Oregon State is hiring Michigan assistant Justin Joyner to become the program’s next head coach, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello.
Joyner, a top aide to Wolverines coach Dusty May, has spent the last two seasons on Michigan’s bench. Prior to joining the Wolverines, Joyner spent seven seasons as an assistant at Saint Mary’s under coach Randy Bennett.
The hiring of Joyner on the surface makes a good bit of sense. The 38-year-old Joyner has strong West Coast ties, having played college basketball at UC Santa Barbara. He played in 112 games in five seasons under Gauchos coach Bob Williams, where he was a three-time team captain and remains in the top 10 in school history in several major categories.
Following his college career, Joyner immediately jumped into coaching, where he worked as a skill development coach and also worked on the AAU circuit. In 2017, Joyner jumped to the college level where he began under Bennett at Saint Mary’s as the Director of Basketball Operations. After one season in that role, he was promoted to a spot on the bench as one of Bennett’s assistants, where he would spend the next six years before joining May in Ann Arbor.
Joyner replaces Wayne Tinkle, who was let go by Oregon State at the end of the season after 12 seasons that included two NCAA tournament trips and a Pac-12 title in 2020–21. Joyner will be responsible for ushering in a new era of Beavers basketball, which will return to a new-look Pac-12 on a full-time basis beginning next season. Oregon State has spent the last two years as an affiliate member of the WCC following the unraveling of the former Pac-12 that saw several schools bolt for other conferences as a consequence of realignment.
This will be Joyner’s first head coaching job at the college level.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Oregon State to Hire Michigan Assistant Justin Joyner As New Head Coach.
