WT gives reasons

Not sure if this will work. Excerpt shown blames lack of leadership — the player’ of course and not WT’s.

They really need to find out who recruited all of these guys who won’t listen

Reasons or excuses? I guess that depends on one’s position regarding WT. For or “agin.”

On the leadership thing, I've said all along that this team would miss Reichle. He did a lot of "intangibles" that didn't show up on the stat sheet, he's been a favorite in my household since he was a freshman. Both he and Ethan were leaders, and losing both at the same time was a big hit. Problem going forward is it's hard to say we have kids like that on the roster, I'm hoping we may have some who've sort of laid low or been unable to play much (Andela?)

Since the other links to this article all defaulted to subscriber only.....Here is the full text of the article for anyone who wants to hear all of his excuses!

By Nick Daschel | The Oregonian/OregonLive
It was a historic men’s basketball season at Oregon State, and not in a good way.

The Beavers went 3-28, the worst record of any OSU team since the school began playing basketball in 1901. Along the way, Oregon State collected losing streaks of 18 and 10 games.

Coming off an Elite Eight run in 2021, it was difficult to see anything like this on the immediate horizon. Yet it happened.

Why? And how does it get fixed? Oregon State’s Wayne Tinkle supplied answers when The Oregonian/OregonLive recently spoke to the eighth-year Beavers coach.


Oregonian/OregonLive: You’ve often said this season’s lack of progress and results is on you. Why?

Wayne Tinkle: The big thing that I was frustrated in myself was my inability to bring this team, to get them to come together. To enjoy playing with each other, playing the way we were supposed to play. That was frustrating because we’ve always had an ability to do that. This one was a real challenge to get that process to happen. You’ve got to look yourself in the mirror sincerely. What we’ll do here in the offseason is try to figure out and get a grip why that didn’t happen.

Oregonian/OregonLive: Obviously, there are many reasons why a team doesn’t come together. Was there one overarching reason, though?

Tinkle: You can talk about the group of incoming players and the veterans, we never got them to jell. Maybe individual and team expectations -- which are good things, you should want those -- weren’t handled maybe the right way. That’s the big thing we’re going to have to answer. Why was there such a big change from some of the historic things we did just a year ago? Something that we’re going to take a real honest look at.

Oregonian/OregonLive: I doubt you’re looking for sympathy, but how are you holding up after this season?

Tinkle: I mean, it was a grind. There’s no hiding that. The only good thing is I’ve got great family and a really good support group that has checked in on us, and made sure that we stay confident and focused. As challenging as the year was, we know we’re going to get it back because of how we do things. And the fact that we’ve built this now a couple different times. We’re confident we can build it back.


Oregonian/OregonLive: Do you think this team had inflated expectations of themselves after last year’s run during the offseason?

Tinkle: That may have been the case. I know that I get criticized for kind of sandbagging going in every year. We knew going in that maturity and chemistry, for what we had last in the last couple of classes, were going to be a key issue. Unfortunately, reared their head over the course of the season. Expectations are great, but you got to learn how to handle them, stay humble and continue to work and come together to meet them and succeed. Obviously, we weren’t able to do that.

Oregonian/OregonLive: Good leadership is something your team had the past several years. It seemed to be missing this season. Was lack of leadership as big an issue as anything for this team?

Tinkle: I just think that’s fair. You’ve got to have guys that are everyday guys, whether it leads to playing time, shot attempts. You got to have guys that are respected by the rest of the team and will listen and follow that leadership. I think we had guys who tried. I thought Roman (Silva) was probably the most consistent. He’s not the most vocal guy, but he did it with his positivity and his work ethic and playing through injuries. Maurice (Calloo) tried. I think he got frustrated at times, not being sure if it was being received. Definitely on a day-to-day basis, we’ve got to have a couple guys that every day, are pushing forward for the cause. We just maybe didn’t have enough of that.


Oregonian/OregonLive: Is building culture more difficult than ever because the transfer portal is turning over rosters at a high rate? That leads to the lack of leadership piece, right?

Tinkle: Just because programs are successful, doesn’t mean that they’ve got great culture. Some programs will just build it through adversity and animosity, and that’s kind of what sparks the culture. Our deal is discipline, character, those fundamentals, accountability, selflessness. That definitely took a hit this season, there’s no doubt. But I still think that’s got to be our hallmark and maybe we got away from it a little bit. I think we can build it back to where it was. To get back to those things that I just mentioned are so vital to the way we have to do things here at Oregon State.

Oregonian/OregonLive: The seven players you brought in this past year. In recruiting them, do you recall ever seeing them face-to-face through anything other than Zoom or FaceTime? Were you able to meet them personally in their homes or campus, or bring them to Oregon State before signing them?

Tinkle: No, we weren’t able to get face to face with any of them. Tre (Williams) we saw at Wasatch Academy as a sophomore or junior. We were able to evaluate and get in front of him. But it’s been a while.


