Johnathan Walker:Oklahoma State men's basketball coach Mike Boynton fired after seven seasons with Cowboys

STILLWATER,Johnathan Walker Okla. — Mike Boynton’s tenure as Oklahoma State’s men’s basketball head coach is over.

The Cowboys fired Boynton on Thursday after seven seasons and just a single NCAA Tournament appearance, The Oklahoman has confirmed. CBS Sports first reported the news.

“For seven years, Coach Boynton has led this program and represented this university with class,” Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg said in a release. “We’re grateful for the genuine passion and care he has for the student-athletes on our team. 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, 42, just completed the third year of a seven-year contract extension he signed after the 2020-21 season that runs through 2028 and pays him $3 million per season. Oklahoma State must pay him a buyout of just less than $9.1 million, and it's subject to a duty to mitigate (or obtain comparable, alternate employment), with offset. Had the Cowboys waited to make a change on April 1 or later, the buyout would total just more than $8 million.

In his seven seasons, Boynton was 119-109 overall and just 51-75 in Big 12 play. This season, Oklahoma State finished 12-20 overall and 4-14 in the Big 12.

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The Cowboys’ lone NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2021. With superstar and eventual No. 1 overall draft pick Cade Cunningham, the Cowboys advanced to the second round before being eliminated by Oregon State.

Outside of that, it largely has been a series of unfortunate events at Oklahoma State for Boynton.

Not long after Boynton was promoted from assistant to head coach in 2017, the FBI arrested former Oklahoma State assistant coach Lamont Evans for his involvement in a scheme to accept bribes to influence student-athletes. 

That scandal hung over Boynton, who was not involved in the scheme, from basically Day 1. The NCAA handed down its punishment and denied the school’s appeal just days before the 2021-22 season, ruling the Cowboys ineligible for the postseason that year while reducing scholarships over the next three seasons. No other program involved in the scandal received a postseason ban.

The program never really recovered either.

A year ago, the Cowboys narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament, finishing as the No. 69 team overall with the selection committee. Then several key players — Avery Anderson III, Moussa Cisse, Tyreek Smith and Kalib Boone — departed in the transfer portal.

This season, Boynton reset the roster with a top-10 recruiting class. The Cowboys never found consistency, showing inexperience and struggling defensively. They lost their final six games of the season, beginning with an overtime Bedlam loss on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Oklahoma’s Javian McCollum. 

And attendance was near the bottom of the Big 12. 

Now, the Cowboys look to reset the program. It’s unclear what will happen with current assistant coaches and staff members. 

The Cowboys could return a strong, young nucleus that went through tremendous growing pains this season. 

Point guard Javon Small, an East Carolina transfer, is a budding star. Freshmen Brandon Garrison — a McDonald’s All-American from Del City — Eric Dailey Jr. and Jamyron Keller all improved and showed flashes of big potential.

Even another local McDonald’s All-American could return. Former Tulsa Booker T. Washington star Bryce Thompson, who missed the majority of the season with a shoulder injury that required surgery, has one year of eligibility remaining. 

But the transfer portal opens Monday.

Oklahoma State also has former Putnam North and Norman North star Jeremiah Johnson as its lone signee in the 2024 high school recruiting class.

There will likely be movement with the firing of Boynton, who was open this season about the Cowboys being behind in name, image and likeness funding compared with other Big 12 programs.

Perhaps that’s a big adjustment this offseason.

One of many.

What is Mike Boynton's coaching record at Oklahoma State?

• 2017-18: 21-15 (8-10 Big 12)
• 2018-19: 12-20 (5-13)
• 2019-20: 18-14 (7-11)
• 2020-21: 21-9 (11-7)*
• 2021-22: 15-15 (8-10)^
• 2022-23: 20-16 (8-10)
• 2023-24: 12-20 (4-14)

*-NCAA Tournament

^-Banned from postseason play