Montana’s Tinkle Named Big Sky Coach of the Year

Montana men's basketball coach Wayne Tinkle has been named the Big Sky Conference men's basketball coach of the year by fellow league coaches.

Tinkle guided Montana to the conference's regular-season title with a 15-1 record and the Big Sky tournament championship with an 85-66 win over Weber State.

Montana had not won an outright Big Sky regular-season title since 1991-92, and had not tied for the regular-season championship since 1999-2000.

Montana enters the NCAA Tournament on Thursday against Wisconsin riding a school-record 14-game winning streak, which is tied for the longest active streak in the nation.

Tinkle has compiled a 116-70 record in six seasons at Montana, including three consecutive 20-win seasons and trips to the NCAA Tournament in two of the past three seasons.

The last Montana coach to win league coach of the year honors was Blaine Taylor in 1991-92.