Mike Boynton thought that Sunday June 21 would be just another Father’s Day. It started with brunch in Ann Arbor with his wife Jenny and their two children, Ace, who is 13, and Zoe, 10. He took his family to a movie theater to see “Toy Story 5,” and then went home to relax and watch TV, including U.S. Open golf.
Around 8 p.m., Boynton got a phone call from his boss, Dusty May, the head coach at Michigan. He was calling to let Boynton, his top assistant, know that he had interviewed with the Dallas Mavericks for their head coaching position and was closing in on a decision. May asked Boynton whether he would be interested in taking over as head coach, at least on an interim basis. When Boynton said yes, May promised to put in a good word with Warde Manuel, Michigan’s athletic director.
Boynton, 44, was not shocked by what May was telling him. “I wasn’t expecting it, but after working for him for two years, seeing how his mind works, how good he is at all the things in the job, see how frustrating it was to deal with some of the newer things in the job, I thought there was probably a good chance that at some point he would go coach in the NBA,” Boynton told Hoops HQ. “I just didn’t know it was going to be the next morning.”
Life comes at you fast, especially when you’re a college basketball coach. In the weeks since May’s announcement, Boynton’s life has been a dizzying blur of flights, meetings, phone calls and more Zooms than he can count. Most of his time has been spent making sure that Michigan’s current players stick around. That is imperative given that NCAA rules allow players to re-enter the transfer portal for 15 days following a coaching change.
Boynton’s efforts have so far paid off as virtually all of Michigan’s players, and all of the most important ones, have announced their intention to stay. He was further rewarded on Friday when the school announced that it was making him the Wolverines’ permanent head coach. As votes of confidence go, this one was rather tepid. Boynton’s contract is only for two years — way shorter than a typical head coach’s contract, much less one in a power conference — and the second is not guaranteed. Per NCAA rules, the 15-day window for Michigan’s players to enter the portal opens five days after the new coach is hired. That means they have until July 29 to do so. Boynton’s job title is nice, but the reality is the same: He has a chance this season to prove that he is up for the job. If he doesn’t, Michigan could be looking for yet another basketball coach next spring.
Boynton is neither intimidated nor naive about the challenge ahead. “This is a hard business,” he said. “I know guys who’ve done this twice as long as I have and they’ve never had one, let alone two opportunities at power five jobs. So I feel incredibly appreciative and I’m thankful to Warde. The guy wants what’s best for Michigan, so for him to believe that I can keep this going, that means a lot.”
Boynton learned the hard way just how hard the business can be. Two years ago, he was fired from Oklahoma State after taking the team to just one NCAA Tournament in seven seasons. He had assumed the helm there under similar circumstances, after Brad Underwood left for Illinois after only one season in Stillwater. “I had never been a head coach before, and now I was coaching in the Big 12,” Boynton said. “I was trying to learn how to coach at a high level against multiple Hall of Famers. It was a little bit daunting.”
Michigan Makes it Official: Boynton Inks 2-Year Deal
Boynton, a veteran assistant and former Oklahoma State head coach, is respected for his recruiting and player development
Boynton encountered significant setbacks, most notably when the Cowboys were banned from the 2022 postseason for NCAA violations committed by former assistant coach Lamont Evans. When the team finished with a 12-20 record in 2023-24, speculation was rampant that a change was in the offing. Still, when OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg made it official, Boynton was devastated. “You feel like a failure,” he said. “You feel like you’ve let so many people down.”
Two weeks later, he got a call from May, who had just been hired by Michigan two years after taking FAU to the Final Four. May did not know Boynton well, but he knew he wanted a former head coach on his staff. May did his due diligence and believed Boynton had the type of personalitly that would fit into the culture May wanted to build in Ann Arbor. “He was an old soul, but he was also very young and energetic,” May said.
