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AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 1h ago
Mike Boynton Jr. unfazed by expectations, pressure to deliver at Michigan
Ann Arbor — Mike Boynton Jr. doesn’t have an issue with having to prove himself.
As Michigan’s new men’s basketball head coach, that’s exactly what he’s going to have to do this upcoming season on what’s essentially a prove-it contract where only the first year is guaranteed.
And if that adds any pressure to deliver as Dusty May’s successor coming off a season where the Wolverines won the national title , Boynton doesn’t seem fazed by it at all.
“I don't make anything of it,” Boynton said of the way his two-year deal is structured on Tuesday at Crisler Center. “I signed a contract that I read over. I felt comfortable with it. What I'm focused on is this team and the opportunity we have to try to build another championship type of season.”
The reality is if Boynton wants a chance to lead this program beyond this season, there can’t be a massive step back. There are several team performance benchmarks to ensure that, though expecting to duplicate last season’s level of success — one where Michigan set a program record with 37 wins and a Big Ten record with 19 conference wins — is unrealistic.
To get the second year of his contract, the Wolverines must either reach the Final Four or hit two of the following four goals: win at least 24 regular-season games, finish in the top four in the Big Ten, win the conference tournament or make a Sweet 16 appearance. All of that is fine with him.
“This job should have high expectations,” Boynton said. “It's the University of Michigan. We play in the Big Ten. We're coming off one of the greatest years in college basketball history, not even just our program. There should be no expectation that those desires and those goals change.”
That said, Boynton, 44, is confident he can meet those marks. For starters, he feels he’s a better coach than he was during his first go-around as a head coach at Oklahoma State from 2017-24.
During his tenure there, the Cowboys went 119-109, finished above .500 in Big 12 play once and made one NCAA Tournament in 2021. However, he had to deal with NCAA penalties levied against Oklahoma State, including a postseason ban in 2022, from violations that occurred before he became head coach. Still, that experience provided plenty of lessons.
“It's one of the things I take the most pride in is learning from every situation that I'm in, and I learned during those seven years,” Boynton said. “I evolved during that time. When I first started in March of 2017, I had an idea of what I wanted things to look like and how I wanted things to be, but there wasn't a whole lot of conviction because I hadn't done it before. As you go through those situations and you learn and you stub your toe a little bit and you have some success, you learn from it all.”
He also feels better prepared and equipped for the job after serving as the top assistant on May’s Michigan staff the last two seasons.
“In the last two years working alongside Dusty and seeing things from a different perspective, I feel like I've been able to evolve in terms of learning how to delegate, learning how to manage the staff, learning how to be more convicted in the things that I believe in,” Boynton said.
“As I move forward, I’ll try to surround myself with people who can help me be aware of those blind spots that I have, enhance things and be really good in areas that they're great at.”
Boynton isn’t naïve to think he knows everything and that he has no weaknesses. He acknowledges Oklahoma State’s offense wasn’t “a thing of beauty” during his time in Stillwater. The Cowboys never ranked higher than 60th in the nation in KenPom’s offensive efficiency in his tenure, but ranked in the top 20 in defensive efficiency three times.
Given his defensive background, he oversaw Michigan’s defense the past two seasons and helped fill in the gaps in an area where others on staff might not have been as strong in. He wants to take a similar approach with his staff that he’s building, assembling a collection where there aren’t many collective holes.
“I want to hire guys who can continue to look forward in that regard and be creative, evolve as our team evolves and changes, be able to make adjustments that are necessary throughout the season,” Boynton said, “while I still focus you know the majority of my attention on our defensive schemes and adjustments.”
Much of Boynton’s immediate attention after May left last month for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks was keeping the roster together, which he did. All but one of the 14 players opted to stay and play for Boynton this season, with junior guard L.J. Cason being the lone transfer portal departure after the coaching change.
Retaining returning guards Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney — who will form “one of the top three to five backcourts in the country,” Boynton said — as well as proven frontcourt players Moustapha Thiam and J.P. Estrella buoyed Boynton’s belief that the Wolverines have the pieces to compete at the national level.
“We still have a lot of talent, and we have a coaching staff that's experienced and capable of putting (together) good game plans and making guys get better over the course of the season,” Boynton said. “That gives me confidence that between now and December, we’ll be a lot better, and then from December to March, we'll continue to improve.”
Boynton noted there was already a plan in place with how the team was built to play offensively and defensively before May departed. That plan won’t change.
The only difference is Boynton will be the one in charge of implementing it as he plans to keep the machine rolling.
“This is a tremendously well-respected program with a great amount of momentum right now,” he said. “I'm looking forward to the challenge. … Everybody has challenges in life, and I have the best kind of challenges you could ask for.”
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