Scott Garrard, Voice of Utah State Hoops, on Coach Danny Sprinkle

Scott Garrard, play-by-play voice of Utah State basketball, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about the Aggies’ great season so far, the personality of Head Coach Danny Sprinkle and if would want to leave Utah for Seattle and the Huskies’ program.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now back to Sofie and Dick onSports Radio ninety three point three KJRFN,
Washington Huskies. Let's Seeattle crack.We're home for the Huskies. And I
heard it right there. Tenth ColarBaby two eight six ninety five ninety five
wins a pair of seats for theMarch eighteenth game against the Buffalo Sabers.
You don't win this time, you'lldo it again the four o'clock hour,

(00:22):
five o'clock hour, six o'clock hour. We're calling it cracking week, by
the way, boys, dripping withcreativity here on ninety three three KJRFM.
Tomorrow we'll have a chance to winto Alaska Airline vouchers. Thursday, same
thing, and then Friday we're gonnahave a big social media contest. Will
shin dig here on the air.So you're a cracking fan, this is

(00:43):
the week for you. But keepan eye on that sound to be the
tenth collar and you'll win tickets forthe March eighteenth game against the Buffalo Sabers.
So here, you have a basketballteam and you touched it that just
won the Mountain West regular season championshipin dramatic fashion right over the weekend.
Their head coach is the Mountain Westco to the year, and their play
by play man Scottie Girard, hasto deal with two idiots in Seattle wondering

(01:07):
if Danny Sprinkle will leave to bethe next coach at Washington. He to
be thinking, come on, man, God bless him for even answering the
phone and coming on the show.Scotty, how are your pow what's going
on there for you guys. I'mmore than happy to come on. I'm
more than happy to talk Danny Sprinkle. I'm driving to Vegas where Utah State
can hopefully win in Mountain West ConferenceTournament championship to go along with the regular

(01:30):
season title. Let's go, let'sdo it. Let's have some fun.
Well, you got Utah State downthere and Washington's down there playing USC tomorrow,
so it all may work out.But honestly, man, the word
is that Danny Sprinkle is at thetop of the list, the leader in
the clubhouse to replace Mike Hopkins atWashington. When you hear something like that,
what do you think about, man, Well, let me tell you

(01:53):
this, Danny Sprinkle. I knowyou guys have a highly influential show,
so I know there's probably people thatare part of the decision making process on
whether or not to offer Danny Sprinkleof probably listening. So let me just
say this, Danny Sprinkle's a horriblehuman being horribly. He's just not had

(02:15):
bad hygiene. He's a horrible person. Leave him alone, you don't want
any part of him. Just lethim stay at Logan and do his thing.
Wow, but no serious and inall seriousness, this dude's a home
run man. If Washington decides togo after him and he decides to accept,
it would be a home run higher. I've been around a lot of
coaches, you know. I've beendoing the sports radio thing for twenty years,

(02:38):
been doing the play by play thingfor the last seven and Utah State
has a bit of a revolving doorwhen it comes to coaches. So I've
seen a lot of them, andthis dude's the real deal. Man.
He's he's incredible with the x's ando's, but more importantly, he identifies
talent. He's I'm sure you guyshave heard the story Utah State got depleted

(02:58):
in the transfer portal. He didnot return a single player that had any
minutes or any scoring for Utah State. Last year he had to piece together
a team with a bunch of youknow, a group of midsfit toys.
And what he ended up with.Two guys were on the Mountain West first
team, the Player of the Year, also the sixth Man of the Year,
and an outright conference title, thefirst time he though States ever earned

(03:21):
an outright title in not West Conferencehistory. And he had no returning points
and no returning players from last year'steam, and the dudes just I mean,
he's he's a big time coach,and Washington decides to go after him,
and he decides to accept It's gonnabe a great moment for Washington.
Did you know right away that theplayers he got were special? So was

(03:44):
more a recruiting strength or was itmore of a player development strength that these
guys were rab By the time JanuaryFebruary rolled around, he really had them
in shape. Dude. No,I thought this team was going to be
a trained honestly, and I saythat the nicest way possible, but no,
I mean, look, you hadtwo guys from Montana State that Danny

(04:06):
brought with him. There were goodplayers, and one was the starting point
guard that uh you know was awas a good player, but wasn't you
know, a high level score.And another guy who was the sixth man
in the year wasn't a starter,and he ends up being the conference player
of the year in the Mountain West. He did start last year for Montana
State. And then you get ayou know, Josha Duje from Coastal Carolina,

