by Danny Waldo
When Peter Fields made the decision to move on from Brad Huse back in 2014, he also made a decision to go outside the Bobcat family to find his next head coach. Fields ultimately decided on Brian Fish, a career assistant coach out of the University of Oregon, with the thinking that new blood would be good for the program. Things didn’t really pan out as planned, and the Brian Fish experiment ended following a quarterfinal loss to Eastern Washington in March.
In his first major hire in Bozeman, current Bobcat Athletic Director Leon Costello decided to return Bobcat basketball to its roots by hiring former great Danny Sprinkle to be the 23rd head coach in Montana State history.
It’s a decision that has many around the program excited about the future, starting with Costello. “We are thrilled to bring Danny back home to Bozeman,” Costello said. “This search was intense and exhaustive, with a large number of high-quality coaches interested in coming to Montana State University. But at every turn, Danny kept rising to the top. It’s clear that his Bobcat pride runs deep. Combined with his coaching and recruiting experience and legendary career at Montana State, we couldn’t be more excited to have him leading our program into the future.”
Sprinkle starred at Montana State from 1995-1999, leading MSU through its most successful period in basketball since the 1950s. During his time in Bozeman, Sprinkle led the Bobcats to their last appearance in the NCAA tournament (1996), and helped MSU finish no lower than 3rd in the conference standings. He also finished tops in three-pointers made in program and conference history (he was recently passed by Tyler Hall), and Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year.
Now, as coach, Sprinkle will be tasked with returning MSU to the heights it experienced with him as a player. “The people at Montana State attracted me the most to the position,” Sprinkle said. “It was even more attractive of a job once I got up to campus and met the people and sat down with them face to face. President Waded Cruzado’s energy is contagious. You can see why the campus is booming and why the town is booming. I’m very excited to work with Leon. I know he’s going to do all he can to get our program back to the top.”
Sprinkle’s first order of business will be replacing the production of Tyler Hall, the all-time leading scorer in Bobcat and Big Sky Conference history, and trying to help MSU improve from its 6th place finish in the conference in 2019.
Danny Waldo is a local freelance writer covering Montana State Bobcat athletics. He thinks March Madness should be a national holiday.
