Daily Bullets (March 27)

Mike Boynton, Jr. press conference at 3 p.m. today, should be interesting. 

Logical Fallacy

Someone please help me understand.

“One tempting way to do that was someone who immediately would be accepted by the fan base,” Holder said. “That’s why people hire head coaches. They’ve done what you envision or dream about for our basketball program. But the emphasis should be on hiring the best coach available.”

Holder said the low salary demands of a candidate like Boynton had nothing to do with the decision. OSU wasn’t going to pay Underwood the $3 million a year he got from Illinois, but Holder started out his Underwood negotiations at $2 million and was prepared to go higher. [NewsOK]

“Low salary demands of a candidate like Boynton had nothing to do with the decision.”

I’ll admit I’m more likely to buy a vacuum from a door-to-door salesman than this line. We should be willing to hear out the MBJ hire, absolutely. Maybe not let the guy into our living rooms just yet but hear what he has to say out on the front porch.

But get out of here with “hiring the best coach available” if you’re not qualifying that with “….willing to take the job for $750k or less because we have one hell of a football coach that has to be paid.”

Sell me on upside. Give me quotes from Final Four bound Frank Martin that Boynton had a behind the scenes impact on that South Carolina roster. Tease me and say Underwood will crumble without his top lieutenant.

Hit Rate on Assistants

Berry Tramel gets us the numbers on successful assistant coach hires in the Big Eight/Big 12… History hasn’t really favored the bold.

Most of the assistants hired to be head coaches were not successful. Eight of the 23 could be labeled good hires, starting with Kansas’ Roy Williams in 1988. Also qualifying are Kansas State’s Frank Martin (2007), Missouri’s Quin Snyder (1999), Colorado’s Ricardo Patton (1995), Texas Tech’s James Dickey (1990), Nebraska’s Moe Iba (1980), OU’s Dave Bliss (1975) and Texas Tech’s Gerald Myers (1971).

The percentage of a good hire goes up dramatically when hiring a head coach – 38 of 66 hires by those schools, when hiring a sitting head coaches, could be considered a success. [NewsOK]

Holder is currently one for two hiring basketball coaches but a 34.7 percent success rate on assistants doesn’t feel great compared to 57.6 percent for a sitting head coach. Oklahoma State feels like a place where you don’t have to play the odds.

Upside Capture

There’s objectively no doubt that we’re taking a risk hiring a young, inexperienced guy. Assuming you want him to stay around, the hope is your loyalty to him pays off when others come calling with more money.

Boynton: I’m 35-years-old and I’ve never been a head coach before, Coach Holder and the Board of Regents have just named me as the head coach of Oklahoma State University. What kind of person would I be to dismiss that. That means a lot to me. I’m as committed to this place and I am proud to lead this program. I am not thinking about anything else than doing the job really, really well for as long as they will have me here. [Go Pokes-$$$]

We’re a somewhat jaded bunch after watching Underwood stay in town long enough for a connecting flight between East Texas and Champaign.

Above are preliminary words to the public intending to cultivate trust that he won’t just leave if/when success comes. I’m sure the press conference today will have more color but any sort of trust engendering will be of the utmost importance for MBJ.

OSU and NCAA Notes

Self runs into that Elite Eight wall again….UT didn’t get the grad transfer QB they were hoping for….Men’s tennis took out SMU over the weekend…. Holliday’s boys were swept at TCU this weekend, losing 5-1 on Sunday (there was a nasty collision in the outfield)….Cowgirl golf took second in Baton Rouge….A former Cowgirl basketball player helped Mississippi State get past Baylor

Here’s your Final Four: The PNW and the Carolinas.

A blue blood and a Cinderella join a Duck and a Zag.

The Final Four is set! pic.twitter.com/zIs1mgHUZi

— ESPN (@espn) March 26, 2017

Jobs that South Carolina coach Frank Martin had: Dishwasher, change boy in pool hall, bartender, landscaper & bouncer in Miami nightclub.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) March 26, 2017

Props to South Carolina on the Final Four run, even more to Frank Martin for that climb. Mike Boynton, Jr. was in a uniform the last time they made the Dance!

This is fun to think about:

New OSU basketball coach helped recruit some of South Carolina's best talent and now South Carolina is in the Final Four. https://t.co/TowCUSVjnO

— Michael Doutey (@mike_doutey) March 26, 2017

What You Missed on PFB

• On the potential upside of Mike Boynton, Jr.
• Sam excellently breaks down how investment in the program plays into trajectory
• Kyle C. on some expectations in Boynton’s first year
• Fun story on Boynton sharing the big news with his dad
• Social media reactions to the hire
• Boynton addressed his troops yesterday
• Mike Holder says it took “intestinal fortitude” to make the hire
• Details on the Pokes courting a juco guard
• OSU’s Woz is no stranger to these parts
• Fun stuff from the softball team after sweeping Texas for the first time in school history

Other Stuff I’m Reading

Bradley Beal is killing it this year … I love Steven Adams but getting Beal for Harden would have been incredible….C.S. Lewis’ argument for God from Chronicles of Narnia