(04:29):
who you know, let's not beon it. Let's be honest here,
that's not the bassion of college basketballby any stretch. He ends up
being the sixth man of the year. You've got Mason Falslev, who was
a red shirt last year for thisUtah State team and he plays his first
basketball with a mission and sitting outlast year for his first competitive basketball three
years. Like, this team waspicked to finish ninth, and I think

(04:50):
they're pretty lucky to pick be pickedto finish ninth because nobody knew what this
team had. And yet here comesDanny sprinklelog say now we're gonna be all
right, We're gonna be okay.And this team ends up scoring on average
nearly eighty points a game without areal big time score. They're elite defensively.
I mean, yeah, it's developmentof talent, it's one thousand percent

(05:11):
development of talent and identifying what canwork and what can he could piece together
and put together in a scheme.And it's been a hell of a ride,
there's no doubt about it. Well, the hygiene issue is concerning for
sure, so we'd have to lookinto that more. But Scotty Gerard again
is the play by play voice ofUtah State. They're on their way to
the tournament. Danny Sprinklers their headcoach, and there's been reports and rumors

(05:34):
that he's near the top of thelist to replace Mike Hopkins. What are
his aspirations? I asked that becausehe's forty eight years old, he's only
with you guys for a year sofar, does he aspire you think to
be like Caitlin de Boor and gocoach at Duker, Kentucky or North Carolina
or at forty eight who was bornin Pullman, Washington. Does he strike

(05:57):
you as kind of maybe a smallerkind of guy if you will, Well,
I think his ultimate goal is hewants to be with the team that
can make a deep run in theNCAA tournament, whether it's Utah State or
Washington or Duke or whoever. Hewants to be on the big stage,
and he wants to make a splashon the big stage. And San Diego

(06:19):
State group last year. You couldbe a mountain school and make a deep
run in the NCAA tournament. Buthe also knows that there's gonna happen the
road to Vegas ate him up,hang on three two one, Yeah,
he's going. You know, youget on those desert roads, man.

(06:41):
I gotta be honest with you,man, it drives me bananas. It's
twenty twenty four. I'm not blamingScottie at all. That's twenty twenty four.
There is not one inch of landin this country that should not be
covered with cell phone service. Butif there is one, it'd be Utah
to Vegas. I don't care.I don't care if you're going through death
now. It's one hundred and eightyfive damn degrees. Have you ever heard

(07:04):
a sitting play by play man talkabout a coach like that after only a
year on the job. Impressive.I mean, he's got every right to
come on the show and just youknow, make some stuff up like he
was sarcastically doing about not losing theguy. But you know who he reminds
me of he's talking about Danny Sprinkle, like the guys from Fresno State talked

(07:25):
about Caitlyn de Mootz exactly like thinking. I was thinking the exact same way
of My God, we had thisconversation two years ago we did with Fresno
State did and you know, youjust you feel bad for teams like Utah
State. But there's two hundred andfifty teams like Utah State. Right,
There's two hundred and fifty teams,maybe even three hundred teams in college basketball

(07:47):
that know that if we got agood coach, he ain't here for long.
Sure, Utah States one of them, Wazoo's one of them, and
heck Washington could be one of them. Unless they unless they commit themselves to
being a basketball power, they couldbe one of them as well. Yeah,
I would feel more nervous, Iguess if you will about that.

(08:07):
If the Huskies hired a thirty fiveyear old guy, right, but at
almost fifty years old, I don'tknow. He strikes me. And if
we get Scottie back on, wecould ask him, is the kind of
guy that may want to hang aroundfor a while and maybe lay some roots
down, do we have Scott backwith us. Now. All right,
the first of all, are youokay? We know there's a lot of
potholes on the way to Vegas?So is everything all right? Yeah?

