His college coaching career began as a graduate assistant at Saint Louis under the late Rick Majerus during the 2008-09 season.

Rencher spent a decade playing basketball professionally from 1995 to 2006 in the NBA, CBA and in Europe. He spent the 1995-96 season with the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns after being the 32nd overall selection of the 1995 NBA Draft.

He spent nine years playing in Europe following his 1996-97 season in the CBA. His professional career in Europe took him to Italy, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Israel. He garnered MVP awards in Italy and Germany while earning All-Star recognition in Germany, Italy, Israel and Croatia.

Rencher is a 2007 graduate of the University of Texas with a bachelor's degree in Education with a focus on youth and community studies. He and his wife, Faye, have two daughters Siena and Savannah.

Larry Blunt

Assistant Coach

Larry Blunt brings a resume filled with collegiate and international coaching expertise to the Oklahoma State coaching staff.

Blunt, who was instrumental in the founding of Orangeville Prep in Ontario, Canada, arrived in Stillwater having spent the last three seasons at Drake, where he helped the Bulldogs win at least 20 games each year and raise the 2019 Missouri Valley championship trophy. Drake is coming off a special season that included 26 wins and a trip to the round of 32 at the NCAA Tournament.

He joined Drake after spending two seasons as an assistant at Canisius, where he helped guide the Golden Griffins to a share of the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular season title with a 15-3 conference record and an overall mark of 21-12. The league title was the program’s first since 1993-94 and the 21 wins equaled the school record for regular season wins.

Blunt enjoyed three seasons as the head coach at Orangeville Prep in Mono, Ontario, where he had the opportunity to work with more than a dozen student-athletes that went on to earn Division I scholarships and/or play professionally. Current Cowboy Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe starred at Orangeville Prep prior to his arrival in Stillwater.

“Coach Blunt is an outstanding addition to our staff,” Boynton said. “His experience as an assistant at both Canisius and Drake, in addition to his experience running his own program, give me great confidence that he is ready to help us on our journey to build a champion in Stillwater. LB has recruited, developed, and coached some elite talent in his time coaching and has the ‘Let’s Work’ mentality as he comes in the door. I’m excited to welcome him and Morgan to the Cowboy basketball family.”

Two of Blunt’s former Orangeville players, Jamal Murray and Thon Maker, were taken seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 2016 NBA Draft. Other notable players who Blunt coached at Orangeville Prep include Kyle Alexander (Tennessee), Daniel Cummings (ETSU), Jelani Mofford (UNC-Greensboro), Jalen Poyser (UNLV), Kalif Young (Providence), and Alonzo Walker (Kent State).

Blunt began his basketball coaching career in 2005-06 at Eastern Mennonite, a Division III school in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Courtland, Va., native spent the next two seasons on staff at Shaw University, a Division II program located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Blunt moved on to join the coaching staff at Hampden-Sydney College from 2008-12.

Blunt moved to Canada in 2012 and took over as the head coach for the Oshawa Power of the National Basketball League of Canada. During the 2012-13 season, he helped lead the Power to a franchise-record for victories in a season.

As a student-athlete, Blunt earned two varsity letters in football at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, N.C., before transferring to James Madison, where he completed his collegiate football career playing for the Dukes, helping the team to an NCAA I-AA National Championship.

He earned his degree in public administration from James Madison in 2005, and his wife’s name is Morgan.

David Cason

Assistant Coach

A veteran of more than 25 years on the sidelines at the highest level of collegiate basketball, David Cason joined the Oklahoma State coaching staff in June of 2021.

Cason, a 25-year collegiate coaching veteran with stops at Texas, North Carolina, Notre Dame, VCU and Tulsa, spent the previous three seasons as the associate head coach at FIU. He has been a part of more than 400 victories over his career, and Cason’s teams have advanced to the postseason 12 times, including four NCAA Tournament trips and seven NIT appearances.

