Oklahoma State men’s basketball is searching for a new head coach, and the past could give a glimpse into the team’s approach.
Athletic director Chad Weiberg made Mike Boynton’s firing official in a statement Thursday morning. Despite Boynton’s previous expectations to keep the job, his time in Stillwater ended after seven seasons.
Boynton helped OSU to a 119-109 record while making one NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021. As the program looks to find the right coach for the future, let’s look at past coaching searches and where the Cowboys landed.
2017 - Mike Boynton
The Cowboys promoted Boynton from assistant to head coach to complete an unexpected coaching search in the 2017 offseason. After only one season in Stillwater, head coach Brad Underwood left to serve the same role at Illinois.
Boynton spent three seasons as an assistant at Stephen F Austin with Underwood before they left for OSU. Although Boynton had not spent long at OSU, the team did not have to look far to find Underwood’s replacement.
2016 - Brad Underwood
After eight seasons with Travis Ford at the helm, OSU looked in a different direction in 2016. To find the next coach, OSU had its eyes on a mid-major.
Underwood spent three seasons as head coach of Stephen F Austin and was ready to make a leap after his third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Fresh off a first-round upset of 3-seed West Virginia, Underwood’s team had the attention of college basketball.
The Cowboys hired Underwood a day after the Lumberjacks lost in the second round. Underwood would leave the Cowboys in a similar fashion one year later after posting a 20-13 record.
2008 - Travis Ford
Ford is the longest-tenured coach the Cowboys have had after Eddie Sutton’s retirement in 2006 and also the most successful. Before the Cowboys hired him, Ford had eight seasons of head coaching experience, including one NCAA Tournament appearance at the mid-major level.
Before OSU, Ford spent three seasons at Massachusetts, leading the team to one regular season A-10 title and 49 combined wins in his last two seasons. His lone NCAA Tournament appearance came in his final of five seasons at Eastern Kentucky in 2005.
Ford finished his time at OSU with five NCAA Tournament appearances and a 155-111 record.
Although OSU has previously hired from within the program, that seems unlikely after a rough end to the Boynton era. With other hires coming from the mid-major level, expect OSU to go after an up-and-coming coach with the potential to move the program in the right direction.
There is no easy fix for Cowboy basketball, but the program is making the first big move of what could be a long offseason.
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