Boynton: OK State owed apology by NCAA for ban

Mike Boynton — whose Oklahoma State team was banned from the 2022 NCAA tournament for its connection to the FBI’s 2017 investigation into college basketball corruption — said the NCAA owes his program an apology, after Kansas last week became the latest school to avoid major penalties stemming from the scandal.

In the last case that will be decided by the Independent Accountability Resolution Process — defined on the IARP website as “an independent process that reviews and determines whether there are violations of NCAA Bylaws in select, complex infractions cases in NCAA Division I athletics” — the panel ruled that the Jayhawks men’s basketball program and coach Bill Self won’t face any additional serious punishment.

The IARP did not issue any postseason bans or significant penalties in the cases it adjudicated for LSU, Louisville, Arizona and NC State, all schools that were tied to the FBI’s investigation.

Oklahoma State chose to work with the NCAA over the IARP in its case.

“My message was always, with what they are saying now, is that they did the wrong thing to us,” Boynton told ESPN at Big 12 media day on Wednesday. “My only issue at this point is I still haven’t heard anybody call and say, ‘You know what? We screwed up.’ Accountability is a big deal to me. It’s something I preach in our program every day.

“If somebody would call and just say, ‘You know what, Coach? I get it. We did the wrong thing. That shouldn’t have happened. We can’t change it but I want you to at least know we acknowledge that.’ Because that’s all that can be done at this point.”

Last year, Kansas self-imposed a four-game suspension on Self, who was initially charged with a Level I violation. The IARP process reduced the infraction to a Level III violation.

Oklahoma State was banned from the 2022 men’s basketball tournament by the NCAA as punishment for former head coach Lamont Evans’ role in the FBI bribery investigation. Evans’ infractions unfolded before Boynton was hired.

During the 2021-22 season, Oklahoma State finished 15-15 (8-10 Big 12). The Cowboys were fourth in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency that season.

Even though his team faced a severe penalty, Boynton said he does not want other schools to incur additional punishments.

“I don’t want Kansas to be more severely punished,” he said. “I don’t think the kids on their team deserve to be banned from the postseason, either. They didn’t have anything to do with what happened before, either. Neither did the kids at LSU or Arizona. But none of them have been [banned from the postseason]. We were. That was the unfortunate part.”