Mike Boynton lays out how recruiting has been impacted by NIL

When it comes to NIL, it’s completely transformed the college football and college basketball landscape the past few years in countless ways. There have been few things that have impacted the sport quite like it in the past few decades. College coaches have many more things they must worry about when it comes to managing their rosters.

Oklahoma State head basketball coach Mike Boynton sounded off on NIL in his Thursday press conference.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton on the state of recruiting & NIL
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He shared the story of the recruitment of Cade Cunningham to illustrate his point. Cunningham was ranked as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2020 cycle and one of the most decorated prospects ever to sign with the Cowboys.

“Recruiting’s never been a challenge. Until recruiting became not recruiting anymore. Like, what I had to do to get Cade Cunningham here was way more difficult than what it takes to get players on campus now. It’s not even the same thing,” Boynton said.

“That took four years of making sure I was there more than Bill Self and making sure I was there more than Roy Williams. And making sure I was there more than all these other coaches who had national championships and Final Fours and all these NBA guys. I had never coached a guy in the NBA as a head coach. I hadn’t coached in the NCAA Tournament,” Boynton explained.

It was the extensive relationship he built over a number of years with Cunningham that helped bring him to Stillwater. Now, all of that has changed. Teams offering hundreds of thousands of dollars can swoop in to land a prospect.

“But over time, the relationship mattered enough that he believed that I was gonna do the right thing by him. I can’t work that hard anymore. Not when you can say, ‘Hey here’s $500,000 to come spend nine months over here,'” a clearly frustrated Boynton said.

He noted how he’s developed great relationships with players in the recruitment process, but he simply can’t compete with many players’ desire/need for more NIL money.

“‘I like you coach, but I’m hurt this year, man. And all you got is a scholarship for me. And I still gotta give those books back at the end of the year,'” the Oklahoma State head coach explained.

Currently, the Oklahoma State Cowboys sit at 10-14 overall this season. Up next, they’ll face the BYU Cougars on Saturday, February 17th. Tip-off time for that one is slated for 1:00 PM.