Moving on
Yes, the Oklahoma State basketball program is part of an FBI investigation. But the Cowboys are moving on, getting ready for their first season under coach Mike Boynton.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Mike Boynton learned to fend off adversity early in life.
“I was 5-years old when I expected a little boy to come home and be my little brother,” Boynton said Tuesday at Big 12 Basketball Media Day inside the Sprint Center.
“And he never came home. He died the next day and never left the hospital.”
Boynton reflected on that childhood tragedy when asked for the source of his resolve amid all the challenges he’s faced since last March.
His status as a long shot replacement to replace Brad Underwood. The doubts and questions in the aftermath of his stealth hiring as a firsttime coach at age 35.
And most recently, and most prominently, the cloud attached to his program with the arrest of former assistant Lamont Evans and the ongoing FBI investigation attached to Evans and Oklahoma State.
“I only go back to that because that’s a long-ago memory of something I can say happened for sure,” Boynton said. “I still had to live as a 5-year old. I was disappointed that it happened. But my life wasn’t over. Maybe that’s where it started, I don’t know. But I’ve always been able to do that.
“I’ve always been able to stay focused on, ‘Here’s the task. I know all these things are going on around it, but here’s the task. Let’s try to accomplish this the best I can.’”
So it is for Boynton, tasked with getting the Cowboys ready for a fast-approaching season opener against Pepperdine that arrives two weeks from Friday.
There’s nothing new regarding Evans, nor any fallout that could damage OSU. The FBI investigation continues.
“We wait, like everybody else,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Tuesday.
Cowboys fans wait, too, fearing the next setback, following so many years of yearning to become Big 12 and nationally relevant again.
At least the Cowboys are talking about moving ahead, if not on the investigation itself, while under orders by the FBI to refrain, for risk of interference. OSU isn’t even allowed to talk to star player Jeffrey Carroll about any potential role he may play in Evans’ actions; again forbidden by the FBI.
Still, Boynton seems comfortable and confident, revealing no anxiety associated with the possibility of worse news to come. And the school seems comfortable and confident in Carroll’s eligibility, allowing him to attend Media Day, where he focused forward, just like his coach.
“With everything going on, we still have a season to play,” Carroll said. “We have to push it to the back of our heads and try to honestly move past it.
“It starts with Coach Boynton, because he’s the captain of this whole thing. We have his back 100 percent and we want to support him. And we know he have his support 100 percent of the way. That definitely helps.”
Boynton would welcome questions about his team, even the difficult issue of replacing Jawun Evans, Phil Forte and Leyton Hammonds in a rugged Big 12. Or maybe the injury concerns of Davon Dillard and Tavarius Shine.
Instead, the questions are much harder, not that it shows with Boynton.
“You can focus on the people who don’t believe, or you can focus on the people who believe,” he said. “I choose to focus on the people who believe. And the first group of people who believe are in my locker room. That’s kind of where I start.”