STILLWATER – On Wednesday afternoon Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton put another verbal bow on the just completed basketball season at Oklahoma State. As the rest of the Big 12 and virtually all of Division I basketball are putting in their final efforts to get into or to get the highest seed they can for the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the tradition of “March Madness” the 15-15 Cowboys finishing fifth in the rugged Big 12 Conference are into their first week of offseason. It’s a week to exhale and think about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the completed campaign and the final days of the NCAA penalty that banned them from postseason in 2022.
Already, Donovan Williams is in the NCAA Transfer Portal, and Boynton thanked Williams for his contributions. It was a certainty and expected that Williams would be leaving, but on Saturday after the 52-51 win over Texas Tech, Boynton started to go down the path of pointing fingers at other programs and their coaches that were tampering with Oklahoma State players and inviting them to get in the portal and be recruited to their schools. Tampering is usually through family members, high school or AAU coaches, or players that know targeted players in other programs. It is unethical, not to mention against the rules, but it is almost impossible to identify and prove.
“The tampering there is no way to really monitor it,” Boynton said. “You have to have kids that have a little more morality in their family that will say we’re not into that and they will say they don’t want to be involved in that.”
Boynton has shown frustration. It is still too soon for Oklahoma State players that are still trying to get over the bitterness of not being allowed to play on. Other programs will feed off that and use it to their advantage. Boynton is hoping he has players and player’s families that will bring those tampering pitches to him and his staff.
“Sure, it doesn’t always necessarily work that way and that is why people do what they do. They’re (players) impressionable. A 19-or-20-year-old kid can be told things that might seem a little bit of a stretch, but they feel good. They are not going to do a whole lot of research.”
Boynton discussed it, but invited to share he wasn’t willing to name names or point fingers. Honestly, as much as I would have loved to hear it, write about it, and fire up a “Scarlet Letter” for the culprit, it is not in Boynton or his program’s best interest. It rarely works out well for whistleblowers. You’d like to think the NCAA would get a handle on it, find at least one guilty coach and school, and then get control of it by setting an example. That, or maybe the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) would show some integrity and shame it out of the college game.
“I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in that because I think everybody fears public embarrassment or lawsuit, and probably the latter more than the first,” Boynton said making absolute sense. “Probably every decision made in our game the last five to ten years has been because of public pressure. It’s not that it wasn’t the right thing, sometimes it was, but I don’t know if it is good for anybody for a player the day after the season ends to walk into their coach’s office and or text them or call them and say ‘I hate this, I’m leaving’ without taking a few days, go home, talk to your parents, meet with the coach. Maybe we never get back on the same page, but at least it is thought through. Wait until next week after some of these high level conference tournaments are over and it’s already happening after some of the smaller conference tournaments kids immediately, game ends, season over, email sent, next morning commitment in the transfer portal.”
Players are prone to love hearing a coach tell them that their life can be better, their career can take off.
“The truth is that everybody is looking for greener pastures and an easier route. The truth is guys that want to ultimately get to the highest level of our game, there is no easy path,” Boynton explained. “There is none. If you’re going to a team where you are going to get the ball more or you are going to shoot without restrictions, that is not necessarily good for you because you know what’s going to happen to a high volume player that goes to the NBA, he is not going to play because he is going to play in the NBA with a guy that is already established.”
Mark my words, while Donovan Williams departure was expected and likely benefits the program, there will be more players leaving. It is likely that some of them will be players that Boynton had his staff want for next season and beyond. They will be important pieces to the roster. Instead of calling out the coach that may have coerced that player to go in the portal, Boynton is going to focus on his job moving forward.
“My job is to make sure the people in that office upstairs are doing the necessary things for whatever happens,” Boynton said of roster turnover this offseason. “I don’t expect to have to have 12 new faces, but if we have 12 new faces then we’ll try to have 12 really good new faces.”
