Mike Boynton Jr. Scores Another Massive Win by Retaining Key Michigan Coaches

Mike Boynton Jr. has hit the ground running as the Wolverines' head coach and he's set to retain some key coaches.

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It's still the early stages of the Mike Boynton Jr. era at the University of Michigan, but since Dusty May departed from the Wolverines, Boynton Jr. has taken the bull by the horns and has made the best of what appeared to be a bad situation. Michigan retained all but one player from the roster, and Boynton Jr. has already made a hire to his staff.

Boynton Jr. appeared on Defend the Block on Tuesday morning and he spoke about learning from May on how he was able to delegate. This is Boynton Jr.'s second stop as a collegiate head coach. He coached Oklahoma State for seven seasons, but things didn't go as well as he had hoped in Stillwater.

With having those years of experience, plus learning under May, Boynton Jr. says he has learned more about what his weaknesses are and how he can surround himself with coaching. He touched on the hiring of Mike Martin, former Brown head coach.

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“Yeah, I think that's where I'll lean on the things that I've both experienced both positively and negatively in my first opportunity to be a head coach," Boynton Jr. said. "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 and now with the first hire I made and Mike Martin from Brown, 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. 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 from a holistic head coaching perspective, he'll be able, somebody that can lean on to ask questions, to bounce ideas off.”

Matt Aldred will stay

After six seasons at Furman, Aldred reunited with Dusty May at Michigan in 2024. Aldred, who is known as one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in America, will stay on board with Boynton Jr. as the head coach. Aldred is putting the players to work, getting them ready for the season.

“Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, our strength and conditioning coach, Matt Aldred, I'll start there," Boynton Jr. said. "As much responsible, as much as anybody, for the growth and development of our players from a physical standpoint. Obviously, the players have to put the work in, but somebody's got to put a plan together for them.

"Because they really don't know that part. In fact, they know the basketball part a lot more than even how to develop their bodies, injury prevention, stretching, recovery. Matt Aldred is elite, I think one of the best in the country by far.”

Two more key coaches will stay with Boynton Jr.

When it came to Dusty May's assistants, Mike Boynton Jr. might've been the biggest piece, being the defensive coordinator of the team, but the next three coaches of Drew Williamson, Kyle Church, and Akeem Miskdeen created the star power May needed on the bench.

We already know Williamson left Ann Arbor to head to Dallas to continue working with May, but Boynton Jr. confirmed that both Miskdeen and Church are staying put. Both coaches had worked with May previously, but with the culture that has been set in Ann Arbor, keeping those guys on the bench is a massive win for Boynton Jr.

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“And then Akeem Miskdeen, who's been with us, high level basketball thinker, really good talent developer, great recruiter, all around good person," Boynton Jr. said.

"He'll stick around. Kyle Church, who's been an assistant GM with us. Obviously plays a critical role being that he's handling responsibilities on both sides, both internally and externally. Him sticking around is going to be big for us.”

KT Harrell getting promoted

With Williamson leaving for Dallas, it created another open spot on the bench, and that's where an internal promotion is set to take place. Boynton Jr. said they are going to promote KT Harrell from Director of Operations to an assistant coach.

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Harrell, a former scoring phenom at Auburn, will now take on a bigger role, while hitting the court and helping players.

“And then KT Harrell, who we're likely going to move into an assistant coaching role from our Director of Operations. He's been around the game, was the leading scorer in SEC," Boynton Jr. said. "Get him a chance to be on the court with our guys, being able to teach and coach them and challenge them.
He's still younger so he can get out there with him and he can still hoop. He's pretty good.”