Danny Sprinkle, a former standout player with the Montana State men’s basketball program, is among the candidates to fill the Bobcats’ head coaching vacancy, MTN Sports has learned.
Sprinkle, who has spent the past six seasons as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, interviewed with MSU in Salt Lake City, according to a source. MSU is looking for a new coach after Brian Fish’s contract was not renewed. Fish spent five seasons as the Bobcats’ head coach, compiling a 65-92 overall record. His contract expires June 30, but MSU director of athletics Leon Costello announced March 24 that Fish will not return as coach.
MSU is not commenting publicly on the coaching search, but Costello said a national search would begin immediately.
That search includes Sprinkle, who some around the program view as the front-runner. Sprinkle starred at Helena High School in the 1990s before a stellar career at Montana State. He was a three-time all-conference selection for the Bobcats and helped lead the team to the 1996 NCAA Tournament, MSU’s last appearance in the Big Dance.
Sprinkle played in 29 games as a freshman during the 1995-96 season, averaging 9.8 points per game. He erupted for 30 points in the Bobcats’ 81-70 win over Weber State in the Big Sky Conference championship on his way to tournament MVP honors.
Sprinkle averaged 13.7 points per game as a sophomore, 13.5 as a junior and 16.6 as a senior during the 1998-99 season. He scored 1,497 points in his career, seventh on MSU’s all-time list. His 263 career 3-pointers are second in MSU history behind Tyler Hall, who wrapped up his illustrious career with the Bobcats’ loss to Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Conference tournament in Boise.
Sprinkle was inducted into the Montana State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
He got into the coaching ranks in 2001, starting at Cal State Northridge as an assistant until returning to MSU for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons on Brad Huse’s staff. Sprinkle then returned to Northridge from 2008-13 before joining the staff at Cal State Fullerton in 2014, where he’s been since.
Montana State went 15-17 this past season and won the program’s first Big Sky Conference tournament game since 2009, a 75-71 win over Idaho in the first round.
