Oklahoma State has fired coach Mike Boynton just two days after the team's season-ending loss to UCF in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, the university announced. Boynton was 119-109 in seven seasons and finished the 2023-24 season with a 12-20 record that included 15 losses in OSU's final 19 games.
"For seven years, Coach Boynton has led this program and represented this university with class. We're grateful for the genuine passion and care he has for the student-athletes on our team," athletic director Chad Weiberg said in a statement. "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 elevated to the head job in 2017 after Brad Underwood abruptly and shockingly took the same job at Illinois. Boynton found sporadic success, which included three 20-win seasons, but the team bottomed out during the 2018-19 and 2023-24 seasons with matching 12-20 records. OSU made the NCAA Tournament just once -- in 2021 with former No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham as the focal point.
Cunningham was the crown jewel of one of three top-25 recruiting classes under Boynton, and his arrival marked one of the high points for the Cowboys. The team climbed to as high as No. 11 in the AP Top 25 in 2020-21 before earning a No. 4 seed to the Big Dance but failed to reach the second weekend of the tournament.
Oklahoma State struggled to capitalize on that success after Cunningham left, finishing 15-15 the next season before bouncing back to a 20-16 record in 2022-23, which ended just shy of an NCAA Tournament berth. The team lost multiple starters from last season's roster and various injuries in 2023-24 spurred its late-season tailspin.
Under longtime coach Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State was a perennial contender in the Big 12, but the program has largely been wandering in the wilderness since his resignation in 2006. The next hire will mark the program's fifth head coach since 2007, joining Sean Sutton, Travis Ford, Brad Underwood and now Boynton.
