Grizzlies Basketball
Head Coach

Wayne Tinkle
Head Coach - 6th Season

Wayne Tinkle is in his sixth season as the head coach at Montana and has an overall record of 100-69 (.592). He is 53-29 (.646) in Big Sky Conference games.

His teams have won 20 or more games the past two seasons in a row. "Tinks" is ranked fourth in school history with 100 wins at his alma mater.

Last season Tinkle guided Montana to a 21-11 record and received a berth in the College Basketball Invitational (BCI) Tournament.

Two seasons ago, the Griz went 22-10, won the league's post-season tourney, and advanced to their eighth NCAA tournament in history a year ago, losing 62-57 to New Mexico.

Montana now has 15 20-win seasons in school history, and four in the past 15 seasons. Just eight Griz teams have won 22 games or more in a season.

The 2009-10 NCAA tournament berth was the fourth for Coach Tinkle. He has been to the tournament three times as an assistant coach at UM and one time as the head mentor. His NCAA trips came in 2001-02 against Oregon with head coach Don Holst, in 2004-05 vs. Washington and 2005-06 (against Nevada and Boston College) with head man Larry Krystkowiak, and again in 2009-10 as the head man against New Mexico.

Tinkle, 41, was named the 26th head coach at Montana in the summer of 2006. He served as an assistant coach at UM for the previous five seasons, working with Krystkowiak for two seasons, two years with Pat Kennedy (2002-04), and one with Holst.

He was a standout forward for the Griz from 1985-89 and a three-time All-Big Sky pick his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

He is ranked fourth in UM history in career rebounds with 836 and sixth in career points with 1,500, and is ranked among the Big Sky's career leaders in both of those categories.

He was Montana's Carl Dragstedt Award (MVP) winner in 1988 and 1989. He led the team in rebounding in 1987 (8.9 average), 1988 (8.4 average), and 1989 (8.7 avg.), and in scoring in 1988 (16.2 ppg) and 1989 (17.1 ppg).

He played in the professional ranks for 12 seasons, from 1990 to 2001. He played in the Continental Basketball League in Topeka, Kansas, and finished the year playing in Venezuela. In his professional career he played in the CBA and in Sweden, Spain, Italy and Greece. He played his final four seasons in Spain from 1995-99, where he ranked among the league's top scorers and rebounders.

Wayne was born in Milwaukee, Wis., and is the youngest of 11 children (seven girls and four boys). He is a 1984 graduate of Ferris High School in Spokane, Wash. He received his degree in health and human performance from UM in 2005.

He is married to former Lady Griz basketball star Lisa McLeod. Lisa was inducted into the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame in the fall of 2011.

Wayne and Lisa have three children: daughters Joslyn and Elleson, and son Tres. Joslyn currently plays basketball at Stanford University.