Tinkle out as Oregon State hoops coach

Former Montana coach Wayne Tinkle’s tenure at Oregon State is coming to an end.

The Beavers are firing Tinkle at the end of the men’s basketball season, OSU athletic director Scott Barnes confirmed Thursday.

“We are grateful to Wayne for his dedication to Oregon State and for the leadership he has provided our men’s basketball program,” Barnes said in a statement. “He has represented Beaver Nation with integrity and commitment. As we approach the dawn of the new Pac-12 era, we believe it is in the best interest of our men’s basketball program to transition to its next chapter. These decisions are never easy, but we are focused on positioning our program for sustained success in a rapidly evolving collegiate athletics landscape.”

Tinkle, 60, is owed a $3 million buyout for the one year remaining on his contract, which states “termination shall become effective no earlier than 15 days” after written notice.

There is mitigation language in Tinkle’s contract should he attain employment elsewhere before June 30, 2027. The same goes for OSU’s four assistant coaches, each of whom are signed through June and are owed a combined $258,820.

On Thursday Tinkle was deciding whether to coach the remainder of the season, with Oregon State (16-14, 9-8 WCC) playing at Santa Clara on Saturday. 

The Beavers can finish either fourth or fifth in the WCC, which hosts its conference tournament in Las Vegas beginning next week.

Less than a week ago, Barnes told The Oregonian/OregonLive he’d make a decision regarding Tinkle’s future “by the end of the season.”

Oregon State is 175-204 overall during Tinkle’s 12 seasons, including 20-win seasons in 2020-21 when the Beavers won the Pac-12 tournament and made it to the Elite Eight, and 2024-25. But OSU made just one other NCAA Tournament appearance during his tenure and is not positioned to make the postseason this year, barring winning the WCC tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid.

Even with losses in its next two games, Oregon State will finish .500 or better for the eighth time in Tinkle’s tenure. OSU had only four such seasons in the 23 years prior to his arrival.

After going 20-13 last season, OSU lost all five of its starters to transfer. Tinkle responded by building this year’s roster with 10 international players surrounding transfer guard Dez White and legacy guard Josiah Lake II, a former walk-on who leads OSU in scoring this season.

Tinkle was hired in May of 2014 by OSU after eight seasons at his alma mater, Montana, where he guided the Grizzlies to a 158--91 record and three NCAA Tournament appearances.

Oregon State’s attendance reached historic lows over the last five seasons since the pandemic, when the Beavers went 27-68 in their final three seasons in the old Pac-12 and 36-27 the past two seasons in the WCC.

Just 51,409 fans attended 17 Oregon State home games this season, the lowest in the 75-year history of Gill Coliseum, with just two others (1995-96 and 2021-22) under 60,000. The crowd of 2,011 that saw Oregon State play Sam Houston State on Dec. 17, 2025, was the smallest for an OSU home game since at least 2006-07.

As of Thursday, OSU’s 3,024 average crowd ranks 125th nationally and its 32.51% of capacity ranks 231st.

“I think fans have a good experience when they’re here in Gill,” Barnes said last week. “I think our marketing group and our events people do a really good job. How do you get more people to sample the product? Winning makes a huge difference and then having a plan so that when you start winning more and becoming more competitive that you’re capturing that uptick.

“Having a more consistent winning program obviously will bode well for us.”