Before Danny Sprinkle, the last head men’s basketball coach at Montana State to move on and move up came in 1928 — G. Ott Romney, who coached football, basketball and track AND worked as an administrator at MSU from 1922 to 1927 before moving on to BYU.
During the Big Sky Conference era (starting in 1963), head basketball coaches at MSU were either dismissed (Gary Hulst, Rich Juarez, Bruce Haroldson, Brad Huse, Brian Fish) or resigned to pursue other opportunities (Roger Craft went into private business, Hank Anderson became the athletic director at Northern Arizona and Mick Durham resigned only to resurface as an assistant at New Mexico State). Stu Starner, the first head coach to lead the Bobcats to the NCAA Tournament in 1986, was placed on leave in 1990 before taking the Texas-San Antonio head job the following season.
Sources close to the situation say Sprinkle had full intention of staying at Montana State after guiding the Bobcats to consecutive trips to the Big Dance for the first time in their program’s history.
Sprinkle landed a commitment from one of the most prominent prospects in MSU hoops history when Jackson Grant pledged to the Bobcats on Wednesday, April 5. Grant, a 6-foot-10 forward with 3-point range, was the Washington Gatorade Player of the Year three years ago, a McDonald’s All-American who spent the last two seasons at the University of Washington.
Two days later, Utah State turned a three-year contract offer into a five-year deal worth $900,000 a year annually with guarantees for raises of $25,000 every year, a generous buy-out clause and access to a private jet for recruiting.
Sprinkle could not turn down taking over a program that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament 23 times, including 12 times in the last 25 years and three of the last four, particularly for that sort of guaranteed money.
Now Montana State is on the hunt for a new men’s basketball coach to replace someone chasing an elevated opportunity for the first time in almost a century. Here’s a look at some early candidates to replace Sprinkle.
A source confirmed that at least two candidates are on campus this weekend.
CANDIDATES WITH KNOWN INTEREST
Internal candidates
Some of the first names mentioned when a head coaching position comes open are assistants from the previous staff. When Sprinkle’s name first emerged as a hot one for the openings at New Mexico State and Utah State, speculation immediately gravitated toward whether Chris Haslam or Andy Hill would be in line to stay at MSU and replace Sprinkle.
Haslam, a Wyoming alum who played professionally overseas from 1997 until 2010, has been at Montana State for the last 10 seasons. He worked for five years on Brian Fish’s staff, helping bring in several talented European players — Haslam played on the British national team for 10 years — including Norwegian Harald Frey, one of the great point guards to grace the league in the last decade.
Haslam has spent the last four seasons on Sprinkle’s staff as the lone holdover from Fish’s staff. Haslam helped recruit and develop Jubrile Belo, a four-time All-Big Sky selection who was the Big Sky MVP as a junior. Haslam also helped bring in Great Osobor, like Belo a native of Great Britain, who was the Big Sky’s Top Reserve last season as a sophomore. Other players with UK/European ties that played key roles for MSU over the last few seasons include All-Big Sky guard Amin Adamu and Caleb Fuller, a senior starter last season.
Hill’s name seems to always be in the mix when one of the two Division I men’s basketball jobs in Montana comes open. Hill was a name of interest last time MSU was open and explored the opening this time around as well.
Saturday, Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported that Haslam and Hill would join Sprinkle’s staff at Utah State.
Before that news was confirmed, RaeQuan Battle and Darius Brown II, also known as Montana State’s starting back court, entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Battle, a former 4-star recruit who started his career at Washington, was a first-team All-Big Sky Conference selection last season after leading MSU in scoring at 17.4 points per game. Brown, a former transfer from Cal State-Northridge, was the 2023 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and a third-team all-league pick in his first season with the Bobcats.
Hill worked for former University of Montana Hall of Fame player and head coach Larry Krystkowiak for 10 seasons at the University of Utah. When Krystkowiak was fired and had his contract bought out, Hill landed on Sprinkle’s staff at Montana State last season.
Hill was also a candidate for the Montana State job the last time it was open. Before working for Krystkowiak at Utah, Hill spent seven seasons as an assistant at Montana, working for Krystkowiak in Missoula from 2004 until 2006, then for Wayne Tinkle from 2007 until 2011.
In his seven seasons at Montana, Hill helped the Grizzlies to three NCAA Tournament appearances, most recently in 2010, as well as a CBI bid in 2011. In Krystkowiak’s final season at his alma mater, the Griz beat Nevada in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The victory is the last win by a Big Sky Conference team in the Big Dance.
Hill served as a graduate assistant coach during the 2003-04 season at Eastern Washington, his alma mater. The Eagles won the Big Sky and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history that season.
