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Could national coach of the year be Mark Pope or Danny Sprinkle?

trent wood
·3 min read
Utah State Aggies coach Danny Sprinkle talks to Aggies center Isaac Johnson (20) during the game between the Utah State and the Fresno State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 14, 2024.
Utah State Aggies coach Danny Sprinkle talks to Aggies center Isaac Johnson (20) during the game between the Utah State and the Fresno State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

After notable regular-season campaigns by both the BYU men’s basketball team and the Utah State men’s basketball team, Cougars’ head coach Mark Pope and Aggies’ head coach Danny Sprinkle are officially in the running for national coach of the year.

Long speculated coach-of-the-year candidates, Pope and Sprinkle are among the 15 semifinalists for the Naismith Men’s Coach of the Year that were unveiled Friday morning.

The other semifinalists include:

  • Hubert Davis, North Carolina.

  • Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon.

  • Anthony Grant, Dayton.

  • Dan Hurley, UConn.

  • Nate Oats, Alabama.

  • T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State.

  • Matt Painter, Purdue.

  • Lamont Paris, South Carolina.

  • Bruce Pearl, Auburn.

  • Richard Pitino, New Mexico.

  • Kelvin Sampson, Houston.

  • Josh Schertz, Indiana State.

  • Kyle Smith, Washington State.

The cases for both Pope and Sprinkle are legitimate.

Sprinkle took over a Utah State team that returned zero points from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, and yet the Aggies — with 13 new players — won their first-ever outright Mountain West regular season title.

Moreover, the Aggies have been ranked in the AP poll eight times this season, the second-most in a season in program history. Utah State’s 27 wins are tied with the 2009-10 team for the sixth-most in school history. And USU’s 14-4 record in Mountain West competition was the program’s third-best effort in its 11 years in the conference.

Mark Pope Jaxson Robinson
BYU coach Mark Pope speaks with Jaxson Robinson during game against Baylor, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, in Provo, Utah. | Rick Bowmer, Associated Press

Specific to Sprinkle, 27 wins are the second-most in the country this season under a first-year head coach, behind only McNeese’s Will Wade.

Picked to finish ninth in the MW in the preseason, the Aggies are now in the semifinals of the MW conference tournament and are a lock to make the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last six seasons.

As for Pope, he led BYU in its transition from the WCC to the Big 12, exceeding all expectations as well. The Cougars were picked to finish second to last in the Big 12 in the preseason poll, ahead of only UCF, but BYU ended the regular season fifth in a league believed to be the best and deepest in all of college basketball.

Though the Cougars lost to Texas Tech in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, they are considered a top 12 team in the country, per the latest Net rankings, and a top 16 team, per KenPom.

This season, BYU has a top 25 scoring offense, boasts a top 20 scoring margin, has taken the second most 3-pointers by any team, is No. 3 in the country in assists per game and is No. 7 in assist to turnover ratio.

All of which is to say the Cougars have one of the most dynamic and effective offenses in all of men’s college basketball.

Pope has been named a semifinalist for the coach of the year previously in his career, but neither he nor Sprinkle have ever won the award.

The last 10 winners of the honor are:

  • Jerome Tang, Kansas State (2023).

  • Ed Cooley, Providence (2022).

  • Mark Few, Gonzaga (2021).

  • Anthony Grant, Dayton (2020).

  • Rick Barnes, Tennessee (2019).

  • Tony Bennett, Virginia (2018).

  • Mark Few, Gonzaga (2017).

  • Jay Wright, Villanova (2016).

  • John Calipari, Kentucky (2015).

  • Gregg Marshall, Wichita State (2014).

Since it was established in 1987, no Utah-based coach has ever won the Naismith Coach of the Year award.