SEATTLE — With the University of Washington's loss to the University of Southern California in the first round of the Pacific-12 Conference Tournament on Wednesday, the era of Mike Hopkins as the Huskies' head men's basketball coach is over.
UW Athletic Director Troy Dannen announced last week that Hopkins would be relieved of his duties after the Huskies' season. The team still could be offered a spot in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT), but UW is not currently projected among its field by most pundits.
Whether or not Washington ends up qualifying for any postseason tournament, the coaching search is already in full swing at the athletic offices on campus. One thing to note is this will almost certainly be a longer search than when UW recently had to replace Kalen DeBoer with Jedd Fisch in a whirlwind weekend. Most of UW's expected targets are amidst NCAA Tournament or other postseason preparation.
Here are some names to keep an eye on as the process unfolds.
Mark Pope, Brigham Young University head coach
Pope has BYU projected as a five-seed in the NCAA Tournament after an impressive regular season for the Cougars. Despite making a significant jump in competition when the program moved from the West Coast Conference (WCC) to the Big 12 Conference this season, Pope's squad actually won more conference games than it did a year ago and has notched notable victories over national powers like Kansas, Baylor and Iowa State.
There are also plenty of local ties with Pope, who played at Bellevue's Newport High School before spending his first two collegiate seasons playing for the Huskies before transferring to Kentucky. After winning a national championship with the Wildcats, Pope was a second-round pick in the 1996 NBA Draft and played almost a decade of professional basketball around the globe.
Pope has been at BYU for five seasons and the program just moved into one of the premier basketball conferences in the nation, but UW could offer more money and the chance to return to his roots in the Seattle area.
Danny Sprinkle, Utah State University head coach
A name that immediately was tossed around by several basketball insiders as a lead candidate, Sprinkle took Montana State to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments and has led Utah State to a 26-5 regular season in his first year. His team won the Mountain West regular season title after not returning a single point from their team the year prior.
Sprinkle, who was born in Pullman, has shown an ability to turn a program around immediately. As UW enters a new phase in its athletic history with the Big Ten, it will need a swift rebuild to remain competitive in what is a stronger overall conference than the Pac-12. With a resume full of experience across the Western U.S., Sprinkle could be an ideal candidate for the Huskies.
Leon Rice, Boise State University head coach
Rice is another Washington-born coach, hailing from Richland. He has experience on the Gonzaga coaching staff and has been at Boise State since 2010, winning at least 22 games in each of his last three seasons. He has multiple players on his current roster from the state of Washington and has extensive experience recruiting up and down the West Coast.
He did graduate from Washington State back in 1986, but both the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University have seen success in hiring a head coach who graduated from their rival institution. Rice also has experience coaching with USA Basketball, which has been shown in the past to be beneficial on the recruiting trail for other coaches.
Niko Medved, Colorado State University head coach
Another mid-major coach with a strong track record, Medved has turned Colorado State into one of the best programs in the West that is not in a power conference. Medved is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and has connections within the conference UW will be joining this summer.
Medved is likely to command interest from plenty of other programs seeking new head coaches, but UW could be among the most enticing in the region. With non-conference wins over Creighton, Colorado and Washington in 2023-24, Medved has shown his teams can compete against major programs.
Kyle Smith, Washington State University head coach
Another name that was kicked around by many pundits in the wake of the Hopkins announcement, Smith has led a remarkable turnaround for the Cougars. WSU was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2008 this season and twice defeated the University of Arizona, the Pac-12's best team in 2023-24.
Would Smith leave the Cougars for WSU's bitter rival across the state? That remains to be seen, but UW has quite a bit more money it can offer Smith as well as the chance to compete in the Big Ten next season, whereas the Cougars will be joining the WCC for basketball after the Pac-12's collapse. It would be a crushing blow in what has been a difficult academic year for WSU's sports department, but that is the reality of college athletics in today's world.