Another name you might hear is Dan Russell. The Weber State assistant spent three years on Sprinkle’s staff at Montana State. The former Casper College head coach (he went 145-52 in six seasons leading his alma mater) landed on Eric Duft’s staff at Weber State last season.
Multiple sources confirm Montana State will not hire internally, instead conducting a national search for an outside candidate to replace Sprinkle.
External Candidates for MSU opening
Chris Capko, USC associate head coach
Here’s a “college coaching is a small world” note that has absolutely nothing to do with the MSU men’s basketball head coaching position: Capko went to Kathleen High School in Lakeland, Florida, the same high school that now former Montana State offensive line coach Brian Armstrong served as the head coach for almost 20 years ago. Capko also shares a high school alma mater with NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis.
Capko, a South Florida alum who was fifth in the Big East in assists as a junior in 2006, has been an assistant at USC since 2016. He’s been the associate head coach on Andy Enfield’s staff the last two seasons.
A source with a direct connection to the search confirmed that Capko and Montana State have mutual interest.
Capko was the director of basketball operations at USC in 2014 and 2015 before spending the 2015-15 season as an assistant at South Florida. Before he came to USC as the Director of Operations, Capko spent two seasons as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Georgia Southern (2012 and 2013) and as an assistant coach at Stetson (2010 and 2011).
Enfield has won 205 games at a nearly 62 percent rate over the last 10 seasons. Capko has been a part of 161 of those victories. USC has won 20 games six times over the last seven years and have been to the NCAA Tournament five times, including three seasons in a row.
UPDATE: Two sources with direct knowledge of the search said that Capko was on the Montana State campus and that he met with the MSU men’s basketball team Saturday.
NEW – Matt Logie, head coach at Point Loma
Here’s another “the world of college basketball is so small” connection: Logie is the grandson of the late Ed Peppel, a Seattle legend who was the head coach at Mercer Island High School for 42 years. Peppel was University of Montana 10th-year head coach Travis DeCuire’s high school basketball coach. DeCuire had said many times Peppel was one of his biggest coaching influences.
When Logie was the head coach at Whitworth, the Pirates would consistently play the Grizzlies in either exhibition games or non-conference contests early in the season.
Two sources confirmed that there is mutual interest between Logie and Montana State, including one source confirming Logie is currently in Bozeman.
Logie, who was a standout guard at Lehigh in the early 2000s in his playing days, began his coaching career at his alma mater in 2004. He worked an assistant coach for five seasons at Lehigh before being promoted to associate head coach for two years.
While there, Logie recruited CJ McCollum, the 2013 NBA Draft pick and current member of the New Orleans Pelicans and helped lead the Mountain Hawks into the 2010 NCAA Tournament. The team whom Coach Logie helped to build at Lehigh before leaving for Whitworth in 2011 would go on to beat Duke in the 2012 NCAA Tournament in one of March Madness’ greatest upsets.
Logie was the head coach at Whitworth from 2011 until 2019, establishing a reputation was one of the top small-school coaches in the Northwest. He compiled a record of 194-35 in eight seasons, winning five NWC titles and advancing to seven national tournaments.
The last time the Montana State position was open, Ryan Looney was in the mix. Looney was the head coach at Point Loma at the time and had just led the Lions to a runner-up finish in the Division II national tournament. Montana State ultimately hired Danny Sprinkle and Looney pivoted, landing at Idaho State as the head coach, where he is 39-76 over the last four seasons.
Looney leaving Point Loma opened the door for Logie to take over in San Diego. In his first year at the helm, Logie guided the Sea Lions to a 24-6 record (18-4 PacWest) and made conference history by becoming the first men’s basketball team to win back-to-back PacWest Tournament Championships. Point Loma was ranked multiple times during the season, rising as high as No. 16. He also coached Darnell Robateau to the PacWest Newcomer of the Year award and Kaden Anderson to All-Region honors. During the season, Logie picked up his 200th career win with a victory over Notre Dame de Namur and the Sea Lions posted a 3.30 team grade point average.
This past season, Logie led Point Loma to a 29-4 record that included a conference championship and a top seed in the Division II national tournament. The Lions made it to the regional championship game (Elite 8) but lost 89-83 to Cal State San Bernandino on its home floor.
UPDATE: Two sources with direct knowledge of the search said that Logie was in Bozeman today and one confirmed he met with the MSU men’s basketball team Sunday.
Joe Krabbenhoft, associate head coach at Wisconsin
Krabbenhoft, who played professionally from 2009 until 2012 including the 2009-2010 season with the Sioux Falls Sky Force of the NBDL, got his first full-time assistant coaching job at South Dakota State in 2014.
