Mike Boynton Out as Oklahoma State Head Coach

STILLWATER – Mike Boynton is officially out as head coach of the Oklahoma State men’s basketball program. 

This comes following yet another disappointing season, 12-20 overall and 4-14 in Big 12 play. During his seven seasons as head coach, Mike Boynton recorded a 119-109 overall record and a 51-75 Big 12 record. The Cowboys also made it the NCAA tournament just once the past seven seasons, the 2020-21 season, which saw a second-round exit following an 80-70 loss to Oregon State.

The buyout of Boynton’s contract is roughly $8.1 million as it was done before April 1. The buyout, had the athletic department waited until April 1, would’ve been 2/3 the remaining contract, but still would’ve been north of $7 million.

However, the issue now having to pay a buyout, albeit smaller in size than Boynton’s, to go out and get a decent coach. Then you’re looking at the salary of the new head coach, as well as salaries of assistant coaches. So, this endeavor for a new basketball coach will cost Oklahoma State more than $15 million before it’s all said and done.

The search to find a new head coach begins immediately, as well as the work to try and keep this current roster together, which features a group of talented soon-to-be sophomores in Brandon Garrison, Eric Dailey Jr. and Jamyron Keller, and Big 12 honorable mention point guard, Javon Small. Several schools across the country have gotten rid of, or will be getting rid of coaches in the near future and had OSU waited until April 1, they more than likely wouldn’t have improved their situation.

There was certainly a lot of promise during his entire tenure with the Pokes. It started out with a 21-15 record, with ranked wins over No. 19 Florida State, No. 4 OU, a sweep over No. 7 and then No. 6 Kansas, No. 19 West Virginia and No. 6 Texas Tech. The Pokes were cheated out of a berth in the NCAA tournament, which caused quite a bit of national outrage, then were just a game away from making it to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals of the NIT. 

Then the FBI and NCAA investigation surround Lamont Evans, which really put the program on hold and forced Boynton to host walk-on tryouts just to field a practice squad. 

But recruiting was always a highlight for Boynton as he consistently brought in top-25 classes, including a few top-10 classes, which this past class was, featuring McDonald’s All-American Brandon Garrison, as well as multi-gold medal winner with USA Basketball, Eric Dailey Jr. And of course, the No. 1 recruit in college basketball, as well as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Cade Cunningham.

However, despite all the top-tier talent and hype surrounding the recruiting classes, Boynton could never put together a consistent product on the court as the Pokes finished with just one winning record in conference play, going 11-7 during Cunningham’s lone season in Stillwater.