South Carolina Basketball: Former Gamecock fired from head coaching job

South Carolina basketball alum Mike Boynton has been fired from his head coaching duties with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, according to a report from CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein.

In his first head coaching gig, Boynton led the Cowboys to three 20-win seasons in 7 years, but he was never able to recover from NCAA sanctions levied against the program from violations during the Brad Underwood era. Boynton and OSU posted three straight losing seasons in the last three years of Big 12 play.

Before taking the head coaching vacancy in Stillwater, Boynton was an assistant there for one season and for three seasons at Stephen F. Austin under Brad Underwood. Those gigs came on the heels of Boynton spending 5 years as an assistant coach at his alma mater under head coaches Darrin Horn and Frank Martin from 2008-2013.

Boynton was a guard on the South Carolina basketball team from 2000-2004. He was a 3-point specialist who took 80% of his shots from the floor from behind the 3-point arc in his college career. During his time as a Gamecock, he posted two seasons of 40% or better shooting numbers from 3-point land. His top performances came as he scored a combined 50 points in back-to-back victories in the 2004 SEC Tournament to keep the Gamecocks in line to make the NCAA Tournament.

Until the Final Four run at the end of the 2016-2017 season, Boynton's senior season was the last time the Gamecocks had gone dancing.

Speaking of March Madness, Boynton's alma mater is a lock for this year's NCAA Tournament field. Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks are playing their first game of the SEC Tournament on Thursday against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Tip-off will be around 3:30 (pending the previous game), and the game will be shown on the SEC Network.