Oregon State has an opening for a men’s basketball assistant coach after Tim Shelton resigned his position, effective Friday.

Shelton, 33, joined Oregon State’s staff in May of 2022. He is tentatively headed to Colorado State as an assistant coach.

Shelton, who signed a two-year contract last May at $205,008 per year, must pay a $50,000 buyout to take a job at another school.

Shelton, son of former Beaver great Lonnie Shelton, was the third assistant on OSU’s staff. Oregon State went 11-21 last season and finished 11th in the Pac-12.

Shelton said he enjoyed his year helping Oregon State bounce back from a 3-28 campaign during the 2021-22 season. Shelton felt the Beavers evolved from a coach-driven team early in the season to a player-driven squad later in the year.

“My experience was great, from the minute I got here,” Shelton said. “I thought it was a perfect fit, and it still feels that way, from a locker room and an office standpoint. If you watched practice every single day, you would see the growth, you’d see the intention. … Coach (Wayne Tinkle) allowed me to do a lot. It was great. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Why leave?

That’s where the modern demands of college basketball played a role. Shelton felt like he was fighting an uphill battle with OSU’s name, image and likeness resources on the recruiting trail and the current roster.

Shelton said “it’s hard to swallow” that he’s leaving, but he couldn’t ignore NIL opportunities at Oregon State versus what he’s seeing at competing schools.

“You’re trying to make yourself more aware of how to be a successful recruiter and how to retain your talent. My biggest fear is that the guys here don’t feel like we have enough resources to keep them,” Shelton said.

Shelton stresses that the current roster of players isn’t the type to have their hand out looking for NIL money.

“But when they do well, like they have in terms of GPA and production and attitude, character in the locker room and help us continue to build a culture that we’re trying to build … we’re asking them to do that for very little to nothing,” Shelton said.

Shelton stresses he doesn’t think there should be a “pay-to-play” model, or talking about NIL dollars while talking to recruits.

“I don’t believe in that, but it is real. I am competing against that,” Shelton said. “It’s about retention. We didn’t get those kids because of money, but we need to be able to retain them.

“We’re not going to be Arizona. Not going to be Washington or Oregon. That’s fine. That gives us an extra chip on our shoulder. But we can’t be last in those resources. When it came down to my decision, I was worried about that.”

Shelton says he believes in Oregon State’s leadership. He said athletic director Scott Barnes and others have been “as transparent as they can be. They’re trying to undersell and over deliver, which is what I would try to do in their situation.”

But Shelton notices what other schools are doing, and believes there needs to be more urgency on the NIL front.

“You’re like, man, are we going to get lapped before we get in the race? I don’t think Oregon State’s never going to do it. Maybe it’s not even as bad as I’m saying,” Shelton said.

“Maybe I’m saying from the perspective of a young coach who during the majority of my career, this is what I’m going to have to navigate to be successful.”