Mike Boynton makes his pitch to lead Michigan
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Michigan basketball wasn't supposed to be in turmoil, and while it can't fully be called that just yet, it is experiencing unexpected sudden change.
Just like in 2024 with football, after Jim Harbaugh won a national championship, he ultimately decided to pursue a pro-coaching career, with then-basketball head coach Juwan Howard being fired. Now, with Sherrone Moore having been fired on the football side, Dusty May has departed the program to coach the Dallas Mavericks, a shocking move not just to the populace but to the players themselves.
In the interim, assistant Mike Boynton has been named the interim. The former Oklahoma State head coach didn't have a great record with the Cowboys, but according to The Athletic, he's pitching Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel on removing that interim tag well before a game has even been played.
Interim Michigan coach Mike Boynton is hoping for a title change in the next few days.
When Dusty May left for the Dallas Mavericks on Monday in a move that sent shockwaves across college basketball, Boynton, one of May’s assistants the past two seasons, met immediately with athletic director Warde Manuel and was asked to “hold it down” as Manuel figured out next steps. (…)
As for what the program looks like going forward, Boynton is trying to convince Michigan that a long-term commitment to him is the best setup for sustained success.
“I’m operating as if I’m going to be the coach,” Boynton told The Athletic on Saturday night. “I’m certainly going to try to make sure they understand that (keeping the interim tag) will create a different set of challenges.”
Boynton, 45, was previously the head coach at Oklahoma State for seven seasons, from 2017 to 2024, and was known as the defensive coordinator for a Michigan program that went 37-3 this past season. His pitch to Michigan’s administration: “I’ve done the job. I may not have done the job at Michigan, but I’ve been a successful coach at this level. I’ve sat there with Dusty, and the system is kind of set in place, but the best way to give everybody stability is to just not be worried about how long this is going to be and just go for it.”
It's good to see that Boynton is essentially applying for the job live, and that does give him a bit of an advantage, especially if he can hold the band together with all of the transfers and recruits coming in. Though he does not resemble Sherrone Moore and his then-hidden baggage, it will be curious to see if Manuel will be a little more reticent to have a national championship-winning assistant take over the program, given how that just went both on and off the field with Moore at the helm. Certainly, a coach with a more proven track record could desire the Michigan job, so it would perhaps be to the Wolverines' benefit to see what's in the field, if not this offseason, after Boynton guides the team for the one year.
However, it could also be said that before this past year, the most successful Michigan basketball season of all time came when an interim coach took over, as Steve Fisher took over for Bill Frieder in 1989, resulting in a national championship — the only other banner of that kind that the program has hanging in the rafters.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Mike Boynton makes his pitch to lead Michigan
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