Over the last two seasons, Boynton’s primary responsibility was the defense, but like everyone on May’s staff he had a hand in all aspects of the program. He played an integral role in recruting, and last season he developed an especially close bond with Michigan’s best player, senior forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who had transferred from UAB. After Michigan won the NCAA championship with a 69-63 win over UConn, Boynton worked closely with May on retaining and rebuilding the roster, which included a consensus top-five recruiting class and three prized transfers. As a result, the Wolverines were No. 3 in Hoops HQ’s most recent Never-Too-Early Top-25 ranking.
The Father’s Day surprise set off a whirlwind few weeks for Boynton. During a meeting in the Manuel’s office the next morning, the AD informed Boynton he was being designated the interim head coach. Boynton then met with the entire team and held individual meetings with a few of the team’s core players. “We realized that there was a good chance we could lose several of them immediately,” he said. “It was hard to think about the long term. Like, should I even try to keep this job if this thing is going to bottom out in July? My focus from the start was that if I can keep this team together, I give myself a fighting chance.”
The day after May’s announcement, Boynton flew to New York for the NBA Draft, where three members of the Wolverines’ NCAA championship squad were selected in the lottery. Boynton had planned all along to be there — “I thought I was going to New York to have a good time,” he said — and it proved to be a highly productive trip since many of the players’ agents were also in town.
The good news started rolling in on June 22, when sophomore wing Trey McKenney announced he intended to stay. That had special meaning because McKenney hails from Flint, Michigan,. “It was a big domino, because he means a lot to our program,” Boynton said. Several other dominos were soon to follow, an encouraging sign that the players feel loyalty towards their new head coach.
Last week, Boynton headed to Slovenia for a quick 36-hour trip to watch senior point guard Elliot Cadeau play for the Swedish national team at the FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket Qualifiers. (Cadeau’s mother is from Sweden.) “I felt comfortable that he’s coming back, but there’s an element of building trust,” Boynton said. “I obviously have a relationship with him, but now I’m a head coach, so it’s different. I wanted him to know that I’ve got confidence in him and I’m going to support him, not just when he’s dropping 10 assists for us but in his own personal endeavors as well.”
That type of dedication speaks to why May believes Boynton is the right man for the job. “He has a maturity and composure where he’s not going to react based on emotion in the moment. He’s very calculated and thinks things through,” May said. “His work ethic and work capacities are as good as I’ve been around. He loves every part of it. He’s in there in the mornings. He’s going to Pistons games at night. The game is very important to him, and he puts a lot into it.”
Boynton recognizes that it’s still possible that one or more players could enter the transfer portal later this month. So he’s not about to slow his roll. “Anything can happen,” he conceded. “My job over the last three weeks and the next month is to try to create an environment that our guys want to be a part of. That way, when the headwinds come you can sustain yourself.”
Boynton can enter this season of uncertainty knowing he is financially stable, thanks to the $9.1 million buyout Oklahoma State is still paying him. The uncertainty around him is likely to grow in the coming days. According to multiple reports, the school is going to release a report later this week detailing the culture in the athletic department that led to the firing of football coach Sherrone Moore last December. That report could well cost Manuel his job.
Boynton can enter this season of uncertainty knowing he is financially stable, thanks to the $9.1 million buyout Oklahoma State is still paying him. In the meantime, he is staying on his grind. He was in Las Vegas last week evaluating recruits at a Nike EYBL event. He’ll hit the road again later this week for AAU tournaments in South Carolina. In late August, he’ll take his team on an exhibition tour in Lithuania and Croatia.
Asked what he would have said if someone had told him on the day he was fired by Oklahoma State that he would be the head coach at Michigan in two years, Boynton laughed and replied, “I would have said that’s some BS to kick a man while he’s down.” It is indeed a remarkable turn of events, especially in such a hard business. Whatever happens this season and beyond, Boynton is grateful for the second chance. “I’ve got a great opportunity at a great program,” he said. “I’ve got a chance to show that I’m better prepared to lead a program at this level, and that I have the ability to maintain the level of success we’ve had these last two years. We have a program with some momentum, and I think this roster will give us a chance to maintain it. This is a big-time job, man. I understand everything that comes with it.”
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