This video above is one I’ve been saving for about a year to use at the appropriate time. I think this is that time.
Mike Boynton was hired as the O State head coach four years ago in the midst of O State’s program possibly headed towards dark deep waters in the aftermath of the LaMont Evans situation.
This was not an ideal setting for a young coach to become the head coach of Power Five progam which had been lost for a decade in the aftermath of legendary Eddie Sutton’s exit from the O State head coaching job.
One of my friends who was a basketball beat writer covering O State for that decade told me about Mike Boynton just after Brad Underwood left to take the Illinois job.
I asked him, “Who do you think Holder will hire?”
He said without the slightest hestitation…” Mike Boynton. He’ll knock it out of the ball park in his interview. You’ll see.”
So when I watched this presser four years ago as Mike Boynton accepted the head coaching job…I must admit I wondered where he’d have the O State program four years down the road.
Where he has them is in the NCAA Tournament with the presumptive National Player of the Year with a chance to be a No. 3 seed depending on how O State plays in the Big 12 Tournament this week in Kansas City.
On Saturday without both Cade Cunningham and Issac Likekele… Mike Boynton’s Cowboys rode sophmores Avery Anderson and Kaleb Boone to an improbable 85-80 road win over ranked West Virginia.
Avery Anderson led all scorers with 31 points and is in my estimation the most improved player in the Big 12 this basketball season. Second on that list might very well be his teammate Kaleb Boone from Tulsa.
Back when Billy Donovan left the Thunder this summer…I wrote a piece somewhere here on my blog on how Sam Presti should interview Mike Boynton for the head coaching job. I didn’t just come out and say he should be the next Thunder coach, but at the least I thought Presti should just interview Mike Boynton if at nothing else as a future possibile candidate down the road.
Boynton is an old school former point guard who played four seasons at South Carolina on a Gamecocks’ team which made the NCAA Tournament his senior year.
Before landing the O State head coaching job.. he was an assistant at six different stops. Mike Boynton earned the opportunity to get this job and will now start to become a national name in the college coaching ranks.
It’s the 2nd Rule of Coaching with Mike Boynton all the way: ‘You coach thru your unique personality, character, and passion.’ Be who you are.
His teams never quit and they grind no matter what the situation. You’ll never see a Mike Boynton team lay down and quit.
And that is exactly what we saw in Morgantown today as with only nine players dressed to play and on a brutal stretch of three games in seven days all against ranked teams…Mike Boynton’s team without Cade Cunningham collectively said– ” No big deal,” and won a game in one of the toughest venues in college basketball.
Congrats to Coach Boynton and his team from fighting back from a 1-3 start in Big 12 play to become one of the teams every basketball scribe in America is going to be following heading into March Madness.
Sam Presti— you should have interviewed Mike Boynton.
I can’t wait to watch.