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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAY

October 24, 2017

Mike Boynton

Kansas City, Missouri

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton. Welcome to the Big 12. Your thoughts about the season?

MIKE BOYNTON: Peter, thank you very much. I'm excited about being here, obviously my first time as a head coach. Been in this profession for 13 years in different capacities so a kid like myself growing up in Brooklyn, New York, having dreams of hopefully one day having an opportunity to run my own program and be a leader and to be able to do it at a place like Oklahoma State with so much great tradition from a basketball sense, where so many great coaches have graced the sidelines all the way back to Coach Iba, who changed the way people coach the game of basketball all the way through Coach Sutton and his unbelievable success, two Final Fours, a number of other great runs in the NCAA Tournament, all the great players who played in our program. I feel blessed and lucky to have the opportunity to be there. Got a great administrator, system support. I feel good about our team, I like our guys and I'm looking to the challenge of this great league and I'm sure there will be plenty of questions that as the season comes along about my experience or lack thereof from a head coaching standpoint. I'm looking forward to getting after it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach?

Q. When the FBI news came down, what was your initial reaction? Obviously it involved Oklahoma State. As a first-year head coach what was that experience like?
MIKE BOYNTON: Jeff, I appreciate the question. I know that everybody wants answers to some of those things. Really can't answer much with regard to the investigation. I will tell you just like everybody else in the country, probably in the world, when that head line comes across your phone because I was on the plane that morning, I was shocked! That's really the only thing I can say about my initial feelings and thoughts about it.

Q. I know obviously with Jawun gone, Leyton gone, there is a void with leadership on this team. Who are you seeing step up in that role?
MIKE BOYNTON: Thank you very much. Every team takes on a different personality and obviously you like to have as many guys returning with experience as possible. Certainly going into my first year as a head coach if I've got Jawun Evans to practice with this afternoon I feel better than not having him, but Mitchell Solomon and Jeffrey Carroll who are both here today have been good in terms of leadership and continue to preach the message that it's always about our program and our team and trying to get better than we were the day before and that they know the challenges in this league are great and that they look forward to trying to continue to elevate and build off the momentum that we had toward the end of last season.

Q. Mike, when the preseason poll came out last week you guys had a strong response, posted a video of Jeffrey Carroll crumpling up the poll. How much a sleight is that to you and the players?
MIKE BOYNTON: It's not a sleight, to be perfectly honest. Preseason polls really don't mean a whole lot. I've never been into that. I haven't read a single preseason college basketball magazine, probably haven't done so since I've been a coach. I did it when I played because it was something that you enjoyed reading about, maybe hopefully somebody will mention your name, but it's not something I make a lot about, I look forward to going to practice every day and trying to make our guys better and going through the process of continuing to implement our system and elevate our program from where it is to where it can hopefully be again, a nationally relevant program.

Q. Have you had to insulate your team from all the stuff that's gone outside of that in the negative news? Has that been difficult to make that happen?
MIKE BOYNTON: I don't feel like I've had to do anything different, to be perfectly honest, with our team. Kids are pretty resilient and really for the most part all they want to do is play basketball and go to school. Because of that, being able to get to practice pretty quickly after this all happened was something that was really beneficial to us because we got back to being able to focus on the things that we were trying to focus on before this every happened which was trying to be the best Oklahoma State basketball team that we could be this year and given Mitchell Solomon and Jeffrey Carroll, Tavarius Shine and Kendall Smith, our seniors, the best opportunity to end their college careers on a positive note. That's the only thing that we have been focused on.

Q. With the losses that you've had, are we going to see Oklahoma State play a different style of basketball this year? Have you had to reshape the approach from previous teams?
MIKE BOYNTON: Yeah, I mean, I think every year you adjust because your roster changes. In college basketball you never have the same team coming back as you had the year before and certainly when you lose an NBA caliber point guard and don't replace him with necessarily a guy who is going to get drafted. You have to adjust how you play.

Again, for me, it's all about trying to get Oklahoma State back to making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, trying to make the Oklahoma State fans proud of the product that they see on the floor and we do that at Oklahoma State by being a really, really good defensive team. It's been something we have really focused on since I took over late March and it's something we try to building on every single day, so defense is something we try to focus on.

Q. Talk about the fans. It wasn't that long ago when Gallagher-Iba Arena was the toughest place to play in the Big 12 in terms of rowdiness and whatnot, but the malaise that has set in with the fan base. How do you reach out to them and get them to comeback to see what you guys are all about?
MIKE BOYNTON: We had an opportunity to taste that a little bit last year. I'm not sure it was the toughest arena to play in in the league last season. We went up to Ames late in the year and that was a pretty tough environment to play in. But all the places in our league, there are no easy wins on the road. I think our fans need to see that there is a commitment to playing the game the right way. To having guys that are committed to playing for each other, to having guys that are committed to playing for each other and unselfishly and having guys committed to representing Oklahoma State in the best way possible in terms of trying to have success and ultimately the wins do matter. So as you try to continue to win games you will have more people interested in coming to watch you.

Q. Coach, you have a little experience in the conference but have you talked to the other coaches in the league to find out what it's like to be a head coach in the Big 12?
MIKE BOYNTON: Not specifically, but we've met all, a couple times since I took the job, and they've all been very helpful in terms of just offering support. But they're competitors, right? So it's not like they're going to give me secrets on how to beat 'em! Those guys are all going to try to teach me lessons as a rookie head coach and I think we will be up to the task from a competitive standpoint.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for coming and good luck this season.

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