Oklahoma State Hoops: Grading Mike Boynton’s First Season

Mike Boynton’s inaugural year at Oklahoma State is in the books, so let’s take a look at how he handled several hurdles both typical and atypical to that of a rookie head coach.

I went by four distinct points of emphasis that I think are crucial to evaluating a head coach and a particular season.

Command of the Clipboard

Boynton’s No. 1 job duty was also the biggest question for the rookie head coach before his tenure started. As he noted himself, Boynton had never called a timeout before OSU’s 2017-18 season opener.

While there were bumps along the way, Boynton showed himself to be more than adequate, even getting the best of a couple of his high-profile counterparts.

As far as scheme goes, the Cowboys showed marked improvement (in certain areas) as the year went on. It’s hard to separate the effectiveness of his gameplanning from some roster limitations (more on that below).

Grade: B+

When the Cowboys were knocking down their shots they mostly looked like world-beaters. Unfortunately, regardless of how much confidence he had in his group (more on that below), his team just wasn’t full of great shooters.

Personnel/Talent Utilization

There’s no nice way to put it. Mike Boynton faced serious roster limitations during his first year at the helm. There are reasons that his fellow Big 12 coaches voted him to finish dead last in the league, and his lack of experience wasn’t the only one.

The Pokes said goodbye to an NBA point guard in Jawun Evans and probably a top 3 shooter in OSU history in Phil Forte. He had Yankuba Sima for only half the year and was already thin when he removed Davon Dillard and Zach Dawson from the program early on.

Grade: B+

Guys like Kendall Smith and Cam McGriff improved as the year went on and a shallow talent pool was pushed right to the edge of its potential. The Cowboys definitely left a couple of games out there on the hardwood with heartbreakers to Arkansas and Texas but I can’t bring myself to drop lower than a B+ with the way Boynton coached up his guys to throttle KU twice.

Recruiting

This one represents the biggest question mark remaining for Boynton moving forward. We’ve seen him be successful in the transfer market bringing in a bonafide starting point guard — those don’t just grow on trees — in Kendall Smith as well as Michael Weathers and Curtis Jones who have yet to don the cursive Cowpoke.

But with the dismissal of Zach Dawson and now the impending departure of Brandon Averette, Boynton has his work cut out for him when it comes to filling his 2018 class. That’s why I don’t know that we can really put a letter grade on this one until signing day — or later.

Grade: Incomplete

I have a feeling that Mike Boynton can win a living room just as easily as he can win a press conference or a packed GIA (even after a loss), so I think he will end up doing alright in this department. Bring me Courtney Ramey’s signature and I’ll update this to an A++.

Handling Adversity

This might seem like a pretty general bullet point for most head coaches but Mike Boynton dealt with enough of it in his first year to fill out a paragraph or two.

The fanbase was dealing with the abrupt and gut-wrenching departure of an up-and-coming head coach in Brad Underwood and said goodbye to an all-conference point guard and one of the best shooters in the program’s history. It was also about to gear up for #GottliebGate2.0, when OSU shocked the fans, the players, the media (and probably Mike Boynton) by promoting the unknown assistant.

Boynton had to try to create his own culture by separating himself from his predecessor and former mentor for the sake of a fanbase while simultaneously providing continuity for his players.

Add in the FBI investigation that spelled the end of his working relationship with lead assistant and top recruiter Lamont Evans, and that’s enough to overwhelm any coach, much less a first timer who hadn’t even run his own practice yet.

It didn’t stop there. Boynton’s all-Big 12 prediction and best returning player, Jeffrey Carroll was held out of the first handful of games as a scandal precaution. He held out Davon Dillard, a would-be X-factor, and 2017 signee Zach Dawson before then dismissing both from the program.

After all of that, he coached his team to wins over Bill Self twice, Bob Huggins, Leonard Hamilton, Chris Beard and Lon Kruger. His Cowboys received a universally recognized snub from the NCAA selection committee and he handled himself graciously through that, as well.

Grade: A

A trip to the NIT, regardless of how long the run, is not something Oklahoma State fans would normally want to give top marks. But Mike Boynton was thrown s few curveballs so we’ll grade him on a curve for Year 1.