Danny Sprinkle (born October 12, 1976) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach, and is the head coach at

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. He was previously the head coach at his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

, and

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

Playing career

A two-time all-state selection in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Helena High School Helena High School is a public high school for grades 9 through 12 located in Helena, Montana, United States. It is part of the Helena Public School District. Founded in September 1876, it is the second oldest high school in Montana. The Firs ...

, Sprinkle played college basketball at

Bozeman Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

, where he was conference freshman of the year in 1996, and earned all-league honors in 1997. He graduated as the school's seventh-all-time-leading scorer.

Coaching career

Sprinkle's first coaching job came in 2000 as an assistant at

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge, Los Angeles, Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as o ...

, where he stayed for six seasons. He returned to Montana State for a two-year stint as an assistant under new head coach Brad Huse, then went back to Northridge in 2008 for five seasons. Sprinkle joined

Dedrique Taylor Dedrique LaMonte Taylor (born May 1, 1974) is the current college basketball head coach for Cal State Fullerton. He is also a former Arizona State associate head men's basketball coach and a college assistant coach. Early life and education Aft ...

's staff at

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, and was part of the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...

' NCAA tournament squad in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. On April 4,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Sprinkle was hired at his alma mater, succeeding Brian Fish and becoming the 23rd head coach of the men's program at Montana State. Sprinkle led his team to a 16–15 record for the 2019–20 season and a #5 seed in the Big Sky tournament before it was shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020–21 shortened season saw Sprinkle lead the Bobcats to knock off #1 seeded Southern Utah and advance to the Big Sky championship game, losing to

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

. Sprinkle successfully brought back his three COVID-eligible seniors for the 2021–22 campaign, culminating in a school-record 27 wins and the first trip to the NCAA tournament for the Bobcats since Sprinkle's freshman season. Sprinkle's final season in Bozeman saw him bringing Montana State to back-to-back NCAA tournaments for the first time in program history. After four seasons at Montana State, he was hired by Utah State to be their new head coach on April 7, 2023, succeeding

Ryan Odom Ryan Odom (born July 11, 1974) is an American men's college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers, Virginia Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball, Cavaliers men's basketball team since March 21, 2025. He has previously c ...

. On March 25, 2024, Sprinkle was hired by

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

to replace Mike Hopkins.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Montana State University Athletics
– Danny Sprinkle * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprinkle, Danny 1976 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Montana Basketball players from Montana Cal State Fullerton Titans men's basketball coaches Cal State Northridge Matadors men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Helena High School alumni Montana State Bobcats men's basketball coaches Montana State Bobcats men's basketball players Sportspeople from Helena, Montana Utah State Aggies men's basketball coaches Washington Huskies men's basketball coaches