Mike Boynton Jr.’s first job as Michigan’s head coach was to retain as much of the roster as possible; his second was to build a staff.
One of the most impressive things Dusty May built in his two years in Ann Arbor was that assistant coaching staff, filled with sharp basketball minds from different backgrounds. There were assistants who had been with him at Florida Atlantic, as well as outside-the-box assistants May barely knew, who joined the project.
The five-man group was one of the best in college basketball, but it also saw some significant turnover this offseason. Justin Joyner departed for the head coaching job at Oregon State, Drew Williamson followed Dusty May to Dallas, and Boynton was promoted to the big office.
That meant Boynton had to fill three seats while retaining the rest of the staff in the building — and do it quickly.
“I lean on the things I’ve experienced both positively and negatively in my first opportunity to be a head coach,” he said on Defend the Block about his staff-building process. “I probably didn’t know as well how to delegate, how to identify my own weaknesses and have people that can cover those for me.”
Now, a month after May’s departure, Boynton is close to unveiling his full staff.
His first hire was Brown head coach Mike Martin, who left his alma mater for Ann Arbor after 14 years as the winningest head coach in Brown history.
“He’s a tremendous teacher of the game, a guy who’s been able to do a lot with not a whole lot of resources at a place that’s really challenging to win at,” Boynton said. “You know, he’s somebody that will have a great level of input in how we operate moving forward, particularly on the offensive end. But even just from a holistic head-coaching perspective, he’ll be somebody I can lean on to ask questions and bounce ideas off.”
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