Utah State stayed out West to find its next head men’s basketball coach.
Stadium college basketball expert Jeff Goodman first reported Friday morning that the Aggies were finalizing a deal to hire Montana State coach Danny Sprinkle as Ryan Odom’s replacement.
A short time later, Utah State made the announcement official.
“We are thrilled to announce Danny Sprinkle as Utah State’s new men’s basketball head coach,” Utah State interim athletic director Jerry Bovee said in a statement. “Danny checked all the boxes we were looking for as he is driven, energetic and motivated.
“He is also an excellent coach and proven recruiter. His skill set aligns perfectly with our mission of developing outstanding student-athletes on and off the basketball court, competing for conference championships and advancing to postseason play.”
Last week, Odom took the head coaching position at Virginia Commonwealth.
Sprinkle has been the Bobcats’ coach since 2019, and during the past four seasons, he has led Montana State to an 81-43 record. The Bobcats have won 27 and 25 games, respectively, each of the past two seasons and won 15 or more regular-season conference games both years.
Montana State also won back-to-back Big Sky tournament championships the past two seasons, earning the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid in the process.
This will be Utah State’s third head coach in the past four years, after Craig Smith exited for Utah following the 2020-21 season and Odom took the VCU job.
“I am extremely excited and humbled to be a part of Utah State basketball and the unbelievable tradition created by all the former players and coaches,” Sprinkle said in a statement.
“I want to thank President (Noelle) Cockett and Jerry Bovee for their belief in me. As for the Spectrum, it is one of the best home-court atmospheres in the country, and I can’t wait to work with The HURD and get that place rocking.”
One of the challenges that Sprinkle will face in Logan is finding ways to potentially replace several starting caliber players.
Since Odom left for VCU, three starters — guards Steven Ashworth, Max Shulga and Sean Bairstow — have entered the NCAA transfer portal, though any one of those three could still return to USU.
All three Division I men’s basketball head coaching vacancies in Utah have been filled now — Todd Phillips will replace Mark Madsen (who left to coach at Cal) as its head coach, and Southern Utah will reportedly replace Todd Simon with former Western Illinois coach Rob Jeter after Simon took the head coaching job at Bowling Green.