Wayne Tinkle will not return to coach college basketball at Oregon State next season. The 20-year head coaching veteran does not pan to retire but the Beavers showed him the door.
He was replaced by Michigan assistant Justin Joyner after 12 years at the helm.
It was an awkward split. The university did not treat its college basketball coach very well on the way out.
Oregon State fired its college basketball coach.
Wayne Tinkle was hired at Oregon State in 2014. He took over a program that had not made the NCAA Tournament since 1990 and led the Beavers to March Madness as a 7-seed in year two.
Although it took him a few years to get back, Tinkle led Oregon State on a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight in 2021. It was the program’s first Regional Final appearance since the early 1980s. Nobody saw it coming. The 12-seed came just six points short of the Final Four at the hands of the No. 2-seed.
Vibes in Corvallis could not have been higher. Tinkle received a six-year extension for his performance.
And then it all came crashing down the next season.
The Beavers made history as the first team in college basketball history to lose 24 or more games after making the Elite Eight in the year prior. They finished with only three wins.
Tinkle did not get back to the postseason during the remainder of his tenure. Not even after Oregon State moved down a level to the West Coast Conference. He was fired at the end of February as a result.
The fanbase is split on the decision.
Some fans think the Beavers’ lack of success stems from a lack of NIL money. They can’t recruit enough talent to win. Tinkle needed more time (and financial backing) to get rolling in the WCC.
Others think he ran his course. The Elite Eight run was a fluke. He has not lived up to expectations. The program needs to move in a different direction and it’s time for fresh blood.
The administration obviously agreed a change was necessary. Joyner will take over.
Wayne Tinkle took the high road.
Although Tinkle was fired on Feb. 27, he chose to keep coaching his team through the remainder of the regular season, through the conference tournament and into March Madness if they got there. He wanted to finish what he started.
Unfortunately, the 60-year-old did not get the respect he deserved on the way out.
First and foremost, Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes invited the search firm hired by the university to help pick its next head basketball coach to breath down Wayne Tinkle’s neck at the West Coast Conference Tournament. The head of the DHR search firm walked back and forth near the scorer’s table during pregame introductions. He was flanked by two DHR search firm consultants, a former UCLA athletic director and an ex-Mountain West Commissioner. They also sat in vacant “support staff” seats directly behind the team bench throughout the entire game.
It was a bad look for Scott Barnes and the university. They could’ve sat anywhere else in the arena.
To make matters worse, Barnes allegedly sabotaged Tinkle’s chances of victory before the tournament. He specifically instructed the players not to play to win or to play as a team. He told them to instead play only for themselves because they need to get as much tape as possible for the transfer portal.
The Beavers ultimately lost in the second round of the tournament so Tinkle is officially out.
At no point did the university’s official team account post a graphic to thank its head coach for his time with the program. No showing of appreciation for his run to the Elite Eight or any of his 12 years. Nothing.
Oregon State snubbed Wayne Tinkle on social media but he did not snub Oregon State. The now-former head coach purchased a half-page ad in the Oregonian to thank fans for the experience and to wish Justin Joyner luck.
The Beavers, led by Scott Barnes, did Tinkle dirty on his way out. He took the high road. Pure class.