Mike Boynton, former South Carolina player/assistant, is Oklahoma State’s new head coach

After former South Carolina assistant and Frank Martin employee Brad Underwood left Oklahoma State for the Illinois gig after just a year in Stillwater, the Cowboys hired a first-time head coach. But not that one. The new man in charge of the basketball program at OSU is none other than former Gamecocks sharpshooter Mike Boynton.

Boynton played for the Gamecocks from 2001-2004 and departed as the program’s leader in games played (long since broken), along with a place in the top ten in starts, minutes and threes made. He then entered the coaching ranks, first as a manager at Furman, as an assistant at Coastal Carolina (2005-2007), and as associate head coach at Wofford (2007-08), before returning to Columbia to coach under Darrin Horn beginning in 2008. After being retained by Frank Martin in 2012-2013, he was hired by Underwood as part of the latter’s initial staff at Stephen F. Austin and would then follow him to Oklahoma State.

While former Cowboy Doug Gottlieb (who played under the legendary Eddie Sutton) was one of the names being considered for the job, the OSU administration decided to bump up the person that has been sitting in the chair beside Underwood for the past few seasons. Time will tell what Boynton can do, but our congratulations go out to a former Gamecock on his new gig.