STILLWATER – Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton was selected as one of three court coaches for the USA Basketball U19 World Cup Team training camp, which was held June 20-22 in Fort Worth, Texas.

This was Boynton’s debut with USA Basketball, which is looking to defend its FIBA World Cup title after Cowboy standouts Cade Cunningham and Isaac propelled the Americans to the gold medal in 2019.

As a training camp coach, Boynton helped the USA Basketball coaching staff in running the camp and selecting the squad that will represent the red, white and blue at the 2021 FIBA World Cup in Latvia from July 3-11.

“I am humbled and thankful to have this opportunity,” Boynton said. “I appreciate coach Matt Painter and the entire USA Basketball organization for allowing me to participate with training camp as a court coach. The Gold Standard that is USA basketball is something I could only have dreamed of until now. I’m excited to get to work with the staff and the players.”

The 2021 USA Basketball U19 team will be led by TCU coach Jamie Dixon, with Stanford coach Jerod Haase and Yale coach James Jones round out the staff as assistant coaches. 

Boynton is one of three court coaches along with North Texas coach Grant McCasland and Towson coach Pat Skerry.

The 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup features the top U19 teams from across the globe, and includes Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mali, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United States.

Of the 14 times the U19 FIBA World Cup has been contested, the Americans have won a record seven times, including three of the last four. No other country has more than one FIBA U19 championship.

Five Cowboys have won a gold medal with the USA Basketball U19 squad. Cunningham and Likekele took top honors at the 2019 FIBA World Cup, and they joined Matt Clark (1979), Marcus Smart (2013) and Jawun Evans (2015) as world champions.

In all, Oklahoma State representatives have combined for 24 gold medals in international competitions with USA Basketball. Jesse “Cab” Renick was the program’s first Olympic gold medalist in 1948, followed by Bob Kurland in 1948 and 1952, and James King in 1968. Mr. Henry Iba coached USA Basketball to Olympic gold medals in 1964 and 1968.