Leon Costello was the deputy AD at South Dakota State from 2010 until 2016 before taking over as the AD at Montana State. Krabbenhoft was on Scott Nagy’s staff from 2014 until 2016 before Nagy took the head job at Wright State, a job Nagy still holds.
When Nagy went to South Dakota State, Krabbenhoft went back to his alma mater of Wisconsin as an assistant. The 2005 South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year joined Greg Gard’s second staff and has been in Madison ever since. Krabbnoft was promoted to associate head coach last season.
During his playing career for the Badgers, Krabbenhoft appeared in 136 career games and made 70 starts for Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to a record of 100-36 and four NCAA tournament appearances. He was on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team in 2006 and on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team in 2008, when Wisconsin won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. As a senior captain in 2009, Krabbenhoft capped his career in Madison with honorable mention All-Big Ten honors and was a recipient of the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor Award.
He played a season in the NBDL (now called the NBA G League) before making stops in Spain, Greece and back to Spain. Upon retiring, Krabbenhoft served as the video coordinator on Bo Ryan’s staff in 2013.
Ben McCollum, head coach at Northwest Missouri State
McCollum was a name that surfaced last time Montana State came open. He’s a name that seems to surface any time a Division I job comes open. That’s what happens when you build a peerless Division II dynasty like he has at his alma mater.
After consecutive losing seasons in 2010 and 2011, McCullom has led the Bearcats to 12 consecutive seasons with 21 wins or more. He has won at least 25 games nine years in a row and more than 30 games five times in the last seven years. He’s an astounding 365-85 in his 14 seasons at NWMS.
McCollum’s squad lost in the second round of the NCAA Division II tournament this season, marking the second time since 2013 they didn’t make the Sweet 16. The Bearcats won the D-II national title in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
So what has kept McCollum at Northwest Missouri State in 10,633-person Maryville, Missouri?
“I think for me, I coach specifically to make a difference on kids’ lives,” McCollum told Andy Katz in an interview for the National Association of Basketball Coaches before the season. “It’s not an ego thing to win or an ego thing to go Division I. It’s more, can I impact the kids that I coach, and can I impact the community that I’m in?
“We have a big enough platform that we can impact those things. I can impact the kids here. I can impact the area that I have. At this point, I haven’t been offered anything that has given me a bigger platform to help with communities, to help with the kids that I would coach. That is why I have stayed and been happy and continue to be happy.”
That doesn’t mean he will coach the Bearcats the rest of his career.
“Obviously you always want to move on to the next challenge eventually,” McCollum told Andy Katz in November. “But it has to be the right one. It is not going to be because, ‘Hey, now Ben McCollum, he’s Division-I.’ And now all of a sudden I’m that much better of a coach. I don’t really need a big ego boost to go Division-I. But I do want a different challenge at some point in my life.”
McCollum leading the Bearcats to three consecutive D-II national titles (the national tournaments at all levels were cancelled in 2020) is an unprecedented achievement. But the other main factor that keeps him at NWMS is that the school has a rich history in athletics — Division II football titles in 1998, 1999, 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2016 plus runner-up finishes in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 — and a history of offering top-tier compensation to its football and men’s basketball head coaches.
McCollum was a leading candidate at Buffalo a year ago and at Wisconsin-Green Bay this season. Recently, rumors have surfaced that he has also had his name mentioned as a candidate to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech on Grant McCasland’s staff.
But one source said McCollum turned down Buffalo because the “numbers weren’t right”; UB former head coach Jim Whitesell had a $300,000 annual base salary. Salary numbers for McCollum at NWMS are inconsistent but have been reported consistently as more than $275,000 annually.
Sprinkle made a base salary of $185,711 last season.
Cody Toppert, LSU assistant coach
Toppert’s name was the first one to surface, less than a day after Sprinkle jumped to USU. The LSU assistant expressed interest in the Montana State opening, per multiple sources. It’s unknown if Montana State has reciprocated that interest.
The Cornell alum played professionally from 2006 until 2012. Toppert’s professional career began in what then was the NBA’s developmental league with his hometown Albuquerque Thunderbirds, helping the team to a league title in 2006. Toppert played the 2007–08 season for the Great Falls Explorers of the CBA, where he averaged 16 points per game. In 2009, he returned overseas and made stops in Germany, Spain, Italy and New Zealand.
