Mike Hopkins ran out of second chances and the benefit of another blank slate from a new athletic director, failing to complete a rebuild at Washington and losing his job because of it. Being a two-time Pac-12 coach of the year wasn’t enough to offset one NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years. Especially not when a move to the Big Ten awaits.
What comes next might be one of the greater mysteries of the carousel.
Troy Dannen arrived from Tulane as athletic director only in October and moved decisively to replace Kalen DeBoer with Jedd Fisch in an unexpected football coach transition, but this will be his first power-conference men’s basketball pick. And how much the shift in conference membership changes the calculus of the job is anyone’s guess — maybe including Dannen, at least at this point.
It’s an opening with no shortage of no-brainer candidates … and no shortage of uncertainty as to who can most deftly navigate the logistical challenges of a new Big Ten reality.
Job evaluation
Is Washington a better men’s basketball job because it’s in the Big Ten? Or is being in the Big Ten asking for more trouble than the program can handle?
This likely depends on your evaluation of the Big Ten, because the Huskies’ history doesn’t trigger a gale of optimism. Washington has won three regular-season Pac-12 titles since 1985. The league’s relative strength has vacillated, naturally, but there’s no available metric or logical contortion to suggest Big Ten life will be easier. Washington’s all-time win percentage against UCLA is 28.5. It is a never-dominant program bound for an even more trying situation.
In the past decade, the state of Washington has produced 25 four- or five-star prospects, according to 247 Sports’ Composite. Is that a talent hotbed or a lukewarm-bed? Either way, recruiting reach that theoretically stretches coast-to-coast and tremendous urban appeal that could draw international talent means a new coach should be ready to innovate to infuse the place with some talent.
Washington is still set to open a new dedicated basketball practice facility in 2025 after years of struggling to find a spot that made sense on a crowded campus. The home arena is probably right-sized at a capacity of roughly 9,500, but it also hasn’t been renovated significantly since early this century. The school reported $10.5 million in men’s basketball expenses in 2021-22, which would fall somewhere in the middle of the super-sized Big Ten. There’s evidence that Washington knows it’s a little behind the men’s basketball trend lines, but also not a lot of evidence that it’s poised to set the pace.
Call List (in alphabetical order)
Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida head coach. Maybe Dannen and the Washington administration tie a string to a comet and hope for the best. Abdur-Rahim went from one win to 26 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance in four years at Kennesaw State. In his first year in Tampa, South Florida won the American Athletic Conference regular-season title — and it’s only the third time this century the program has surpassed 20 wins. The results suggest someone is going to put this guy in a power-conference job and be very happy.
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s head coach. With a team poised to make a run in March and a lot of job movement on the West Coast, and with birthday No. 62 coming up in June, this may be the moment for Bennett to exit his comfort zone in Moraga. He’s won more than 70 percent of his games at a school with an overall enrollment of less than 4,000. One can imagine the blueprint of international recruiting and bruising tempo working quite well out of Seattle, and into Big Ten country.
Niko Medved, Colorado State head coach. The 50-year-old has completed successful builds at both Furman and Colorado State, with the Rams poised for a second NCAA Tournament bid in three seasons. He’s been picky about balancing quality-of-job with quality-of-life wherever he works, so one would imagine a Big Ten gig headquartered in Seattle far exceeds the bar.
Lamont Paris, South Carolina head coach. The 49-year-old is certainly a coach of the moment, given the year-to-year turnaround in Columbia. He’d also offer familiarity with the new terrain after spending seven seasons as an assistant at Wisconsin. No experience on the West Coast might be a drawback in other years, but do “coasts” even matter anymore?
Leon Rice, Boise State head coach. One would have to imagine Dannen wouldn’t get any farther down a list than the Washington native and former Gonzaga assistant who’s won more than 63 percent of his games in 14 seasons at Boise State. And it’s now three straight NCAA Tournament appearances for the Broncos to boot. The 60-year-old might be hitting stride at the perfect time.
Kyle Smith, Washington State head coach. Unless it’s high treason to leave for a rival that isn’t even in your conference anymore, the fit makes sense. Smith springboards from limbo into one of the two most stable leagues in the country. Washington gets a winner thoroughly familiar with the territory. The only question is whether Dannen gets to him first.
Danny Sprinkle, Utah State: Sprinkle is a leading candidate for national coach of the year, after guiding the Aggies to a Mountain West title with a totally rebuilt roster. The Washington native also won big at Montana State before heading to Logan.
And the hire is …
There’s a lot of smoke around Sprinkle here; would he leave Utah State after just one year? A Big Ten job would be hard to pass up. If not, Rice and Smith make a lot of sense as well.
(Photo of Utah State coach Danny Sprinkle: Chris Gardner / Getty Images)
