Tag: Washington Huskies Basketball

Even though new Washington Huskies basketball coach Danny Sprinkle was born in Pullman, that’s his only affiliation with UW’s in-state rival. In fact, he was born and raised a Husky fan.

“I was born in Pullman, that’s it,” Sprinkle said during his introductory press conference. “My dad is still pissed that I was born in Pullman, but it’s only because there was no hospital in Moscow, Idaho, while he was coaching at the University of Idaho.”

That story got a laugh from donors, University of Washington staff members, and Sprinkle’s family in the audience. Even though he attended Montana State, where he was also the head coach for four seasons, he made one thing clear, he is a Husky through and through.

Sprinkle’s father, Bill, played football on Montlake in the 1960s and one of the first things the new head coach shared, through tears, was his memories of watching Husky football growing up with his father. He never stopped watching either, even as his coaching career took him to different stops all over the country.

“They’re not going to like me saying this, but I would leave the press box at Montana State and Utah State football games so I could go watch Husky games,” he said.

Welcome back!!! Sideline Passes will be waiting for both of you! @UW_MBB https://t.co/PshbUIuSo5

— Jedd Fisch (@CoachJeddFisch) March 28, 2024

Even though he spent his entire life watching the Huskies, Sprinkle said being Washington’s head coach was never a goal that he had his sights set on.

“I’m sure it was always a dream of my dad’s, much like it was mine but we never really talked about it,” he said. “I know my sisters Erin and Lacey manifested it, they wanted it to happen.”

Now, the lifelong Husky fan has a chance to live out his dream while possessing a unique understanding of what the program can look like when it’s at its best.

If Koren Johnson decides to take his talents elsewhere after entering the transfer portal at the conclusion of the season, coach Danny Sprinkle and the Washington Huskies would be losing a major piece of their rotation in 2024.

Johnson was named the Pac-12’s Sixth Player of the Year after averaging 11.1 points per game while shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from three-point range. 247 Sports’ Travis Branham compiled his list of the top 25 players in the transfer portal and ranked Johnson at No. 23.

As Sprinkle puts together his roster and coaching staff, Johnson is one of the most important pieces to retain. If he were to return, he would be expected to slot into the starting lineup after getting nod in 5 games last season and would anchor a strong rotation of guards, including five-star freshman Zoom Diallo, sophomore Wesley Yates III, and junior Nate Calmese.

If he were to take his talents elsewhere, Johnson should have plenty of Power 5 suitors looking to secure his services. Finding a way to convince Johnson to pull his name out of the transfer portals will be one of Sprinkle’s first tests as a recruiter.

After the Washington Huskies officially hired basketball coach Danny Sprinkle on Monday, he has wasted no time in putting his coaching staff together and appears to have his sights set on a talented, yet polarizing assistant coach in former USC Trojans associate head coach Tony Bland.

Bland grew up in a rough neighborhood in south Los Angeles and attended Westchester High School where he was a basketball star. His work ethic on the court was one of the things that many remember him by. He was the most tenacious player on the court, which helped lead his team to a state championship and playing time at both Syracuse and San Diego State.

He started his college career at Syracuse and then transferred to San Diego State before his junior year and was a key part of their 2001 team making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985.

Bland joined the Aztecs coaching staff in 2011 and remained there until coach Andy Enfield and USC came calling. During his time with USC was known as one of the best recruiters on the West Coast and seemed to be on his way to becoming a head coach.

However, Bland was arrested in 2017 as part of a high profile FBI investigation that included 10 other coaches at numerous other schools including South Carolina, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Louisville.

Bland plead guilty to taking a bribe of $4,100 to steer players to retain certain financial advisors and business managers once they entered the professional ranks. The prosecuting attorney was seeking 6 months to two years in prison, but the judge took into consideration Bland’s clean record and the journey he took to get out of the troubled neighborhood he grew up in and become so successful in life. The judge handed down a sentence of two years probation.

“I am convinced to a moral certainty that I will not see Mr. Bland again, at least not in this courtroom,” Judge Edgardo Ramos said in 2019.

“I’m excited it’s over, I appreciate Judge Ramos for the outcome and giving me another chance, a second chance,” Bland told CBS Sports after the sentencing in June 2019. “I’m just looking forward to rebuilding from my mistakes, and from this moment on, spending the rest of my life trying to prove and help and reverse the stigma that came from this.” 

