Could Utah State Aggies head men’s basketball coach Danny Sprinkle head north at the end of this season?
On Saturday, veteran college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman reported that the Washington Huskies are expected to fire coach Mike Hopkins, and that Sprinkle is expected to be “the frontrunner” to replace him.
Sprinkle, 47, has done a remarkable job in his lone season at Utah State. After being hired away from Montana State, his alma mater, Sprinkle inherited a program that returned no scoring production from last season but the Aggies are 24-5, leading a tough Mountain West Conference and are widely considered a lock to make the NCAA Tournament.
Goodman’s reporting lines up with a story from ESPN’s Jeff Borzello last month that indicated Sprinkle would likely be a candidate to replace Hopkins if Washington did indeed fire him.
“It’s been an incredible first season for Sprinkle, who guided Montana State to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances before moving to Utah State -- where he has the Aggies competing for a Mountain West championship. He could be an option at Washington or Oregon if either opens,” Borzello wrote.
As Goodman noted, Sprinkle’s father Bill played football at Washington in the ‘60s, and father and son took in the national championship game together in January when Washington fell to Michigan.