Boyntons road to Stonehill

By Matt Brown

Sam Boynton grew up in Whitefield, Maine, a town of 2,500 he joked may have more cows than people.

His nearest neighbors were a half-mile away and Boynton, the middle child of three, credits sports in keeping his small town close.

“Because there wasn’t much to do in a small town, sports were the only way to stay busy,” Boynton said.

The one sport he fell in love with was basketball. “In middle school I loved playing basketball because I was known as the Shaquille O’Neal of Whitefield Maine because I was the same size then as I am now,” Boynton said.

Boynton, 26, graduated from the University of Maine-Farmington and spent two years afterwards as the associate head coach. From there, he moved out west to Eastern Washington University located in Cheney Washington and served as director of basketball operations for two years. Boynton came to Stonehill in 2013 and is in his second season as the head assistant coach with the men's basketball team.

“I knew I wanted to be a coach when I was in high school after watching film with coaches and filling out scouting reports on other teams,” Boynton said.

He chose to coach in college because of the maturity level the players have. He said he likes to see the impact he can have on 18-year-old players as they transition through college.

“My college coach had a really big impact on me, and I would love to do the same for my players,” Boynton said.

As an outsider looking in, you may think Coach Boynton just blows the whistle at practice. However, he now gets to fill out the scouting reports himself, break down the film, while also leading study hall to make sure his players keep their grades up.

Although coaching is his passion, Boynton said, just like other jobs there are positives and negatives in the profession.

“Being a college coach takes up most of my free time. “As a 26 year old sometimes I feel like I don’t have a social life out side of basketball,” Boynton said.

When he does have some time to himself, he enjoys watching movies and hanging out with friends in Quincy, Massachusetts, where he lives.

            “The most frustrating part as an assistant coach is that sometimes the ideas I have do not get to play out because it is ultimately the head coaches decision,” Boynton said.

 In the future he can see this changing.

 “I would like to be a head coach at some point, whether that is at the NBA level, Division I or Division III, I would be just as happy,” Boynton said.

For now he said he is happy with the job he has at Stonehill, a college with a population more than his hometown.

“It’s a little bit ironic I guess. Stonehill and Whitefield both have 2,500 people. One of my favorite parts about Whitefield was the sense of community that you felt. You genuinely felt like the people in the community had each other’s best interests. I also feel a lot of that within the Stonehill community,” Boynton said.