It Became Clear on Monday Why Mike Boynton Got the Oklahoma State Job

It hit me halfway through his press conference. Maybe it was this quote from new Oklahoma State men’s basketball coach Mike Boynton.

“This is about these guys, every one of them. They know that I care about them and I love them, they know that I will push them as hard as I can to make them better and they respect that about me. They let me coach them hard because they know that I care.”

Or maybe it was this one.

“(Mike Holder and I) do share a lot of values though; that it’s about these guys, first and foremost, and that it’s our job to help them achieve their goals, whatever they may be. Most of them want to play professional basketball, and we want to help them do that. We’ve got to help them understand what it takes to get there and provide them with the resources to make them better in getting there.”

Or this one.

“The message to our fans is simple: this isn’t about me, it’s about (the players). The players need your support. I’ll be okay, I’ll be fine. I’m going to work my tail off like I always have my entire life and I’ll figure this thing out as we go. Our players need the support of our fans and our alums and our coaches.

“They aren’t coming to support me. They need to come support these young men who give everything they have every day so that they can go back to wherever they work with pride that they went to this university, that they donated something to this university.”

Whatever quote it was, it hit me at some point during the 40-minute introductory press conference of Boynton on Monday. Mike Holder (and others) hired Mike Boynton because Mike Boynton sold Mike Holder on what Mike Holder eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner: Building boys into men and the glorification of the student-athlete with an emphasis on the former over the latter.

Don’t you see it?

“He’s a leader,” said Holder of Boynton. “He’ll talk about that extensively. It’s one thing to talk the talk but it’s another to walk the walk. I think he’ll embody every single thing that he talks about that he holds dear to his heart. I think he’s a teacher. I think a lot these players can attest to that.

“Jeff Carroll, you benefited from that this year. Davon Dillard, everybody. We’re on a college campus. That’s where teaching is supposed to happen, so I feel he’s going to fit right in our basketball program. Basketball will just be another course taught at Oklahoma State University.”

For whatever the other four folks in that interview room sold the Oklahoma State administration on, Boynton was the only one who hit the nail on the head. That doesn’t mean his sales pitch wins basketball games, but it does mean it gets you a new five-year $5 million contract.

Holder loves what Boynton brought to the table, and, theoretically, as the athletic director it is the kind of thing you should love. Hard work. Holding the rope. Everybody together now. The man cried when Boynton started talking about family!

Holder cried when Boynton talked about his parents and kids during his "first" interview. Was the first thing he said about him. #okstate

— Hayden Kyle Barber (@HK_Barber) March 27, 2017

This of course doesn’t guarantee long-term success which is important for the job security of both men, but that doesn’t matter on Day 1. What matters on Day 1 is that Holder and Co. bought something they believe will improve the lives of the kids that go to school in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

They think differently about this hire than you and I do. We care about net-cuttings and players simply not embarrassing our university. They see kids every day. They see the progress. They wanted somebody to move that progress forward.

“It’s great to see the players here,” said Holder early in the press conference. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. I never dreamed what was going to happen (when I showed up when I was 17).”

“(Boynton is) going to change lives because of the man he is and what he stands for. He embodies all the qualities I hold dear. They’re timeless. The principals that matter will be the same. We’re surrounded by greatness.”

Holder talks like a man who embraces ideals which is what you want in any leader of an organization. My fear, though — and this might be unfounded — is that the reality of college hoops is cold and that winning games was sacrificed at the altar of Utopia.

I got an interesting message from someone who used to play baseball at Oklahoma State last night. He said when Frank Anderson was fired in 2013, the entire baseball team wanted assistant Billy Jones to take over. He was a great recruiter. He was a player’s coach. He was beloved. Sound familiar?

Jones went to Appalachian State instead and was fired after four years and a 86-130 record. Oklahoma State hired Josh Holliday to replace Frank Anderson.

I’d say that was a good decision.

But I might just be an iconoclast with a keyboard and a surly attitude, and Oklahoma State might have just landed the best of both worlds for the cheapest price in the conference. That seems unlikely, but it’s at least feasible, I suppose.

Or … consider this. Maybe Holder is OK with sacrificing a couple of games a year to have a clean, mature, well-rounded program. That’s not absurd. It’s not what we want as fans, but again, Holder and Co. have different wants than we have.

If the difference between the best and worst coach from a tactical standpoint in college hoops is, say, eight games a year, and Holder thinks Boynton is a really good recruiter somewhere in the middle of that, then he might just be fine with it. Especially at that cost.

Who knows. I’ve thought, wondered, pontificated and written about this from every angle imaginable, and I don’t really see a future vision paved with Elite Eight appearances and conference titles (which is what we saw this time last year).

The only thing I’m sure of is that Mike Boynton came to the table with something specific to sell. It was not a disingenuous pitch, either. This is who he is. Boynton was selling a future of building children into adults, and he was selling it at a hefty discount, too. Looking back, the outcome was sort of easy to see.

Mike Holder bought every last bit of it.