Oklahoma State basketball elevates assistant Mike Boynton to head coach

Oklahoma State basketball has found its next head coach, and it’s in the form of an assistant who was on-staff with former Cowboys head coach Brad Underwood. On Friday afternoon, the school announced that Mike Boynton is the Cowboys’ new head coach.

The former assistant was hired last April, following three seasons with Stephen A. Austin. Last season, the Lumberjacks upset No. 3 West Virginia in the NCAA tournament. Prior to his time there, he had stints with South Carolina (his alma mater), Wofford, and Coastal Carolina. He was an associate head coach at Wofford, but Oklahoma State marks his first as full head coach.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reported that the school would be interviewing OSU alumnus Doug Gottlieb, who was hired by Fox Sports with an official announcement earlier this week, for the vacant position. Goodman added that athletic director Mike Holder was “intrigued by the idea of Gottlieb and his potential.” Instead, Oklahoma State decided to hire from the inside, in promoting Boynton.

Underwood, who worked with Boynton at Stephen F. Austin, left Stillwater for the open Illinois job earlier this week after just one season as the Cowboys’ head coach. He finished second in the Big 12 Coach of the Year voting this season, with the Cowboys finishing the year with a 20-13 record, and a 92-90 loss to Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament.