The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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SEPTEMBER 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 9 BY ANTHONY BROOME M en's basketball head coach Mike Boynton Jr. and his trial-run contract as the successor to Dusty May was put in the spotlight even more upon the announcement of athletics director Warde Manuel's departure, which is set for the end of this year. Boynton signed a two-year, $7.6 mil- lion contract to become Michigan's head coach after stabilizing the program on an interim basis. The first year is guar- anteed at $3.6 million for 2026-27, plus a $250,000 signing bonus for Boynton's interim work. But the second year (worth $4 million) only kicks in if he hits specific benchmarks, including no NCAA viola- tions, no policy breaches, full academic eligibility, and on-court benchmarks (24 wins, Big Ten Tournament triple bye, conference title, or Sweet 16 run). In short, it's a true prove-it deal. But Boynton knows the situation he's walk- ing into with Michigan and is at peace with it. "I don't make anything of it," Boynton said on July 28. "I signed a contract after I read over, and I felt comfortable with it. What I'm focused on now is this team and the opportunity we have to try to build another championship-type of season. "This job should have high expecta- tions. It's the University of Michigan, we play in the Big Ten, we're coming off one of the greatest years in college basket- ball history, not even just our program. So there should be no expectation that those desires and those goals change. "We have a good roster, we feel like we have a really good staff, and now it's time to turn the page and attack it." Boynton reached the deal with Man- uel weeks before Michigan announced it would part ways with its longtime AD. The new head coach does not see that playing a huge factor in this season for the Wolverines. "I don't think one has anything to do with the other," Boynton said. "We'll be in the middle of our season. It's not like we're going to cancel games depending on who comes in or anything like that. It matters a lot more to the outside than it does to us on the inside. We care about the people involved. There are a lot of people impacted when decisions like this are made, even when the decision like the one that's made has me sitting here right now. "We respect that those processes will take place mostly out of our control. We'll really focus on just trying to do the best we can during our season to put this program in a position to be successful." Boynton was thrown into the fire with the coaching change, but May told U-M radio voice Brian Boesch on Aug. 11 that he did his part to give a heads-up to Boynton about his interest in the Dallas Mavericks job. "When I decided to meet with them, I told Mike," May said on the "Defend The Block" podcast. "I said, 'This is gaining some traction. I don't know what's go- ing to happen, but it's definitely pick- ing up some steam. I think you should definitely have a plan of attack ready for when it does go down, where you know what direction you're going to go in.' "We have to prioritize every minute of the day, and he needed to start pri- oritizing what he needed to do if it did happen. "And then once I met with them, I told him, 'Unless there's a change of heart, right now my heart is, I'm going to do this.' I said, 'I still have to meet with some people and do some things, but unless I change my mind, I'm prob- ably going to do this, so I would make sure you're ready to go.'" Through sudden change, Boynton proved he was ready and was able to re- tain 13 of 14 scholarship players to keep the roster together and compete again for a national championship. ❑ ❱ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS How 'Trial Run' Contract, Warde Manuel's Exit Affect U-M's Men's Basketball Regime Departing U-M athletics director Warde Manuel's end-of-year departure has put even more pres- sure on new men's basketball coach, Mike Boynton Jr. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL