Danny Sprinkle became the head coach of Washington men’s basketball on March 25, 2024, bringing deep Pacific Northwest ties and a strong record of program building to Seattle. Born in Pullman and raised in Helena, Montana, he arrived at UW after successful head coaching stops at Montana State and Utah State and after more than two decades in college basketball coaching. In his first season on Montlake, he guided the Huskies through their transition into the Big Ten and picked up a notable home win over Maryland. In 2025-26, Washington finished 16-17 overall and 7-13 in conference play, then added a Big Ten Tournament win over USC. Under Sprinkle’s direction, freshman forward Hannes Steinbach developed into one of the league’s breakout players and earned Third Team All-Big Ten honors.
Before arriving at Washington, Sprinkle engineered one of the nation’s best turnarounds at Utah State in 2023-24, leading the Aggies to a 28-7 record, the Mountain West regular-season title, and the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2001. That season brought him Mountain West Coach of the Year honors as well as national recognition from the Jim Phelan and Naismith coach-of-the-year awards. At Montana State, his alma mater, he posted an 81-43 record, led the Bobcats to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 2022 and 2023, and helped restore the program with back-to-back 25-win seasons. As a player, Sprinkle was the 1996 Big Sky Freshman of the Year at Montana State, scored 1,497 career points, and was later inducted individually into the Montana State Athletics Hall of Fame.