Oregonian/OregonLive: How much of a setback was that, in terms of getting to know these guys? Because, obviously, some of them didn’t work out.

Tinkle: I think it’s huge. I think the way we run our deal, developing those face-to-face relationships and being able to read body language, look into guy’s eyes. More than that, just all the circumstances added up with all that these guys have been through the past couple of years. you know with COVID and all the off-the-court stuff. Maybe it had impacted this particular group, in that it all came to a head with some of those early losses and losing guys and then injuries later. Just too much for this group to handle.

Oregonian/OregonLive: How have your conversations gone with athletic director Scott Barnes?

Tinkle: He understands all the success that we’ve had, but after this kind of a year he’s obviously got concerns, that we take a good long look at. What some of the issues are, and address them the right way. He’s been a supporter of ours because he’s been here through a lot with us. He’s seen us come back from the year we had all the injuries (2016-17) and build it back fairly quickly. Obviously he wants us to peel back some layers and take a good look, which is what we do every year after the season.


Oregonian/OregonLive: Did any good come from the season?

Tinkle: Any good? We understand that this kind of year is unacceptable. I think the only positive is that we got through it. I’ll just say we’re here in the offseason with opportunities to take a good look at ourselves and make sure that we correct some things moving forward. And then get that new group in here and hit the ground running. Hopefully, we all learn a lot about ourselves and grow through this experience.

Oregonian/OregonLive: In looking ahead, I guess we should start with your coaching staff. Are you planning changes?

Tinkle: We’re in the middle of taking a look at all the different things with the roster, with staff. After a season like this, we have to take a good hard look at every situation and make sure we’re doing what’s best for the program moving forward.

Oregonian/OregonLive: As far as the roster goes, have you already talked to players about their season, or are you starting to have meetings?

Tinkle: We’re in the middle of finals week right now, and then it’s spring break. So I think once we get through finals, then we’ll start to take a look at having those meetings. We’ll probably have to have them before they get back (to school). So, phone calls or FaceTime just to get an assessment of where everybody’s at, and let guys know where we’re at.


Oregonian/OregonLive: At this point, has anyone put their name in the transfer portal?

Tinkle: Just our walk-on DyShawn Hobson. He’s got two years left and he wants to go somewhere where he can have his tuition covered, which makes perfect sense. He worked hard for us and he’ll be better off for his time with us, and hopefully he finds the right situation.

Oregonian/OregonLive: How many of the guys on the current roster with eligibility do you expect back next year?

Tinkle: Oh, man, I think it’s too early to say that, but that’s what we’ll find out in the next seven to 10 days.

Oregonian/OregonLive: You’ve got two high school guys signed. How many do you want to bring in next year?

Tinkle: We want to make sure we’re bringing in the right guy. So I don’t know that we’re going to put a number on that right now. We’ve signed two, we’ve got a couple committed that we can’t comment on until they sign letters of intent. We want to get back in, like we have built it with those young classes, with guys who are going to take coaching and continue to get better. Obviously, we know that we’re probably going to have to add some maturity. We’re trying to cover all the bases there.

Oregonian/OregonLive: When you get into the transfer portal, what is the top priority?


Tinkle: Obviously guys that come from winning programs, no matter what level. You see guys from D-II who transfer up to a high major and have a big role on successful teams. We’ve got to find guys that come from winning programs. Maybe, you know, the reason they’re in their portal is because they want an opportunity to play at a higher level.

Oregonian/OregonLive: When you talk to recruits and transfers, are they asking more about the Elite Eight run, or the 3-28 season?

Tinkle: They’re talking about what we did a year ago. I think it’s apparent when people watch us last year compared to this year, that obviously some things have changed drastically with regards to the results. These guys are smart. They understand the importance of some of the things we talked about at the very beginning: chemistry and teams coming together and leadership. They know this is a blip and they’re excited to have a chance to be a part of getting us back where we used to be.

Oregonian/OregonLive: What did you learn from the 5-27 season in 2016-17 that you can apply to this situation as you go forward into next year?

Tinkle: The key is making sure you know that whatever your program stands for, that’s what you have to address with regard to recruiting. And then how you coach them up and make sure that those characteristics carry forward once you have them here. We’ve just got to get back to making sure that we’re getting the kind of guys that really thrive in our kind of system.


Oregonian/OregonLive: Why do you think some of the players didn’t take to your principles from this year’s team?

Tinkle: As I’ve said multiple times, I think a lot of adversity hit us early, and we didn’t handle it the right way, and then the injuries later in the year. I think you add those things to everything else that these guys have been going through the last couple years. It turned into a perfect storm, obviously.

Oregonian/OregonLive: Even before the adversity, did you see any cracks at all, say like last summer or fall?

Tinkle: It was a concern with a mix of seven new guys and seven returners. And of the seven returners, those guys weren’t primary leader-type guys with us in the past. We knew the challenge is going to be bringing those two different groups together.

I would like to see Davis take over the leadership role...it makes a lot of sense for a point guard.