Danny Sprinkle - Men's Basketball Coach - Montana State University Athletics

Photo by: Montana State University

Danny Sprinkle

Title:
Head Men's Basketball Coach

Danny Sprinkle, one of Montana State’s most accomplished basketball players during his career in the late 1990s, was appointed the program’s 23rd men’s basketball coach on April 4, 2019. Sprinkle, in his third season at the helm of the program during the 2021-22 slate, guided the Bobcats to heights they hadn’t seen this century.

Montana State wrapped up a 27-8 overall record with a loss to No. 3 Texas Tech in the West Region First Round of the NCAA Tournament on March 18. MSU’s trip to the NCAA Tournament was just its fourth ever appearance and first in 26 years. The 27 victories were the most for the program since the Golden Bobcats era which saw the 1928 and 1929 teams each go 36-2, while the 1927 squad went 30-7.

Sprinkle was honored for his 2021-22 squad’s achievements with the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year award. He also was named a Hugh Durham award finalist, presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball. MSU also finished the season in the CollegeInsider.Com Men’s Mid-Major Top 25 poll for the first time in 20 years.

The program saw plenty of in-season achievements over the course of the 2021-22 campaign. The Bobcats went 16-4 during Big Sky Conference play which featured four more victories in league action ever recorded by a Montana State team. An 11-game winning streak during the regular season boosted the Bobcats up the Big Sky standings. The streak was MSU’s longest overall span of wins in a row in 22 years while it stands as the second longest stretch in the program’s Division I history. The Bobcats won both the Big Sky’s regular season and tournament titles. It served as just the second time the program has ever achieved both (joining the 1995-96 team) while the tournament championship was just MSU’s third ever (1985-86 and 1995-96).

Three Bobcats ended the 2021-22 schedule as career 1,000 point scorers in Amin Adamu, Jubrile Belo and Xavier Bishop. Belo was a unanimous choice to the First Team All-Big Sky squad. He collected Big Sky Most Valuable and Defensive Player of the Year accolades to add to his resume. Bishop earned his First Team All-Big Sky selection as well. Adamu, the 40th member of MSU’s 1,000-point club, was an honorable mention. Joining them with Big Sky honors was newcomer RaeQuan Battle who was the Big Sky Top Reserve honoree.

Sprinkle’s squad continued to break the program’s norms of late. MSU’s 13-1 mark in its home confines was its third best ever record since Worthington Arena opened in 1957. The ‘Cats completed a 9-6 road mark (excluding a neutral record of 5-1) which was just the program’s fourth positive winning percentage in true away contests since 1963. The team came together early in the season and it shaped a squad that became one of the best in a majority of statistical categories in the Big Sky Conference. MSU led the league in scoring margin (7.2), field goal percentage defense (42.8%) and blocked shots per game (3.7). The Bobcats finished second in the Big Sky in scoring defense (69.3), free throw percentage (75.4%), rebound margin (4.1) and assists per game (13.2).

The 2021-22 season culminated with Sprinkle’s head coaching record standing at 56-33. Sprinkle recorded the most victories within his third season guiding the program since Schubert Dyche won 66 contests in a span from 1928-31. His .629 winning percentage is the second best for a Bobcat coach with over 40 victories trailing only Ott Romney’s .829 mark he accumulated over six seasons in the 1920s.

Sprinkle’s history-making 2021-22 squad was built off the success and foundation that was built in his first two seasons as head coach at Montana State.

His second-year squad achieved a variety of accomplishments over the course of the 2020-21 campaign. MSU achieved consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 19 years with its 13-10 overall record, while the team's winning percentage was its best since the program's last Big Sky regular season conference title won in 2002. The Bobcats' two straight years of top-five finishes in the Big Sky standings and spots in the Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals were the first time MSU completed the feat since the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

The Bobcat head coach became just the second individual to lead the program to winning records in their opening two seasons leading the men's program during MSU's Big Sky era. Sprinkle joined the likes of Bruce Haroldson (1978-80) with back-to-back opening winning seasons. His overall winning percentage (.537) over the two seasons narrowly trailed Haroldson's (.558).

