Tinkle, Tinkle Little Star: Montana Defector Could Be Diamond in Sky at OSU

May 19th, 2014 - 21:08

We don't know if the song "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" was the background music. But Wayne Tinkle, departing Montana for Oregon State, is the latest coach to make the gut-wrenching decision to leave his alma mater for a coaching position with another school or NBA franchise. Tinkle succeeded Craig Robinson, who failed to receive a pardon from the Beavers or brother-in-law Barack.

Three former Princeton coaches - Sydney Johnson, Joe Scott and John Thompson III - are among the following alphabetical list of active mentors who voluntarily left their Division I alma maters:

Active Coach Alma Mater (Coaching Years) Subsequent Job (Years)
Jim Baron St. Bonaventure '77 (1993-2001) Rhode Island (2002-12)
Ed Conroy The Citadel '89 (2007-10) Tulane (since 2011)
Ed DeChellis Penn State '82 (2004-11) Navy (since 2012)
Sydney Johnson Princeton '97 (2008-11) Fairfield (since 2012)
Billy Kennedy Southeastern Louisiana '86 (2000-05) Miami (FL) assistant (2006)
Lon Kruger Kansas State '74 (1987-90) Florida (1991-96)
Larry Krystkowiak Montana '86 (2005 and 2006) Milwaukee Bucks (2007 and 2008)
Mike Krzyzewski Army '69 (1976-80) Duke (since 1981)
Thad Matta Butler '90 (2001) Xavier (2002-04)
Ray McCallum Ball State '83 (1994-2000) Houston (2001-04)
Greg McDermott Northern Iowa '88 (2002-06) Iowa State (2007-10)
Oliver Purnell Old Dominion '75 (1992-94) Dayton (1995-2003)
Joe Scott Princeton '87 (2005-07) Denver (since 2008)
John Thompson III Princeton '88 (2001-04) Georgetown (since 2005)
Wayne Tinkle Montana '89 Oregon State (since 2015)
Donnie Tyndall Morehead State '93 (2007-12) Southern Mississippi (2013 and 2014)

NOTE: Baron (Canisius), Kennedy (Texas A&M), Kruger (Oklahoma), Krystkowiak (Utah), Matta (Ohio State), McCallum (Detroit), McDermott (Creighton), Purnell (DePaul) and Tyndall (Tennessee) are currently coaching other colleges.