justin joyner is leaving the Michigan Wolverines basketball staff to become the next head coach at Oregon State, with the move surfacing Wednesday afternoon (ET) across multiple reports. The change would send the second-year Michigan assistant from Ann Arbor to Corvallis to lead a program in transition. The hiring is being described as all but official as Oregon State prepares for a new era after a recent coaching change.
What’s known right now about Justin Joyner and Oregon State
Multiple reports Wednesday afternoon (ET) indicated Oregon State will hire justin joyner as its next head basketball coach. The development follows an earlier report from March 7 (ET) that positioned him as the frontrunner for the job, and the latest wave of reporting frames the process as nearing completion.
The move also carries an immediate personal connection to the region: Joyner’s wife, Tracy, is the University of Oregon women’s soccer coach. That family tie was cited as a factor that makes the relocation to the state of Oregon sensible on several fronts.
Michigan tenure: quick impact and postseason results
Joyner is in the midst of his second season in Ann Arbor, having followed head coach Dusty May to Michigan last season after a seven-year coaching stint at Saint Mary’s College. During his time with the Wolverines, he helped Michigan secure a Big Ten Tournament title last season and a regular season title this year, along with a Sweet Sixteen appearance last season.
Those results form the backbone of what Oregon State appears to be buying into: a coach coming off immediate high-level success in a major conference environment, now stepping into a lead role for the first time at the Division I head-coaching level.
Career path: from skill development to Saint Mary’s leadership
Joyner’s coaching career began after he completed his collegiate playing career at UC Santa Barbara, where he was a three-time captain. He worked as an individual skill development coach and also coached on the AAU circuit before taking an operations role in college basketball.
He joined Saint Mary’s in 2017 as Director of Basketball Operations, then moved into an assistant coaching role the following season. By 2022–23, he had been promoted to associate head coach after four years as an assistant. Across his seven seasons at Saint Mary’s, the program went 171–60 overall and 83–24 in conference play, marking sustained success over a long sample.
Oregon State’s opening and the challenge ahead
Joyner is expected to take over an Oregon State program that has struggled in recent years in Pac-12 play and is now maneuvering through an awkward transition into the West Coast Conference. Oregon State fired former head coach Wayne Tinkle late last month (ET) after the Beavers posted a 16–14 record this season.
Oregon State reached the Elite Eight in 2021 as a 12-seed, but the program has not returned to the NCAA tournament since then. The Beavers also finished fifth in their first season in the WCC, underscoring the immediate competitiveness and recruiting pressures of their new landscape.
What’s next
The next milestone will be Oregon State finalizing the hire and clarifying timing around staff changes as justin joyner departs Michigan. From there, attention will shift to how quickly he can stabilize the program during its conference transition and begin shaping a roster that can compete in the WCC. Until Oregon State makes the hiring official, the most concrete detail remains the broad thrust of Wednesday afternoon (ET): Michigan is losing an assistant, and Oregon State is preparing to name its next head coach.
