Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder has announced the hiring of Mike Boynton as the 20th head coach in Cowboy basketball history.
Considered one of the nation’s top up-and-coming coaches, Boynton, 35, helped engineer OSU’s run to the NCAA Tournament last season, was an architect of Stephen F. Austin’s success and helped revitalize the South Carolina program as both a player and assistant coach.
“At the end of the day, we view coaching from the same perspective,” Holder said. “All of the qualities that I value resonate in him. He said one thing that really stuck with me, that coaching is about leadership and family, and I agree with that wholeheartedly. I know I’m proud to have him as the leader of our basketball program, and think once people get to know him they’ll feel the same way.”
A 12-year Division I coaching veteran, Boynton was instrumental in Oklahoma State’s success last season as an assistant coach. He aided in the day-to-day development of All-American Jawun Evans and Jeffrey Carroll, who became one of the most improved players in the country by increasing his scoring average by 9.3 points per game.
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.
“Oklahoma State is one of the premier basketball programs in the country,” Boynton said. “To have this opportunity given to me by coach Holder and the OSU administration is something I could have only dreamed of. I’m very thankful and grateful to the players here, to the guys that I have played and worked with throughout my life, and to the Oklahoma State family for welcoming me and my family over the last year.”
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 of 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.
“One of the strengths I’ve developed over my 13 years in the business is that I’ve always been able to relate to players, and that’s been no different here. I have a fantastic relationship with our entire locker room, and I look forward to building those relationships in this new role.”
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.
Boynton graduated from South Carolina with a degree in African-American studies. He 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.