Montana State's recent rise among its Big Sky peers was on display to end the 2020-21 season as the Bobcats returned to the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game for the first time in 12 years. Sprinkle became the first Montana State head coach to lead the program to the Big Sky Championship game during his opening two seasons at the helm. The Bobcats had three players selected to All-Big Sky Conference Teams which were the most for Montana State since 2006.

Sprinkle’s tenure got off to a strong start as MSU completed its 2019-20 schedule with a 16-15 overall record, its first winning record in 10 years. The 16 wins tied for the most for the program since the 2001-02 season which had been the last year MSU won a Big Sky regular season title. Sprinkle’s 16 victories he recorded were the most for a first-year MSU coach since Hank Anderson guided the 1972-73 Bobcat team to 17 wins. He was named a finalist for the 2020 Joe B. Hall Award which is given annually to the nation's top first-year coach in Division I college basketball.

The Bobcats completed several in-season accomplishments under Sprinkle.

MSU’s first year guided by Sprinkle started off with near fireworks, as the Bobcats went to the wire to open the season against No. 17/19 Utah State. Playing seven newcomers at the Division I level, the Bobcats held a lead with just over five minutes remaining in the Cowan Spectrum before the Aggies took control topping MSU by 8. MSU’s next road trip proved more fruitful. The Bobcats traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina, and went undefeated in three games – which included a victory over host and eventual Quadrant I RPI UNCG – to win the Spartan Invitational. He made history during the regular season become MSU's first coach to ever win his debut at Weber State. Sprinkle spearheaded one of the more dramatic turnarounds in Division I basketball on the defensive side of the floor during the 2019-20 season. While MSU’s offense continued to be among the top half of programs shooting from the field and at the free throw line, its defense made legitimate improvements. The Bobcats’ scoring defense went from 336th in the NCAA to 111th between two seasons. MSU was outshot by opponents in just 11 games during the 2019-20 season as MSU ranked in the top 100 in defensive rebounds per game, field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal defense.

Worthington Arena played host to one of its best attended seasons in recent memory thanks to Sprinkle as well as a crop of Bobcats. The Bobcats averaged 3,463 fans per contest which was the third highest in the Big Sky Conference and their most in over 10 years. MSU fans were treated to an All-Big Sky First Team season by senior Harald Frey who finished his college career as the third-ranked scorer in program history. Then sophomore Jubrile Belo hauled in Newcomer of the Year accolades from the Big Sky, becoming just the second Bobcat to win the award and the first in nearly 20 years.

A Helena High graduate, Sprinkle’s coaching career began as a graduate assistant at Cal State Northridge in 2000-01. He spent all but two of the seasons since then – 2006-08, when he was a Bobcat assistant under Brad Huse – coaching in the Big West Conference. He worked at Cal State Northridge as a full-time assistant from 2001-06 and 2008-13. He coached at Cal State Fullerton prior to his return to Bozeman.

Sprinkle added duties as recruiting coordinator at each of his coaching stops. He helped lead Cal State Fullerton to the NCAA Tournament in 2017-18 for just the third time in program history and the year before that the Titans competed in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. He was also part of Cal State Northridge’s 2001 and 2009 NCAA Tournament teams, with the Matadors winning the Big Sky regular season crown in 2001 and the Big West title in 2009.

As a Bobcat freshman in 1996, Sprinkle was a starter during the team’s magical run to Big Sky regular season and tournament championships, landing All-Big Sky Tournament honors for his 30-point performance in the Championship. Sprinkle earned Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors in 1996 and was an all-league three consecutive seasons, including his first team selection in 1997. He held the MSU career and season three-point records upon graduation and remains the eighth-leading scorer in school history. Sprinkle is a member of the 1996 team that was inducted into the Montana State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 and will formally inducted for his individual efforts in 2021. Born in Pullman, Wash., Sprinkle enjoyed an outstanding career at Helena High School which included all-state honors twice in basketball, while also competing in football and track. He graduated from Montana State in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in health and human development.