Since then, Bland has spent his time volunteering with troubled youth in the Los Angeles area, which helped him earn a job as the head basketball coach at St. Bernard High School.

Bland’s journey and experience, while tumultuous, seems to have been what he needed to find his way back to college basketball and the talented coach could make a big impact if Sprinkle does indeed decide to bring him onboard.

The Washington Huskies made their Mike Hopkins replacement official on Monday, hiring Utah State basketball coach Danny Sprinkle less than 24 hours after the Aggies lost to Purdue in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Sprinkle is a West Coast coach through and through, one that comes with Husky bloodlines. His father, Bill, played football on Montlake in the 1960s. Sprinkle grew up in Washington State Cougar country in Pullman before playing basketball in Montana, first at Helena High School and then at Montana State. He went directly into coaching, with stints as an assistant at Cal State Northridge, Montana State, and Cal State Fullerton.

Huskies Wire reached out to Patrick Mayhorn of The Aggship, an independent Utah State outlet, to get a better idea of what to expect from Sprinkle on Montlake.

Hopkins’ tenure was defined by the ability to recruit – the Huskies signed two five-star recruits and were always active in the transfer portal – with a faltering ability to turn those high-profile recruits into wins.

Naturally, Husky fans would prefer on-court success, as Washington last made the NCAA tournament in 2019. So what are the Huskies getting from Sprinkle as a coach on the floor?

His in-game coaching is a little bit of a work in progress, specifically when it comes to substitutions, but the player development and game scouting were consistently terrific all season. The offense was a little glitchy at times but extremely dangerous when it was working, and the defense was very impressive for [a team in] year one – it’s much harder to install a great defense than it is a great offense.

Mayhorn pointed out the strides Aggie players made in singular year under Sprinkle, further reinforcing his skills as a developer.

Pretty much every player in the rotation improved significantly during the year, including a couple of guys (Mason Falslev, Javon Jackson, Isaac Johnson, and Josh Uduje specifically) who were basically brand new to his system.

That sort of on-the-fly installation can often be attributed to coaching, both from Sprinkle and his assistants. Can Washington expect to bring a number of Sprinkle’s assistant coaches from Logan?

Sprinkle has a very good eye for assistant coaching talent, and I think the staff he had this season was terrific. I’d expect he takes at least a few of those guys with him, though big man specialist Chris Haslam is a candidate for some head coaching jobs. Defensive coordinator Andy Hill is a real option [to replace Sprinkle] for Utah State, which could keep the guards coach, Eric Brown, in town as well.

Basketball is a much more transitory collegiate sport than football, where it can sometimes take multiple years to get a sense of how strong of a recruiter a coach is. Mayhorn assured Huskies Wire that Sprinkle will continue to build Washington’s recruiting footprint based on what he was able to do in his year as an Aggie.

Well, he recruited all but two players on this team. It’s strong. He hasn’t been at a power conference school before, so there has to be a little bit of projection for what that will look like, but the high school class he had signed was very impressive, and his work in the portal speaks for itself. He’s very good at identifying elite traits and players who fit in his program.

While this year’s high school class was mostly developmental players for the Aggies, Sprinkle did sign Kalifa Sakho, an unranked forward recruit in the 247Sports Composite rankings. Sakho ended up cracking the end of the rotation, averaging just over 10 minutes a game for Utah State this season.

In the portal, Utah State grabbed big man Great Osobor, who followed Sprinkle to Logan from Montana State. Osobor won Mountain West Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, averaging 17.7 points and 9 rebounds in 35 games.

Ian Martinez joined the Aggies from Maryland and was named an All-Mountain West honorable mention after putting up 13.3 points and shooting 38 percent from beyond the three-point line. Coastal Carolina transfer Josh Uduje was named Co-Sixth Man of the Year in the conference.

Sprinkle is a newer head coach, but not a new one. He has five years of experience at the helm of a program – one at Utah State this season and four seasons at Big Sky contender Montana State, his alma mater. While he’s made three straight NCAA tournaments between the two schools, Washington is entering the Big Ten next basketball season, leaving a big, looming question: is Sprinkle ready for the big time?

I do think so. He’s a really, really good ball coach. Hard-nosed and expects a lot of his players, but he’s been extremely well-liked by his guys during every step of his career. He’s a grinder who has done more with less for a very long time, and I don’t expect that he’ll have any issue translating that into a job with more resources.