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Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton has been fired after seven seasons, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
The Cowboys’ season ended Tuesday night with a 77-62 loss to UCF in the Big 12 tournament. They lost their final six games of the season to finish 12-20 overall and 4-14 in conference play.
Boynton was promoted to the top spot after spending one season in Stillwater as an assistant coach under Brad Underwood, who left in 2017 for Illinois. In his seven seasons, Boynton guided Oklahoma State to one NCAA tournament appearance in 2021. Led by No. 1 recruit and eventual No. 1 NBA draft pick Cade Cunningham, the Cowboys went 21-9 and earned a 4-seed in the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the second round to Oregon State.
That was the lone season Oklahoma State finished .500 or better in the Big 12 under Boynton. The Cowboys won 20 games in 2022-23 but were 8-10 in conference play.
Oklahoma State was initially banned from the 2020 NCAA tournament due to its connection to the 2017 FBI investigation into college basketball — for violations that occurred before Boynton took over the program — but the school appealed and was ultimately banned from the 2022 NCAA tournament. At the time, the school called the decision “unprecedented in the history of the NCAA.”
Prior to arriving in Stillwater, Boynton was an assistant coach for three years under Underwood at Stephen F. Austin while also spending time as an assistant at South Carolina, Wofford and Coastal Carolina.