New Assistant Coaches Are Settling Into New Roles
STILLWATER – There hasn’t been a ton of time between the end of the 2020-21 season and now, yet there have been quite a few adjustments to Mike Boynton’s staff. In three short months, there have been three new assistant coaches added to the staff, something you typically only see with the addition of a new head coach to a program.
Terrence Rencher was added to the staff back in May, then Larry Blunt and David Cason were added to the staff last week. Blunt from Drake, Cason from FIU and Rencher from Creighton.
The media got to spend some time with all three on Tuesday afternoon to see how their transitions to Stillwater were going. While Rencher has been in Stillwater for a month, both Blunt and Cason are settling in nicely.
“It’s been fast-paced; I’m trying to learn the buildings and get used to the heat, but it’s been awesome so far,” said coach Blunt. “Coach [Boynton] is awesome, the players, just the energy and just the passion for basketball is just unreal. The culture that’s been created is really apparent just being here a few days.”
“It’s been fast, like really fast,” said coach Cason. “These transitions for coaches normally happen around March, April, seldomly do they happen in June, but being in the profession for quite some time, 20-plus years, you kind of get used to moving and coach Boynton, the staff, these guys have made the transition real smooth. I don’t know if my wife feels that I’m making it smooth for her, but no it’s been awesome. I have some history in this wonderful state, I was at Tulsa from 2005 to 2011, so I know what it’s like to live here and how important the state of Oklahoma is to people. The pride with OU, OSU, the University of Tulsa, so I have somewhat of an idea, but to see Oklahoma State while being at Tulsa, then actually being a part of it now, it’s an amazing experience so far. So, really excited about being here.”
As for Rencher, he has a bit of a different mindset as he has some experience with the Big 12, or should I say the old Big Eight-Southwest Conference days as he played for Texas from 1991 to 1995, where he finished as the school’s, and Southwest Conference’s all-time leading scorer.
"It's great,” said Rencher of being back in the Big 12. “I'll be honest, when I left school, the Big 12 hadn't formed yet, that whole — Southwest Conference, Big Eight. Once my eligibility was up then they merged and formed the Big 12, but obviously familiar with the league and the landscape, watched it from afar for all these years. Just excited.
"I was in the Big East the last couple years and it's similar in terms of every night; you get a win, you get in the locker room, you're feeling good and then — the kids are one thing, but as a staff, like 30 minutes later you're starting to think ‘what's next? Oh, next is [Villanova], or next it's Seton Hall?’ So, it's a similar thing. Every game, you're going to have to earn it regardless of if it's a team at the bottom of the standings or whether it's a home game or a road game.
Obviously as a player, or competitor or coach, whatever you are, we're all competitors, so you want to test yourself against the best of the best, and the Big 12 provides that. I like the mindset of our team and the approach of our team from what I’ve learned already. I think I'll be very comfortable going to battle with this group. I'm looking forward to it."