headtopics
Who is Mike Boynton? Michigan Names Interim Coach After Dusty May Departure Whether he will lead the Wolverines in 2027 remains unclear.
Mike Boynton Jr.
was a key assistant for Michigans national title-winning team in 202526.
| Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Imagesby hiring coach Dusty May.
Left unresolved: whether Boynton will serve as Michigans interim coach either a) while the Wolverines look for a new coach, or b) through the duration of the 2027 season or longer.Mike has been an invaluable member of our staff and a respected leader throughout his career, Manuel said in his statement.
His experience, character and commitment to our values make him the right person to guide the team during this transition.
A solid guard and a well-traveled assistant Boynton is from Brooklyn and played his high school ball in the Fort Greene neighborhood, eventually making his way south to suit up collegiately for South Carolina.There, he averaged 4.3 points per game in 125 games over four years, peaking with an All-Tournament performance in the SEC tournament in 2004.
Quickly transitioning to coaching, Boynton put in work at Furman, Coastal Carolina and Wofford before returning to become a Gamecocks assistant under coach Darrin Horn.
Several years into Horns tenure, South Carolina hired an associate head coach named Brad Underwoodwho took Boynton to Stephen F.
Austin and then to Oklahoma State.Mike Boynton had an up-and-down tenure as Oklahoma State coach.
| Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images The defining event of Boyntons head coaching with the Cowboys took place before the start of his first season, when the FBI announced a wide-ranging investigation into corruption in college basketballand set a trap that would ensnare Oklahoma State years later.
Boyntons first season was a mild success, as his 2115 team won two games in the NIT before losing in the quarterfinals.Amid two up-and-down years, he won a major recruiting coup in November 2019 when guard Cade Cunningham committed to play for the Cowboys.
When the NCAA handed Oklahoma State a postseason ban for 2021 as part of the corruption scandal, Cunningham remained committed to the Cowboysa decision that paid dividends as the appeal process meant Oklahoma State served its punishment in 2022.Pat Forde: Mike Boynton Deserves Chance to Lead Michigan After Misfortune Marred Oklahoma State Tenure In Cunninghams season with the Cowboysthe pandemic-truncated 21 campaignBoynton showed just how good of a coach he could be.
Avoiding the distractions that usually come with carrying a presumptive one-and-done prospect, Oklahoma State went 219 and finished the regular season ranked No.
11 in the country.A No.
4 seed, the Cowboys won their first NCAA tournament game since 2009 over Liberty before losing to Oregon State in the second round.
Boynton lasted three more years before being firedone in which his team served the ban and two in which he missed the NCAA tournament.
Now, he may get a chance to show what he can really do, without distortion fields positive and negative .Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated.
He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest.
Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game.
He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .