Oklahoma State Fires Mike Boynton after Seven Seasons

Oklahoma State has parted ways with men’s basketball coach Mike Boynton.

Boynton went 119-109 in seven seasons as the Cowboys’ coach — including a disappointing 12-20 record this season that saw the Cowboys earn the 13 seed (of 14 teams) at the Big 12 Tournament. OSU made one NCAA Tournament appearance under Boynton.

“For seven years, Coach Boynton has led this program and represented this university with class,” OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg said in a statement. “We’re grateful for the genuine passion and care he has for the student-athletes on our team. Unfortunately, the desired results have not followed. Therefore, it is time to part ways and begin a new chapter. We wish Coach Boynton and his family the very best.”

Boynton was hired ahead of the 2017-18 season — following Brad Underwood’s sudden move to Illinois.

Before Boynton had coached a game for the Cowboys, OSU was caught up in the FBI’s probe into college basketball via assistant coach Lamont Evans. That ordeal put a cloud over the program that the Cowboys are just now getting out of. The Cowboys received an NCAA Tournament ban and scholarship reductions. Those scholarship reductions just ended this past season.

Boynton went 21-15 in his first year at the helm, sweeping Kansas in the regular season. However, the Pokes were left out of the NCAA Tournament field and instead made the NIT.

The Cowboys took a step back in Boynton’s second year, as three players were dismissed from the program and Boynton held walk-on tryouts in the middle of the year just to field a team. OSU finished that season 12-20.

The Cowboys’ sole Tournament appearance under Boynton came in his fourth year. Cade Cunningham led the Cowboys to a 21-9 record that season, where the Pokes won one game in the NCAA Tournament. Cunningham would go on to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.

Since Cunningham’s departure, the Cowboys have gone 47-51 in three seasons with an NIT appearance in the 2022-23 season after the Pokes were the first team out of the NCAA Tournament field. The Cowboys were also barred from the Tournament the year after Cunningham left as part of the aforementioned sanctions.

Just last week, Boynton said he didn’t have any reason to believe he wouldn’t be back as the Cowboys’ coach.

According to a story The Oklahoman wrote earlier this year, OSU is on the hook for about $8 million for dismissing Boynton ahead of April 1. Past April 1, OSU would have owed him $6.67 million.