No stranger to the Big 12 Conference or Gallagher-Iba Arena, Cason spent 2015-17 on Shaka Smart’s staff at Texas, where he was part of more than 30 victories and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Cason followed Smart to Austin after spending the 2014-15 season as an assistant coach at VCU, helping lead the Rams to a 26-10 overall record and No. 25 ranking in the final Associated Press Poll.

A native of Baltimore, Cason spent the past three seasons as the associate head coach at FIU, where he helped the Golden Panthers win 19-plus games twice over that span. He came to FIU after spending the 2017-18 season in the same role at Florida Gulf Coast, where he helped the Eagles to a 23-12 record and a berth in the NIT.

“When it comes to versatility of experience, it doesn’t get much better than David Cason,” Boynton said. Coach Cason has coached at every level of college basketball. He has proven time and time again that he has the ability to connect, recruit, develop, and coach elite players for more than 20 years and has been a part of over 400 wins in his career. We are thankful to him and his wife, Tamara, for wanting to join us in our quest to take our program to the next level. His impact will be felt immediately by our players and staff.”

Cason has a reputation as a stellar recruiter, and was identified in 2010 while at Tulsa as the top assistant coach in Conference USA in a FoxSports.com survey of the league’s head coaches. Cason was at Tulsa from 2005-11, including the final three years as associate head coach. The Golden Hurricane posted a 123-78 (.612) overall record in his six years, including four-straight 20-win seasons, made two NIT appearances (2009 and 2010) and won the 2008 CBI Championship.

While at Tulsa, he helped recruit and coach Jordan Clarkson during the 2010-11 season, where Clarkson earned Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors. Clarkson was selected as the No. 46 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by Washington.

Cason worked for three years (2011-14) as an assistant at Vanderbilt under Kevin Stallings and helped the Commodores post a 56-43 (.566) record. Vanderbilt registered a 25-11 mark in 2011-12, won the SEC Tournament Championship for the first time in 60 years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Third Round.

He helped develop a pair of 2012 SEC First Team selections in Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins. Taylor, who finished his career as the school’s second all-time leading scorer (1,897), was selected as the No. 31 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Charlotte. As a junior in 2011-12, Jenkins led the SEC in scoring (19.9 ppg) and topped the nation in 3-pointers made per game (3.9) while earning Third Team All-America honors by The AP. He was selected as the No. 23 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Atlanta.

He served as an assistant coach for two seasons (2003-05) at TCU. The Horned Frogs registered a 21-14 mark and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals in 2004-05.

Prior to his time in Fort Worth, Texas, Cason spent three years (2000-03) as the director of basketball operations at North Carolina under head coach Matt Doherty. In his first season, the Tar Heels won 26 games and earned a No. 1 national ranking late in the regular season. UNC won a share of the ACC Regular Season Championship with a 13-3 league record, advanced to the ACC Tournament Final and claimed a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Cason also served as director of basketball operations at Notre Dame for one season (1999-2000) under Doherty. The Irish posted a 22-15 record and advanced to the NIT Championship Final. He also worked for three seasons (1996-99) as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University.

Collegiately, Cason played his first two years (1991-93) of basketball at the College of Southern Idaho. He led the Scenic West Conference in assists during each of his two seasons and earned Second Team All-Region honors as a sophomore. He played his final two seasons at Illinois State, when Stallings was the head coach for the Redbirds.

Cason led the Missouri Valley Conference in assists in both years and remains the school’s leader in career assists per game (6.0). In his senior campaign, he earned Second Team All-MVC honors, claimed the Doug Collins Award as the team’s Most Valuable Player and was named the top athlete at Illinois State. Cason also set the school single-game record for assists with 16.

He began his coaching career as a student assistant coach under Stallings. Cason earned his bachelor’s degree in recreation management from Illinois State in 1996.
Cason and his wife, Tamara, have three children: daughters Da-Via and Taylor, and son, DJ.