After losing Dusty May to the Dallas Mavericks 18 days ago, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel has removed the interim tag from Mike Boynton and is promoting the 44-year-old to full-time head coach of the Wolverines’ men’s basketball program, the school announced Friday.
“Mike is a veteran assistant with strong head coaching experience and a clear understanding of the standard we expect at Michigan,” Manuel said in a statement released by the school. “Over the past two seasons, he has been an invaluable member of our staff, bringing stability, leadership and perspective during an important period of success. Our players and staff believe in his vision, are committed to his leadership and are excited for the opportunity to pursue great success together this season.”
Boynton and Manuel negotiated over the course of two weeks before agreeing to terms on Thursday. Boynton is signing a two-year deal, though the second season is not fully guaranteed, per a source. Michigan was reticent to commit too much money and too many years after the awkward loss of its coach days before the NBA Draft. Boynton, meanwhile, has worked around the clock to not lose a single player to the transfer portal. The move is more than symbolic: By fully committing to Boynton moving forward, it gives U-M the best chance at retaining its highly regarded roster after losing May to the NBA on a deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $8 million.
“I’m grateful to Warde for his confidence and thankful for the opportunity to lead this program,” Boynton said in a statement. “We have built a championship culture and a standard that everyone associated with this program takes great pride in. We have an outstanding group of players, and I’m excited to get to work and continue the success we’ve established together.”
By rule, the transfer portal will open five days later for all of Michigan’s players, who will then have a 15-day window to enter if they so choose. Final Four MOP Elliot Cadeau was first to publicly commit to staying on with the program, notably followed by sophomore guard Trey McKenney, Cincinnati transfer Moustapha Thiam, Tennessee transfer JP Estrella and incoming five-star freshman guard Brandon McCoy Jr.
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Michigan was able to reload again under May in the weeks following its dominant NCAA title run; the Wolverines have been universally projected to be among the top five for 2026-27. If Boynton can keep every player in Ann Arbor (which is still no guarantee), U-M will likely remain a preseason top-10 team, despite the coaching change. Dozens of schools contacted the agents and parents of most of Michigan’s players immediately after the May news broke on June 22, sources said. Holding the roster intact has been Boynton’s and the rest of the Michigan staff’s job description every day since the news broke in May.
Boynton was May’s top assistant and the defensive coordinator the past two seasons. In addition to Michigan’s 37-3 title run, the Wolverines were also a hit immediately under the May regime change of 2024-25, when Michigan made the Sweet 16. The program went 64-13 in two seasons — those 64 victories coming just two years removed from the eight-win disaster in the final season of Juwan Howard’s tenure marked the largest two-year win increase in the history of men’s Division I. Under Boynton, Michigan had the No. 1 defense in the country last season.
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The Michigan opportunity will be Boynton’s second chance at running a high-major program. In 2017, he got his first head job when he was promoted in-house at Oklahoma State after Brad Underwood left for Illinois. Boynton had an up-and-down tour in Stillwater, going 119-109 in seven seasons. OSU was burdened for multiple seasons early in Boynton’s tenure due to an NCAA investigation that predated his tenure. His best year was 2020-21, when the Cowboys made the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed thanks to Boynton’s recruitment and development of future No. 1 NBA pick Cade Cunningham.
This marks the second time in three years that Manuel has promoted a top assistant soon after winning a national title. Jim Harbaugh’s 2023 national title in football vaulted him back to the NFL. That led Manuel to promote Sherrone Moore in January 2024. Moore lost his job in December 2025 following an arrest and after the university determined he’d had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
But unlike the Harbaugh situation, which infamously was ensnared in the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal, Michigan’s men’s basketball team is not burdened by scandal at the time of the change. It’s just the opposite: Michigan is operating at one of its highest levels in program history. If Boynton can keep every player on the roster, the Wolverines will be expected to tussle with Michigan State and Illinois atop the Big Ten next season.
