The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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AUGUST 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 25 to do it. It's not a pressing desire. It's not a dying urge. It's got to be the right situ- ation, and this is going to be a hard place to leave, understanding what we have and the opportunities we have." Now, Boynton is a head coach with- out having to leave Ann Arbor, which is hours away from where his wife, Jenny, grew up in Holland. "We have built a championship culture and a standard that everyone associated with this program takes great pride in," Boynton said in a press release announc- ing his appointment as head coach. "We have an outstanding group of players, and I'm excited to get to work and con- tinue the success we've established to- gether." Boynton's strengths reside on the de- fensive end of the floor and in recruiting, among other areas. He was the primary recruiter for plenty of Michigan's players and famously landed No. 1 prospect Cade Cunningham in 2019. Cunningham, now with the Detroit Pistons, is an All-NBA guard. At Oklahoma State, Boynton had three top-25 classes, landed five top-100 recruits out of high school and added talent through the NCAA transfer por- tal. Michigan finished 12th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency in 2024-25, before leading the nation in the metric last year, per KenPom. The Cowboys ranked 17th, fourth and 12th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency during a three-year stretch from 2021-23. MICHIGAN PLAYERS ARE BACKING BOYNTON One by one, Michigan players an- nounced they would stay at Michigan following May's departure. There are many factors that go into decisions like those, but one of them is the trust they have in Boynton. Whether it's returning players like sophomore guard Trey McK- enney, who's extremely close with Boyn- ton, or transfers who just got to campus, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native has connected with all of them. "I love Mike," senior forward Harrison Hochberg said on the "Go Blue Hoops" podcast. "Him and I are very close. We're both New Yorkers. We're both huge Yan- kees fans. So, we bonded on that pretty quickly. And he's just such a good dude. He's a very personable guy. All of those reasons go into why he will succeed." There's a reason why McKenney made it known that he wanted to play for Boynton once May left. "Trey told [athletics director] Warde [Manuel] — in no uncertain terms — I need, I want Mike Boynton," Trey's fa- ther, John McKenney, said on the "Go Blue Hoops" podcast. "What a lot of people don't realize on the outside is Boynton was a lot of these guys' main recruiter." Michigan has its roster intact and an identity formed through a foundation that was built the last two seasons under May. Those expecting Michigan to look drastically different next season are mis- taken, it appears. May carried a collab- orative approach with his staff, leading to continuity even in the next iteration of Wolverine basketball. "I believe that Dusty May is the best basketball coach on the planet, and I think when he wins an NBA champion- ship in the next three to five years, he's going to solidify that. But the real power in our team was Dusty being able to rely on our other guys," Hochberg said. "Mike Boynton was our defensive guru. I re- ally remember Dusty stepping onto the defensive side of practice maybe once or twice in two years. All credit to Dusty for that, for finding guys that he could trust and just being able to trust them in general. "Our defense is going to be the exact same. Our offense is going to be as close as it was the last two years, as far as the schemes and the concepts we run. It would be kind of weird to just start run- ning a completely different offense when we had a top-five offense in the country last year." Boynton has said the same, that Mich- igan will keep its core tenets on each side of the floor. "A lot of the offense has already kind of been set and recruited to play a cer- tain way already," Boynton said in an in- terview with The Athletic. "The roster was built to play his style, and I think there will be tweaks depending on what we learn from the guys who are new and what they can do, but we've got some pretty well-established pieces with [se- nior guard] Elliot [Cadeau] and Trey, and, for all intents and purposes, Elliot will be the offensive coordinator." ❏ MIKE BOYNTON JR.'S CONTRACT HAS A TWIST Mike Boynton Jr. was promoted to per- manent head coach on July 10, and days later, the structure of his contract was re- vealed. The 44-year-old inked a two-year deal that will net him $3.6 million in 2026- 27 and $4 million in 2027-28. The twist, however, is that Michigan has to hit two of the following four bench- marks for Boynton to receive the second year of his contract: • Win 24 regular-season games • Finish top four (including ties) in the Big Ten regular-season standings • Win the Big Ten Tournament • Reach the NCAA Sweet 16 If the Wolverines make the Final Four, Boynton's second year will be granted automatically. Boynton also must ensure that "all men's basketball student athletes on the team and academically eligible at the beginning of the fall 2026 term remain academically eligible at the beginning of the winter 2027 term. There are also performance bonuses in - cluded in the Brooklyn, New York, native's contract, as long as U-M's Academic Prog- ress Rate doesn't drop below 960: • Big Ten Coach of the Year or national coach of the year: $50,000 • Outright Big Ten regular-season cham - pionship: $100,000 • Share of Big Ten regular-season cham- pionship: $50,000 • Big Ten Tournament championship: $100,000 • NCAA Tournament second round: $100,000 • Sweet 16: $500,000 • Elite Eight: $750,000 • Final Four: $1 million • National championship game: $1.2 mil - lion • NCAA championship: $1.5 million There's a low buyout number on both sides of the deal. If Boynton is fired with- out cause during his first season, before he's met any of the performance criteria above, U-M would owe him what's re- maining of his $3 million salary. If he's fired before his second season but after reaching the criteria to be granted another year, he'd collect $4 million. If Boynton is fired without cause during his second season, he'll make the remainder of his $4 million salary. If Boynton decides to leave Michigan within seven days after the end of his first season, he would have to pay the school $3 million within 60 days. — Clayton Sayfie