Mike Boynton Jr., Michigan Agree to Contract as HC After Dusty May Takes Mavs Job

Mike Boynton Jr. is choosing to follow in some massive footsteps.

The University of Michigan announced Friday that Boynton has agreed to a two-year contract to succeed Dusty May as head coach of the Michigan men's basketball team.

Boynton had been an assistant at Michigan since 2024, and he previously served as the head coach at Oklahoma State from 2017 to 2024, going 119-109 with one NCAA tournament appearance.

Regardless of who the school picked, the bar couldn't be set any higher.

May needed just two seasons to take Michigan from an 8-24 finish to the top of the sport, as the Wolverines won the national championship last season. The next coach would inevitably be expected to continue building on that success.

The timing of May's exit to become head coach of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks also puts Boynton at a bit of a disadvantage.

The Wolverines assembled the No. 4 recruiting class in 247Sports' composite rankings. Five-star guard Brandon McCoy Jr. is the crown jewel among the prep talent, while center Moustapha Thiam and forwards Jalen Reed and J.P. Estrella arrived through the transfer portal.

A lot of talent went out the door with Michigan's top three scorers (Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara) moving on to the NBA. The cupboard isn't totally bare as Elliot Cadeau headlines the returnees.

In terms of the roster, the pieces are there for the Wolverines to make another deep NCAA tournament run. Still, any coach prefers to have a say over building his squad, and there wasn't much chance for May's replacement to do that.

"At this point in the offseason, the incoming new coach needs to try and retain the entire roster," ESPN's Jeff Borzello wrote on June 2. "There simply aren't enough players left on the market — whether via the portal, the international route or 2027 recruits to reclassify — to replace multiple players of note."

Michigan fans know all too well that success can be fleeting.

Advancing to the Elite Eight in Juwan Howard's second year at the helm wasn't a sign of things to come. The football team was outside the College Football Playoff picture in the two seasons after Jim Harbaugh bolted for the NFL.

As quickly as May built the basketball program up, it can fall apart just as easily.

The consistency Michigan enjoyed under John Beilein is an encouraging sign for the future, though, and the administration showed with May it can identify the right man for the job.

Boynton probably won't deliver a title by Year 2 but should have the infrastructure in place to basically maintain what he inherited.