Washington is hiring Utah State men’s basketball coach Danny Sprinkle, according to multiple reports.
Under Sprinkle, the Aggies captured their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2001 when they ousted TCU in the first round, 88-72, on Friday. They fell to No.1-seeded Purdue, 106-67, on Sunday.
Sprinkle led the Aggies to its first-ever Mountain West regular-season title in his first season with the program. Sprinkle was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year earlier this month.
Washington fired former coach Mike Hopkins earlier this month after the Huskies failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth season in a row. In seven years under Hopkins, Washington went 118-106 overall with a 62-72 record in conference play.
What kind of coach is Washington getting?
One built to thrive in the modern college basketball landscape, if this season is any evidence. Utah State has historically been a mid-major program you can win at — especially lately, since the Aggies have made four of the last six NCAA Tournaments — but the job Sprinkle did in assembling a Mountain West contender basically from scratch last offseason remains incredibly impressive. Sprinkle was hired last April from Montana State, fresh off consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with the Bobcats, and had to remake the entirety of his roster. He didn’t inherit a single player who had scored a point previously for the Aggies.
So what does a coach do in that situation? What he must: mine the transfer portal. Sprinkle started by bringing forward Great Osobor — who ended up winning Mountain West Player and Newcomer of the Year this season — with him from Montana State, as well as guard Darius Brown. Then he plucked Ian Martinez (Maryland), Josh Uduje (Coastal Carolina) — who won co-MWC Sixth Man of the Year — Isaac Johnson (Oregon), Max Agbonkpolo (Wymoing) and several others from the larger pool. In total, Sprinkle brought in 13 newcomers, then promptly led them to the league’s regular-season title. Utah State fell to longtime conference power San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament, and eventually No. 1-seeded Purdue in the Round of 32, but those losses can’t (and shouldn’t) diminish the incredibly impressive job Sprinkle did in under a year in Logan.
Especially at a place like Washington, which doesn’t have as much homegrown talent readily available, it’s paramount to hire someone with a proven track record in the transfer portal. We’ll see what the Huskies’ NIL situation looks like moving forward, but strictly from a talent evaluation perspective, Sprinkle more than fits the bill. He’s experienced in the region, has been to the postseason plenty of times, and at only 47 years old, should be someone UW can build around for the foreseeable future. — Brendan Marks, college basketball writer
Required reading
(Photo: Ben Solomon / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