During his time in the CBA in Montana, Toppert crossed paths with Justin Wetzel when Wetzel was the head coach of the Butte Daredevils of the CBA. Wetzel, who’s also a name you could hear regarding the MSU job, spent five seasons at Montana State Billings (2008-2013). He spent the 2013 season at Montana State before taking over as the head coach at Dickinson State. Wetzel has worked in the G League since 2017 and currently is an assistant for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
In 2015, Toppert began his coaching career as an assistant with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League, a position he held for three seasons. He spent two seasons as the head coach of the Northern Arizona Suns of the G league. During his time leading the Suns, he helped five players earn NBA chances, including three who moved up to the Phoenix Suns. Northern Arizona also made 14.9 three-pointers per game under Toppert, which led the league and would rank 1st in NBA History.
After leading the G-League in NBA call-ups in his first season with Northern Arizona, he was promoted to an assistant coaching position with the Phoenix Suns. During Toppert’s time with Phoenix, he was instrumental in the development of Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and T.J. Warren.
Per the LSU Website:
Cody’s time with the Suns saw Devin Booker average a career-high 26.6 points (7th in NBA) and a career-high 6.8 assists (14th in NBA), as one of four players to average at least 25 points and 6 assists that season joining James Harden, LeBron James, and Damian Lillard. Devin also posted a career-high 58.4% TS and produced 43.9 points per game (scored or assisted, 97th percentile).
However, after putting up a 19–63 record in Phoenix under head coach Igor Kokoškov, the staff was let go, leading Toppert to accept a position on the staff of Penny Hardaway at the University of Memphis.
Toppert has worked with 3 NBA All-Stars and 12 players selected in the NBA Draft. Toppert also put together an NBA pre-draft program that has produced 12 NBA Draft picks. During that time, he worked with three of the four highest paid undrafted players in NBA history (Tyler Johnson, Royce O’Neale, and Robert Covington). The 39-year-old joined Matt McMahon’s staff at LSU before the season.
Toppert helped Memphis to the 2022 NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014, where the Tigers defeated Boise State in the first round before falling to Gonzaga (78-82) with a Sweet 16 birth on the line.
During Toppert’s tenure with Memphis he was named to The Athletic’s 2022 prestigious 40 under 40 list of rising stars in college basketball. He was also selected to participate in the Top Connect Symposium for some of the top assistant coaches in college basketball.
UPDATE: Sources confirmed that Toppert, while interested, did not receive an in person interview and is not a finalist for the MSU head job.
The Toppert File from LSU
Birthdate: Jan. 10, 1983
Wife: Brittany
Children: Kinsley, Riley
Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Education: Cornell, 2005
College Coaching Experience
2019-22: Assistant Coach, Memphis
2022- : Assistant Coach, LSU
Professional Coaching Experience
2015-17: Assistant Coach, RGV Vipers (Houston Rockets NBA G-League Affiliate)
2017-18: Head Coach, NAZ Suns (Phoenix Suns NBA G-League Affiliate)
2018-19: Assistant Coach, Phoenix Suns
Barrett Peery, UNLV assistant
Speaking of Texas Tech….Peery was an assistant on Mark Adams’ staff in 2022. The Red Raiders pounded Montana State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, ripping MSU 97-62. Texas Tech followed it up with a 59-53 win over Notre Dame to advance to the Sweet 16.
Adams, a former Chris Beard assistant in Lubbock before taking over as the head coach before the 2021-2022 season, won 27 games his first season. Texas Tech went 16-15 this season. On March 5 of this year, Adams was suspended by the university over an alleged “inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment” that he had made to a player the previous week. In an attempt to make the player more receptive to his coaching, Adams “referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters.”
Three days later, he was fired.
Peery, who was the head coach at Portland State from 2017 to 2021, left Texas Tech following last season and wasn’t affected by Adams’ dismissal. Peery joined Kevin Kruger’s staff at UNLV last off-season.
Three independent sources confirmed Peery had desire to be Montana State’s head coach.
During his time as the head coach at Portland State, Peery won 68 games against 51 losses, including becoming the first Vikings’ head coach ever to win 20 games in his first season at the helm. Only in Peery’s fourth and final season did the Vikings have a losing record.
PSU is 26-36 in two seasons under Jase Coburn. PSU had consecutive losing seasons before Peery’s arrival. During his time in the City of Roses, Peery recruited and coached Holland Woods, who went on to become a three-time all-league point guard who ultimately finished his career with stops at Arizona State and Grand Canyon.
Peery came to Portland State after two decades of collegiate coaching. One of those previous seasons was as a Vikings assistant coach (2002-03).
Peery has been an assistant coach at high-profile programs like Utah and Arizona State, as well as at a Big Sky school: his alma mater Southern Utah. He has worked with head coaches Bill Evans (Southern Utah), Jim Boylen (Utah) and Herb Sendek (Arizona State, Santa Clara) at the Division I level, as well as Heath Schroyer at Portland State.
