Wayne Tinkle officially coached his last college basketball game at Oregon State. The 60-year-old wrapped up a 12-year tenure as head coach with a loss to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Tournament semifinal on Monday night.
It was a strong finish to a disappointing season for the Beavers.
The college basketball coach’s son, Tres Tinkle, claims his father was sabotaged by the athletic director prior to the conference tournament. The players were told not to play to win.
Wayne Tinkle is out.
Tinkle was hired at Oregon State in 2014 after an extremely successful eight-year run at Montana. He went a combined 176-206 (.461) during his 12 years with the Beavers. That includes the best season in program history and one of the worst. They actually happened in back-to-back years.
Oregon State went 20-13 in 2020-21 en route to the Elite Eight. It was one of the most unexpected runs in March Madness history. The No. 12-seed upset No. 5-seed Tennessee, No. 4-seed Oklahoma State and No. 8-seed Loyola Chicago before it lost to No. 2-seed Houston by six. The Beavers had not reached the Elite Eight since 1982 and only three times prior, dating as far back as 1955.
That next season was a disaster.
Oregon State became the first team in college basketball history to lose more than 20 games after making the Elite Eight the year prior. The Beavers finished at 3-28 in 2021-22.
Tinkle never got back to the NCAA Tournament. Oregon State went 11-21 in 2022-23 and 13-19 in 2023-24 before it made the move to the West Coast Conference in 2024. Although they won 20 games last season, the Beavers lost in their first game of the conference tournament.
The WCC is a one-bid league so an at-large bid to March Madness was not on the table. Tinkle’s team went on to lose in the first round of The Crown.
That brings us to this season. Oregon State lost to Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament on Monday night to finish at 17-5. It was the final game for Wayne Tinkle. The university announced its decision to move on from its head basketball coach at the end of the season with three games left in the regular season.
Did Oregon State sabotage its college basketball coach?
The fanbase in Corvallis is split on the decision to let Wayne Tinkle go. Some Oregon State fans believe he was doing a great job with limited resources. Others think he reached his peak with the Elite Eight.
Tinkle seems to believe the Beavers are not in a position to make another run due to a lack of NIL money.
He did not want to leave Oregon State. He and his staff received offers to coach elsewhere in the past but they decided to stay put. The ouster came as a surprise.
Tinkle is not going to retire. This is not the end of his college basketball coaching career!
To make the situation even more awkward, Tres Tinkle claims Scott Barnes put his dad in a position to fail. The Director of Athletics told the players to focus only on themselves and not the team.
To be fair, Barnes is right that these players need to think about themselves. Tinkle was already fired. His players are either going to enter the transfer portal on their own accord or run the risk of being processed out by the next head coach. They needed to get the best tape possible for the portal because they probably will not be welcome in the future.
This was it.
However, by telling the athletes to play for themselves and not the team, it took away from Tinkle’s ability to coach during the WCC Tournament. His players were not focused only on winning.
Barnes sabotaged Tinkle. It would’ve been super awkward if he pulled an upset over Gonzaga and punched a ticket to March Madness! Barnes couldn’t have that. He already turned the page.
Just like that, Wayne Tinkle is out.
The post Oregon State Athletic Director Sabotaged Fired Basketball Coach To Make Sure He Did Not Win appeared first on BroBible.
Oregon State Athletic Director Sabotaged Fired Basketball Coach To Make Sure He Did Not Win
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