(08:28):
No, so far, so good. I apologize. I'm not sure what
happened there. That was the greatestanswer in the history of radio and nobody
heard it. But Dick and Iwere just discussing this before you came back
on. He does Danny Sprinkle Scottstrike you as the kind of guy that
would want to stay in a placelike Seattle for a while and put down
some roots, because we're kind ofa little bit scarred with Calen de Bor

(08:50):
being here for two years and takingoff for Alabama and then the Huskies went
out and hired a football coach that'sbeen at you know, ten spots in
the last fifteen years. So wouldhiring Andy Sprinkle and then losing him at
the first sign of success should thatbe a concern at a place like you
dubbed with him? All right?First off, let me just say this,

(09:11):
if if Danny Sprinkle decides to takethat Washington job, and if they
offer him, next year will bemy eighth year of doing play by play
at Utah State and it would bemy fifth basketball coach. So boot freaking
who that you guys want out for? Well, it's im. I mean
it's impressive looking at his resume.I mean, we've got a guy in
Jed Fist that we just hired that'sbeen someplace an average of every two years

(09:33):
of his career. This guy's onlybeen since two thousand. We're talking about
a quarter of a century. He'sonly been at cal State Northridge, Montana
State, cal State Fullards in theUtah State. He's only been four places
in twenty five years. So he'snot a guy that gets up and leaves
right. No, No, he'snot that guy. And before my phone
died on me, I was sayingthat essentially, you're looking at a guy

(09:56):
that he just wants to make abig splash on the biggest stage, and
whether it's Utah State or whether it'sWashington or Duke or wherever, he wants
to make a big run. AndI think he understands the landscape. And
he's really done a great job inenlightening me in the landscape of college athletics
of just how much you have tohave from a resource standpoint to be successful.
In terms of nil and collective andstuff like that. And I know

(10:20):
Washington, you fuits are printing moneyup there in terms of nil money.
If he feels like he can besuccessful and he can make the long runs,
and that university is supporting him andsupporting him with resources and the money
he needs to be successful, he'llbe there for a long time. He's
got ties. His dad played defensiveback for University of Washington. He loves

(10:43):
Seattle. He's got a bunch ofties up there. He's got family there,
So it would not surprise me getthe fact he does take that job,
and it is offered that he's therefor a long long time. Well,
Scott, let me ask you thisbefore you go. Scotty Gerard play
by play, voice of Utah,And I'm in all seriousness. I do
feel kind of bad asking all thisstuff because it's like we're just coming to

(11:03):
your house and just picking apart everythingfor God's sakes, and you're just watching
everyone take off with your couch andyour stereo and your TV. But if
if you guys make a run inthis thing, does his name then become
attractive to a place like a MichiganIf they fired Juwan Howard or if Tom
Iso retires Michigan State, should Huskyfans almost be kind of rooting for Utah

(11:26):
State to go far but not toofar? Uh yeah, well yes,
honestly, And look, this isa guy that should be in the conversation
for national coach of the year.Not just Mountain West Coach of the year.
This guy should be national coach ofthe year. I mean, I
keep hearing this Dan Hurley bull Craftand that's that. Look, he's funny.
Vote for Dan Hurley to be coachof the year. Should be cheering

(11:48):
for the house at Vegas. Imean that you caught for cried aloud.
This guy at Utah State did somethingremarkable. It should be in that conversation.
So yeah, I do think thathe will be the top of the
list for a lot of teams,especially if they win a game or two
in the NCAA tournament. But Ialso think this is the guy that likes
the western part of the United States. His parents live in Bozeman, they're

(12:11):
in their eighties. He wants tokeep close snaps on them, and so
I do think that trip to theMidwest or the back East, he has
no ties back there whatsoever. Ido think he'd want to in my opinion,
and this will just be speculating.He and I have not had chats
about this, so I'm talking.You know, I'm just speculating here,
So taking with the greatest fault,I do think he's inclined to stay on

(12:31):
the western part of the United States. I do think the Washington job would
be extremely attractive to him in termsof the region and the history that he
has with that school in that city. So I do think Washington, if
he decides to go take a peefive job, that would be the one
that would really be the one tolure him away from Logan. I love
it. Listen, Scott, greatstuff. Man, appreciate this, and

(12:52):
if you ever have a coach thatwe can coach in any other sport,
just give us a call. Okay, Pal, I'm glad my phone died
on me. Now I see him. Scotti Girard, the play by play
voice of Utah. Stay wow.That was his glowing a report and recommendation
of a potential Husky basketball head coachas I've ever heard. I think he
seems from everything we heard, fromeverything we read, seems like a home

(13:16):
run. And it's just a matterof how much how much do you want
to give this guy to try tosucceed, because it seems like you would
have the right guy in the rightspot. Now you just got to give
him the resource, no question aright. We're gonna break a little fun
with audio slash Chan. Did youhear that coming up? John Wilner at
five right here on ninety three threeKJRFM