Mike Boynton Introduced As New Head Basketball Coach At Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State’s Mike Boynton addressed the media and fans for the first time as head basketball coach on Monday. Boynton fought back tears when thanking friends and family members and even singled out Brad Underwood, thanking his former boss for the opportunity.

“This is about people and real relationships,” Boynton told an audience that included the Cowboy team. “Trust, respect, hard work. It’s all I know. We succeed together with your help. We support one another, we push each other to our goals, we challenge each other to be better.”

“This is not about Xs and Os, what plays I know. I know people. It’s about building men.”

Here’s three notes from Boynton’s introduction.

Lamont Evans will stay on-staff as associate head coach. Oklahoma State keeps its top recruiter and likely keeps its 2017 recruiting class intact. Boynton will eventually fill out the rest of the staff.

“He could just as easily be standing right here,” Boynton said of Evans. “He’s a brother that I never had, a great friend, a tremendous coach and he will be standing here one day.”

Boynton says hard, tough man-to-man defense will be the core value of his team. The offense will vary based on the players’ strengths.

“We’re going to win big because winning big is an expectation at Oklahoma State University. I told our players this last night. We had a good season. I’m no fan of good, got no interest in it. I want to be playing this weekend. I want to be great.”

The Brooklyn, New York native is a Yankees fan and hopes to catch a game with OSU baseball coach Josh Holliday. Holliday’s brother, Matt, was recently picked up by New York on a one-year, $13 million contract.

“I’m a huge, huge baseball fan and anyone who knows me knows I grew up a huge Yankees fan in Brooklyn. Coach Holliday and I exchanged messages yesterday and hoped that we can go cheer on Matt together.”